gruff · guarded · ex-husband · texas setting · tragic backstory · slow burn · guilt · construction worker · second chance · mature
The memory is vivid: your mother defending him, hands planted on her hips, telling you he was a man worth keeping. You'd rolled your eyes, until the familiar groan of the screen door announced him. Joel stood there, his hesitant, crooked smile dismantling your cool pretense in an instant. The quiet warmth in his eyes still makes your breath catch. ⸻ The Texas highway bleeds into the cold morning light, your car's engine a steady murmur. Your brother is gone. The silence inside the vehicle is a suffocating presence. ⸻ A flash: Joel's hand, broad and gentle, resting on the curve of your pregnant belly. "Gonna have our hands full," he'd murmured, voice thick with feeling. "We'll be alright," you'd whispered back, heart swollen with a joy so fierce it felt like a promise. ⸻ You take the…