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so I suggest we take a time-out.”
    Her skin felt raw and uncomfortable, as if it had been stripped bare by the ugliness of the past. Inside she was shaking, as much from seeing Blake as from hearing her sisters tell her what they really thought of the situation. “Tell Mom and the others I’m not feeling well today.”
    “Natalie—”
    “No, Caroline. I need some time to myself after hearing all this. Please go.”
    They reached for each other’s hands as they turned to walk toward the door. That small sisterly touch made her chest hurt, and she had to fight the urge to rush over, embrace them, and tell them all was forgiven. That she was a horrible person for what she’d done. To them. To herself. But most of all, to Blake.
    But she couldn’t.
    If she did, they’d be right, and Blake would have succeeded in scaling her fortress again. She wasn’t about to allow that, whatever his reasons for coming back.
    They said goodbye to Touchdown and gave her one last look before they left. Once again, she was alone and numb, unwilling to feel anything. Just like after Kim died.
    It was no more than she deserved.

Chapter 4
     
    Andy Hale didn’t always have Saturdays off from rounds at Dare Valley General Hospital, so he made the most of them when he did. Usually he would go on a hike or a bike ride up the canyon with his son, but today Danny was playing with his best friend, Martin, a couple of houses down.
    The house wasn’t in the best condition, but then again it never was. Between his long hours as a doctor and his role as a single dad, he didn’t have much time to clean. Hanging out with Danny would always be his priority, and if his kid wanted to play a few video games or read four stories instead of the usual two, well, then that was what they did. Dishes and laundry eventually got done. The lady he’d hired to clean the house once a week kept it from becoming a total pigsty. Sure, he asked Danny to try and clean up after himself, but the kid was only five.
    And he dirtied more shirts and pants than Andy could comprehend. How had his mother managed to do the laundry for all five of them when they were kids?
    His stomach growled, and he rubbed it. The Hale clan was getting together later for a BBQ at his brother’s house. He’d purposely eaten light since two local chefs would be bringing food to the potluck.
    He was picking up Danny’s train set lying in front of the TV, making a cursory attempt at tidying, when the doorbell rang. He stashed the toy in the blue plastic chest in the corner of the family room and jogged over to answer it. He opened the door to find his brother standing on the threshold, looking pissed.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked as Matt walked inside. “Your grill out of propane?”
    “No,” he responded, tossing his car keys in his hand. “Blake is here.”
    His head jerked back. “Huh? What do you mean here?”
    “He’s Natalie’s new next-door neighbor. He paid the Howards some obscene amount of money to secretly move. And he built a freaking bridge over the creek of my old place to connect their two properties. He plans to share Touchdown with her.”
    Everyone had wondered where Blake had gone after shocking the world with his retirement. Then the press had reported the news of his brother’s death, and Andy had taken a moment of silence to grieve with his old friend. Blake and Adam had been as close as he and Matt were.
    The whole family knew he wanted Natalie back, and had for some time, although they’d agreed not to interfere. Andy had always liked Blake and had considered him a brother until Natalie bushwhacked them all by leaving him. It seemed death’s call had given Blake a renewed fire, and part of Andy admired it.
    “How’s Nat handling it?” he asked neutrally.
    “How do you think? She asked me to look into the legality of the bridge. I asked her what difference it would make. I mean, if she makes a big deal of this, it will only become the talk of the town.