Except he hadn’t told her about Luka and Lissa and he’d kept the date of his departure from her until four days before he was leaving. Was he being a teenager or pulling back?

Uncertainty gripped her, making her stomach churn. She hurt all over and wanted to talk to a friend. But this wasn’t Unity’s area of expertise and while Ellen wanted to text Keith, she wasn’t comfortable reaching out to him. They hadn’t spoken in nearly a week—not since she’d gone to see him and they’d fought.

Not that she knew what they’d fought about. Keith was mad at her—that much she knew for sure. But she had no idea what about. How had things gotten so bad so fast? On the trip, they’d been happy and together and now... She just didn’t know.

It was too much, she thought, feeling cold despite the near ninety-degree temperature. Fighting with Keith and having Coop go visit his dad. She didn’t like any of it.

While she couldn’t stop her son, she wondered if she could do anything about Keith. Only without knowing the problem, she didn’t know how to fix it. Had the sex thing really changed everything so much? And if so, why? What was she missing? What wasn’t he telling her? And even if they couldn’t ever make love again—a thought she found incredibly depressing—she didn’t want to lose her friend. Not for anything. Because without Keith, nothing was going to be right.

Lela pointed to several patches of plants. Thaddeus dutifully dug them out, thinking they didn’t look all that different from the ones that were left behind. Not that he knew the difference between a weed and a geranium.

“This is the easiest weeding I’ve ever done,” she said, sitting next to him on the grass. “You should come help me in the garden more often.”

“Don’t you have a service that takes care of the yard?”

“Yes, but I like taking care of the flower beds. It’s a beautiful day.”

It was. Summer had arrived in Seattle, bringing warm temperatures and blue skies. Tourists flocked to the city, filling the museums and restaurants. Cruise ships on their way to Alaska could be seen at the port. As a rule, Thaddeus liked summer—just not today. Actually summer was fine. He was the problem, rather than the season.

“So, why are you sitting here in my garden at eleven in the morning on a Tuesday?” she asked, collapsing back on the grass and staring up at the sky.

The change in topic nearly gave him whiplash. Before he could stop himself, he said, “I’m in love with Unity.”

He immediately wanted to call the words back. Lela’s eyes widened as she stared at him.

“You’re in love with her?”

He swore silently, but knew there was no distracting her from what he hadn’t meant to admit out loud. “I don’t want to be. As your daughter would say, it sucks to be me.”