“Mom?” Ean’s voice shot across the great room like a bullet before he realized he was going to speak.
Doreen jumped free of the romantic embrace and whirled toward her son. “Ean.”
Ean’s attention jerked to the man beside his mother. Shock rocked him back on his heels. He caught his balance. “Coach?”
“Hello, Ean.” Leonard George’s calm voice didn’t belong in this tumultuous scene.
CHAPTER 3
Ean locked the front door, using the menial task to steady his mind. What was his mother doing in the arms of his former high school math teacher and football coach?
He leaned against the door and faced his parent. “What’s going on?”
“Ean.” Doreen spoke haltingly. “Leo and I . . . are in a relationship.”
His gaze flew to his former coach as the man stood beside his mother on the other side of the family room’s thick, dark pink sofa. He was older. But then, it had been more than fourteen years since he’d quarterbacked Coach George’s football team at Heritage High School.
Ean’s gaze challenged his mother to take back her words. “You’ve been dating Coach George?”
Leonard answered for her. “We’ve been seeing each other for some time now.”
“Please, Leo.” Doreen touched his shoulder. “Let me handle this. There’s no need for you to be here.”
“I won’t let you face this alone.” Leonard took her hand from his shoulder and held on to it.
Ean wanted to drag the other man away from his mother. He fisted his hands to control the impulse.
His coach couldn’t be more different from his father. Whereas Paul Fever had been tall, lean and an introvert, Leonard George was average height, bulky and a clown.
“How long has this been going on?” Ean worked the words through his tense jaw.
Doreen held her son’s eyes. “For a couple of months now.”
Months? “Dad’s only been gone a couple of months.”
His mother’s features softened. “It’s been a little longer than that, Ean.”
His father had died Friday, February 8. It was now Monday, October 14, less than nine months later.
Ean swallowed hard to dislodge the lump of grief from his throat. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d started dating?”
Why hadn’t you told me my father was dying?
Doreen’s gaze dropped to the thick rose carpet. She seemed to brace herself before looking at Ean again. “I thought it was too soon to tell you about my relationship with Leo. And, since you were in New York, I didn’t think there was a rush to address it.”
Was that also the reason she hadn’t told him his father had cancer? Because he’d been in New York?
Ean struggled with his feelings, chief among them resentment. “My decision to return to Trinity Falls must have sent you into a panic.”
Why are you dating so soon after Dad’s death? Why did you choose my former coach?
Ean’s thoughts came to a skidding halt. He couldn’t handle them. Maybe his mother was right about it being too soon to talk about this.
“We did want to tell you.” Leonard’s voice further agitated Ean.
Doreen continued. “When you told me you were coming home, I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how.”
“We weren’t deliberately trying to hide anything from you,” Leonard added.