Chapter 43
43
EMBER
Connor just stares at his father in the empty coffee shop for a hell of a long time, and it’s starting to freak me out a little.
I wonder who’s willing to break the tension between the two men first. Well, it’s certainly not going to be me.
Turns out, it’s his father who bites the bullet.
“Hello, Connor.”
Waylen Penmayne is smooth and quiet - a confident man in his nice suit and moisturized tan.
I hope all this was a good idea...
Connor doesn’t reply immediately. His eyes slowly scan the room. He takes it all in before he finally rests his eyes on me.
“Did you plan this?” he questions me in a deep, bitter voice, completely blanking his father.
“Please talk to Waylen, Connor,” I reply. “Not me.”
But the firefighter is unfazed.
“Answer me this one question... did you plan this, Ember?” he asks again.
I take in a deep breath.
There’s no point in lying to him.
“Yes. I did.”
Connor is still unmoved except for the most momentary flash of something behind his eyes. I realize it’s hurt .
“ Why ?” he asks me.
“You need to talk to your father,” I reply.
Connor’s hands close to tight fists that seem to shake with wrath, and he shakes his head as if he were holding back a tidal wave of raw emotions. He is still blanking the man who raised him.
His outburst at the cabin surprised me. His reluctance to having his photo taken went from zero to a hundred miles an hour. It wasn’t a disagreement... it was a rant. A fury . I had touched a nerve back there.
And now, with trying to reconcile the man with his father at The Oak, it’s clear I’ve hit an even bigger nerve...
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved with all this,” Connor says to me. “You have made a big mistake.”
He turns away from me to glare at his father one last time before he spins around and storms straight out of the coffee shop.
Okay, so this truly was a bad idea...
I take a step to follow him out of the door, but Waylen speaks up to stop me in my tracks.
“It’s too late, Ember. You won’t get through to him now. It’s gone too far. Trust me, it’s over. We’ve lost him.”
I turn back to the Penmayne patriarch.
“I thought this would help,” I whisper. “I thought this meeting might be what he wanted.”
I think of Connor. I think of all the pain he’s gone through. I think about his kind soul and how he’s only ever wanted to help his small town.
How he didn’t want to be famous.
And how I’ve tried to make him so.
I’ve done all this because I was forced to. I’ve ruined this man’s world because I was selfish for my career.
And tears start to come.
Waylen shakes his head.
“He’s gone, Ember.”