A Chance at Love (A Ferry Creek Novel): (a billionaire romance novel) by Karolyn James

”
    “ Visit
her grave, ” Darryl said. “ That ’ s all you have to offer. You know what, Tyler, you ’ re a piece of- ”
    Tyler pulled Darryl forward and
turned to throw him out of the way. Darryl stumbled but didn ’ t fall. He walked a few steps
and then looked over his shoulder.
    “ Thanks,
Tyler, ” he said. “ Always watching me walk away. ”
    Once Darryl left, Peggie grabbed
the rag Darryl had used to wipe up the small coffee spill and went to work on
the larger spill caused by Bobby. Tyler stood at the counter and Bobby noticed
the look on his face.
    He was hurt.
    “ Everyone
okay? ” Tyler asked.
    The people at the counter all
murmured their own versions of yeah .
    “ Nothing
damaged, ” Bobby said. “ Sorry I did what I did there,
too. He made a comment about my ex and I snapped. ”
    “ Don ’ t blame you, ” Tyler said.
    Jess came from the kitchen area,
her eyes a little puffy.
    “ Jess, ” Tyler said. “ Are you okay? ”
    “ Yeah.
I hate when he gets like that. ”
    “ He
has his reasons, ” Tyler
said.
    “ Wish
he ’ d tell me about them, ” Jess said.
    Bobby watched the look between Jess
and Tyler. He couldn ’ t
figure out why they didn ’ t
just jump into each other ’ s
arms. It seemed to be the most obvious thing in Ferry Creek, but nobody spoke
of it.
    Before anything else could happen,
Bobby ’ s phone began to
ring.
    This was it.
    Bobby rushed to the back and
answered the phone but didn ’ t
say hello until he was in his office. He crashed to his chair and looked at the
cork board above the desk. It was covered with bills, bounced checks, invoices,
colored pictures from Billy and Claire, a one dollar bill that looked older
than dirt, and some pictures of his father.
    “ Bobby?
Are you there? ”
    “ I ’ m here, ” Bobby said. “ Did
you get the results, Sullivan? ”
    “ I
did... ”
    The line was silent. Bobby didn ’ t need anymore suspense. His
entire life seemed to be nothing but suspense since the day he moved out of his house so Annie could make it her house.
    “ Sullivan...
I ’ m not in the mood, ” Bobby warned.
    Then the official results were
read. It was all legal jargon but the bottom line was straight to the point.
    Bobby had a brother.

___FIVE___
     
    Sullivan couldn ’ t look at the paperwork anymore.
He called the lawyers and made them read it to him. He wanted it in simple
terms. Those simple terms were that Robert Strate was his father. There was no
doubt about it on the test. That meant Bobby, the man Sullivan had spoken to on
the phone a handful of times, was his brother. They had the same father but
different mothers.
    When the news came, Sullivan did
what he felt was right and called Bobby right away. He wanted to be fair and
honest. He knew how it felt to have such shocking news. It was nothing short of
a punch to the stomach. It stole his breath over and over. What it all meant,
however, was that Henry Chasen, the man who raised Sullivan Chasen, was not his
blood father.
    Did Henry know that?
    That was the question that hit
Sullivan on his ride from work. He parked his car in the garage and sat in the
car in silence for a few minutes. He tried to wrap his mind around it. There
was no good solution to it all. There was no way to feel about it, no matter
what. Someone ended up in pain.
    Henry Chasen had been present for
the birth of Sullivan. Sullivan knew this because he remembered his father
sharing the story numerous times. Sullivan ’ s
mother woke in the middle of night in pain and Henry had ran through the house
trying to get everything together so fast that he ended up forgetting to put
his own shoes on. But if Henry was there, did he know the baby being born wasn ’ t his biological son? The
thought hurt Sullivan in a way he hadn ’ t
felt since his mother left them. It meant his mother had cheated on the man he
thought was his father. His mother knew there was a chance Sullivan wasn ’ t Henry ’ s and yet she did nothing