Her mind buzzed with confusion. He wanted to apologize? That didn’t make sense. Randy never apologized for anything.
“I see I’ve caught you by surprise.” A tight smile came to his lips as he shook his head. “You have every right to be shocked, especially after what I said to you. It’s not worth much. It will never make up for what I did to you, but it’s all I have. I’m sorry, Ella.”
She took a moment longer to digest his words before she swallowed. “What happened to you?”
“Years in prison is what happened to me.” Again, he avoided her eyes. “Prison itself isn’t so bad. I loved being locked in my cell. I was safe then. When they were open—” He shook his head.
She pressed her hand to her lips to cover the shocked gasp that erupted from her mouth. “You know what it’s like to be helpless.”
“In a variety of different ways.”
He didn’t elaborate on what he meant, but he didn’t have to. She understood.
“I can never take away what I did to you, but if it’s any consolation, prison changed me and I’ll never lay my hands on another human being again.”
This was not the Randy she’d lived with. He’d been strong, arrogant. This man was beaten down and weak. She pitied him.
“I believe you.” She didn’t need to hear any more. She had what she’d come for: closure.
She started to scoot out of the booth. When he lightly touched her hand, she jerked it away, and he instantly held up his palms.
“Sorry. I just have one question.”
She stared back at him.
“How does a person get over what happened to them?”
So he was looking for his own closure. “You never really do. It’s something that stays with you. It changes how you see people, the world. It changes how you respond to situations. You become someone you don’t know anymore. You have to find yourself again.” She paused for a moment. “I mean it when I say good luck with that.”
At peace for the first time in a very long while, she stood and walked out of the restaurant. She was done with this chapter of her life and ready—more than ready—to embrace the next one. She just had to convince a certain man back in Kansas to take that journey with her.
…
Lance stood outside his ex-wife’s home, waiting for Piper to answer the door. He’d waited long enough to have this conversation with her. It was time to find out if she would ever let him see his daughter again. He missed Skylar something fierce and as each day passed, it became harder and harder not to see her. When the door opened, Piper crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want?”
Not the best way to start this conversation, but at least she’d answered the door.
“I want to talk.”
Lips pressed together, she roamed her gaze over his face, lingering around the dark bruise surrounding his eye, then nodded and stepped back. “Let’s go into the kitchen.”
He followed her down a hallway into the large country kitchen. She gestured toward the wooden table in the breakfast nook. “Coffee?”
“Yeah.” She was being civil. That was a plus.
“Still take creamer?” she asked as she made her way to the coffeemaker.
“Yep.”
After she made them both a cup, she sat down on the bench in front of him and slid a mug toward him. “What did you want to talk about, Lance?”
He closed his hands around the warm ceramic, taking a moment to gather his thoughts, then he looked up. “I have one more fight and the McNealys will be paid in full.”
Shock widened her eyes. “Jesus, Lance. What kind of agreement have you gotten yourself into now?”
He expected Piper would get the gist of what he was saying pretty damn quick. She knew the cousins too well. “I’m throwing the next fight.”
She shook her head, stared at him, then shook her head again. “Wait a minute. Did you actually say you were throwing a fight?”
“Not by choice, that’s for fucking sure. They asked me to do it once already and I refused. Now I have no way out of it.”
“I can’t see you ever throwing a fight. What are they holding over your head?”
“Believe it or not, it’s not them this time. I had to make the arrangement because someone else was trying to pay off my debt.”
She held up her hand and shook her head a third time. “Hold up a sec. Are you telling me someone was going to help you pay off your debt so you wouldn’t have to fight anymore?” She pointed to his face. “Have you looked in the fucking mirror?”
He ground his teeth together. He got it. He looked like shit. Why did everyone have to keep pointing it out? “I didn’t ask for her help. She didn’t even include me in that decision. She did it without even talking to me.”
“She? Is it this Kelsey, who Skylar talked about? The one that went with you two to the arcade? The pig lover?”
A weird sensation rippled in his chest at hearing that Skylar had talked about Kelsey to her mother.
“Yes.”
Piper straightened, an interested gleam in her eyes. “And you’re mad because she tried to help you?”