A week later, Paris lay in bed at the cabin. It was morning. She didn’t know what time. She could lie in bed, because her father was still there. It hadn’t been necessary to ask him to stay.

For all intents and purposes, no one worried about her not going into work; she told them she was spending time with Ty. And she was. She tried to act normal, tried to put on a smiling face when she ate meals with them or sat out on the deck when she surfaced from her bedroom.

Most of her time she spent in her bedroom, crying her eyes out. She was exhausted. Every part of her had been ravaged, like one of those towns by the sea that gets hit by a tsunami every couple of years and has to rebuild. She always watched documentaries on that stuff and she always wanted to yell at those people, You idiots! Why do you keep rebuilding in a town that will get hit again?

Yet, here she was. The tsunami had raged and she was broken. Fractured. Left to rot in the hot, stifling wake of Logan Slade. This was why she’d didn’t want him back in her life. Why she’d made the initial decision not to tell him when she’d found out. She couldn’t handle it.

And Shane. He’d been so nice the past week. He’d come to check in at the cabin and brought her chocolate and given her a sad look. Shari had come with him and they’d both played games with her and Ty all evening, and it’d been better than she thought.

Paris didn’t notice anyone had come to the cabin until she heard Ty yell out, “Dad’s here!”

Jerking up in bed, she yanked the covers back over her head. She didn’t want to see Shane today. She hadn’t showered yet. She really didn’t want to see Shari, either. They were getting along but it was too hard to have others watch her when she was melting down. No, no, no.

Before she knew it, there was soft knock at the door. “Paris, we need to talk.”

Shane had always said her name as two syllables, she just realized. Par-is. Not like Pear. She didn’t like thinking this. She didn’t get out of bed or even say he could come in.

He let himself in the room. She could just imagine him looking at all her clothes thrown around and loathing the disorder. “Paris,” he said again, softly. Next thing she knew, he sat on the edge of the bed.

Hating it, she pulled the covers down. It was useless to hide the fact she was a mess from Shane. Part of her felt indebted to him at the moment, for saving her at the hospital from all the press last week. “What?”

His brow was furrowed. “Logan called me last night.”

At the mention of his name, she felt the pain behind her left eye flare into a migraine. She put her hand over her eye. “Don’t even say his name.”

“We talked for a long time.”

This made her take pause. “O-kay.”

Shane sighed. “He told me he was sorry and he thanked me.”

That was shocking. “What?”

“For taking care of you. And Ty. For putting up with him all those years before.” Shane sounded tired, but there was also something else in his voice. “He told me he wants to be friends again and that he wouldn’t try to take Ty away from us. But he wants to be part of his life in some way.”

Paris closed her eyes, pressing her hand further into her eye. “Will this ever end?”

Shane got up. “Let me get you something.”

Before she knew it he’d left and returned with Tylenol and water. She sat up and took the pill. Handing back the water to Shane, she realized that Shane had always taken care of her. She thought of Shari and the affair. Well, except there was that.

Shane seemed to sense her thoughts and looked guilty. “What?” he asked her.

She let out a long breath. She’d been angry at him for a year over the affair, and now she didn’t have the energy. “Nothing.”

Shane frowned and looked down at his hands. “Look, I know I messed things up. I know …” His face scrunched up and she knew what was happening. It didn’t happen very often with Shane, because he wasn’t the kind of guy to cry. He let out a rough breath. “I still love him, Paris. I do. Even with all the crap between all of us.” He looked at her. “And it’s not easy for me to say and I know it’s not fair, but … I’ll always love you, too. I mean, I love Shari. But …”

She had no idea what Shane was doing or where he was going with this conversation, but she didn’t like it.

He reached out and gently took her hand. “I … I think you should go talk to him.”

“What?” She yanked her hand back. Was he talking about going to see Logan? “No.” It felt impossible, huge, like Kilimanjaro huge.

Shane let her hand go. “I messed up. I cheated on you. I …” He looked away. “I’m not justifying it, but I did always feel second best to Logan. And Shari doesn’t look at me as second. I’m her first-string quarterback.”

It was strange to hear him talk like this. She knew this, but Shane had never admitted to it.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, and then looked into her eyes. “You deserve better than that, Paris. That was on me.” He swallowed. “But I love Ty, and I don’t want to mess that up. I … even if later we tell him the truth, I love being his dad.”

The sincerity of his statement hit her. She sat up and wrapped her arms around Shane. “You’re a good father. Thank you for always being there for Ty and for me.” All the times he’d been there for her and Ty rushed through her. In a perfect world, he would have been Ty’s father. He was good at it.

For a few moments they hugged, and Paris was surprised to feel all the anger just release.

Shane pulled back, but kept her hand. “Paris …”

Frowning, she felt nervous flutters. “What, Shane? Just tell me.”

“He’s coming to town tomorrow and wants you to meet him at the Faith Hills Chapel.”