Free The You I Never Knew by Susan Wiggs

not—he’s not—” Damn. How could she explain Brad? “He’s not raising Cody.”
    “I see.” Sam got up from the table and poured himself a cup of coffee. He seemed hesitant when he turned. “So did Cody ever ask about me?”
    “Of course he asked.”
    “And you told him what? Obviously my name doesn’t ring a bell with him.”
    “I was worried about the tabloids. So I left the father’s name blank on his birth certificate.”
    “Christ—”
    “Sam, I was young. Scared. I grew up with cameras shoved in my face every time I sneezed. I didn’t want that for Cody, and I didn’t want anyone to go snooping through records—”
    “—and finding the name of a mongrel cowboy.”
    “Quit putting words in my mouth. I didn’t know what to do.”
    “Didn’t he want to know, just for him? Jesus, a name wouldn’t have sent him off the deep end.”
    “A name’s just… a name. And maybe I was afraid—” She stopped, wishing she could reel in the words.
    “Of what? What were you afraid of?”
    “That maybe he’d get mad at me one day and go off looking for you.” The confession rushed out like air escaping a balloon. “Since school started this year, he’s been… in rebellion.”
    Sam hesitated, took a sip of coffee. In his face she saw more than she wanted to see—interest, understanding. Compassion. “The kid’s mad at the world, Michelle.”
    Ouch
. He had seen that so quickly. “We’ve had rough times before. We’ve dealt with trouble. This year… is more difficult than most.” Damn. She knew she should keep her thoughts to herself, but with Sam, it was hard. Years ago he’d had that effect on her, and it hadn’t changed. He still drew truths from deep inside her, made her say things better left unsaid.
    “So what’s going on?” he asked. “Is he having trouble in school?”
    All right, thought Michelle. You asked for it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. “His last grade report was awful. Up until this year, he’s been an A and B student. Now it’s Cs and Ds. At first I thought it was a normal, predictable rebellion, but I don’t see the end of it.”
    “Is he hanging out with his regular friends?”
    “Not as much as he used to. He’s got a girlfriend, and they’re pretty exclusive.”
    “So what are you doing about his problems?”
    “I’m working on it, Sam! Do you think this is easy? Do you think you could do better?”
    “Is it my turn to take over? You had him the first sixteen years, I get the next sixteen?”
    “I didn’t bring him here because he’s a troubled teen. I brought him here… to see my dad.” She didn’t feel like discussing Gavin’s health with Sam. “My father’s never met Cody.” She got up from the table and went to the door. She was afraid. She was angry. And God help her, she felt an old, old yearning unfold in her heart, a burning ache she thought she had buried forever. “What time should I pick him up?”
    Outside, Cody and the dark-haired man were loading bales of hay onto a flatbed truck. It was startling to see her son doing physical labor. It had been ages since he exerted himself doing anything more strenuous than lifting the telephone receiver.
    “He’ll be done around five, I guess,” Sam said. “Edward can give him a lift over to your father’s place.”
    “All right.” Taking her jacket from a hook outside the kitchen door in the mudroom, she shrugged into it. “Sam?”
    “Yeah?”
    “You won’t… say anything to him, will you?”
    “Hell, no, I won’t say anything. I don’t even know the kid.” He held open the door for her. He was as tall as she remembered, and broader in the shoulders and chest. His face was more deeply carved with character. His scent, God, why did she remember it so perfectly? Perversely, she had an urge to touch him, just once, but she resisted.
    “ ’Bye, Sam.”
    “ ’Bye.” He followed her out onto the porch and waited while she got into the Range Rover. “Hey, Michelle?”
    She