When Nate thought back to that night six years ago when he’d ceased to be a brother and a son, he always pictured someone else, a man who existed in another lifetime.
The new life he’d worked so hard to carve for himself offered a certain amount of insulation against the pain of his abandonment.
Walking into that office and seeing Seth again would rip away all the layers of protection he’d built up. Nate wasn’t sure if he was ready to have his shell torn open again.
Amy went back inside the office, but Nate just stood there, his mind refusing to tell his feet to move. He heard Brandon dial a number and tell the person on the other end to handle things at the Sheriff’s department for the rest of the afternoon. Then he felt a pair of iron-strong arms wrap around him and pull him close.
