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on me,” Alec said.
    “We can’t keep retreading this ground, Alec.” If she got involved with him again, she’d be repeating her past. All she’d done for the past ten years was stand in place. Going back in time would be even worse. Her plan was to move forward.
    “We aren’t retreading the same ground, Leah. We aren’t even on the track yet. You keep derailing us.” He shook his head and braced his elbows on his knees. “I can understand why you’re reluctant to trust me. When we were together before, I let you down. I’m sorry.”
    Tears welled in her eyes, blurred her vision. She’d thought she was over that, over the whole event, until Alec’s heartfelt confession and his second apology in two days. “Th-thank you.”
    He took her hand in both of his. “When you asked me to go with you to California, I panicked. I saw my life becoming this endless loop of hospitals and caretaking, being the one you depended on, the responsible one. I was only eighteen and had never had any experience with responsibility. I wasn’t ready for all that.” He lifted his eyes to hers. “At least that’s what I told myself. And you.”
    “It was true, though. I asked way too much of you.”
    “No. I expected too little of myself.” His gaze went to the lawn, and he squinted against the bright sun. “I couldn’t be there for you because
    ” He let out a long breath. “Because I was scared.”
    “Scared? You?” She thought of the strong football player who had charged down the field. “Of what?”
    He didn’t say anything for a long moment. The birds chirped, the breeze rustled the trees and a lawnmower droned in the background. “Of everything I always ran away from.”
    Then he turned back to Leah and finally told her the whole truth.

Chapter Seven
    The words poured from Alec in a fast, steady stream, held inside him for too many years. Words he’d never spoken, truths he’d never faced. “My mother got sick when I was five. Breast cancer. My father hired the best doctors, brought her to the best hospitals. He raised a fit in every treatment room, sure the doctors were missing something. I remember standing on the other side of the room, next to my mother, listening to my father rant while my mother’s breath got slower, slower. He didn’t even notice because he was too busy yelling and being demanding.” He shook his head, but the images stayed. “A few days later, she was gone, and you know what my father did?” He didn’t wait for Leah to respond. “He sued the hospital and the doctors, then he went out and got drunk and started dating anything female under thirty.”
    “Oh, Alec, that’s terrible.” She laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
    “From that day forward, it was as if she never existed. He blew the family money, and when I came of age, so did I. Both of us, using money and bars and women to forget and push away the guilt and grief. My father couldn’t get past it, and neither could I. But all that baggage from the past was just waiting in the background, coming to light at the worst moment.”
    “When I asked you to come with me when my father got sick.”
    “It brought everything up again—the hospitals, the fear, feeling that I’d failed. So I bailed, and let you down.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “You wanted me to be responsible, dependable, and no one had ever expected anything more of me than a touchdown. It scared the hell out of me, so I told you to go alone. I’m so sorry, Leah.”
    “I had no idea, Alec. I thought you were just being
    “
    “Irresponsible. Selfish. Pick an adjective.”
    A light laugh escaped her. “I didn’t say any of that. But I was hurt.”
    “And believed the worst of me for ten years.” He reached up and brushed a tendril of hair away from her brow. “I’m not the same man I used to be, Leah. A few months ago, my father got into a car accident, and when I saw him in the hospital, already making plans for his next date