Chapter 179: GOING BACK TO THE START: FLYNN

It had taken Amber and me a lot of persuasion before Valerie agreed to a date away from home. Her mom had reassured her by listing our son's routines and had pre-empted solutions to every catastrophe Valerie could ever have imagined. Eventually, she took a deep breath and slipped her arm around my waist and allowed me to lead her out of the door. When she saw the helicopter land she squealed with delight because I'd had Lee arrange it for us - she'd never been in one before.

Excitedly she asked where we were going, and I knew I was taking a chance, but when I told her I was taking her to St. Cloud for the evening her smile froze for a second before she nodded her approval. She squeezed my hand, too choked to speak. Valerie had never been to visit Martin at college, and although I was a little apprehensive about taking her, I wanted her to know the place where Martin had spent three happy years of his life.