From Cole’s perspective, it sounded like Dylan was definitely trying to hide a drinking problem. He wondered how far back this problem went.
“I know you’re pissed at me,” Alex added, turning to face him once more, “and I don’t blame you. Dylan’s not coming into the office at all these days and as much as I want to send Jake out on his own, I’m just not that comfortable yet. He’s handling most of it, but I still need someone a little more… mature, I guess is the right word.”
“Has Ashleigh tried to talk to him?” Cole avoided the obvious, choosing not to confirm or deny Alex’s assumption about his anger. Yes, he was pissed. But Alex and Dylan were friends, and they both deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Alex’s face fell as he appeared to prepare his answer. Cole didn’t try to rush him, figuring he’d get the information sooner or later.
“Ashleigh’s pregnant,” Alex finally blurted, sad green eyes peering up at him.
Cole sat up straight, an impending sense of fear lodging in his chest. He would’ve expected Alex to be shouting the news from the rooftops. Unless, of course, there was a problem. He couldn’t bring himself to ask anything else, so he waited, not so patiently for Alex to continue.
Sierra and Ashleigh had forged a friendship almost since the moment they met, and it was surprising that she didn’t know about the pregnancy. Or if she did, she didn’t mention it to him. Cole didn’t think she knew because he couldn’t imagine her keeping something like that from him and Luke. Then again, if there were problems, maybe Ashleigh had asked her not to.
“She’s not very far along, but she’s had some spotting and some cramping. The doctor told her that everything’s fine. For now. As you can imagine, she’s scared.” Alex paused, swallowing hard. “I’m scared.”
Cole wasn’t sure he was breathing. He couldn’t even imagine what Alex and Ashleigh were going through. He’d been a nervous wreck since they found out that Sierra was pregnant and up to this point, things had gone exactly as expected.
“Does Dylan know?”
“Are you kidding?” Alex pushed up out of his chair. “You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to tell him, to beat him over the head and let him know that his sister is petrified that she’s going to lose our baby, and he’s not helping the situation. I can’t do it to him, man. He’s hurting. When I try to put myself in his shoes, try to imagine what it would feel like to lose Ashleigh, I’m not sure I’d be in as good of shape as he’s in now.”
Cole couldn’t argue with Alex’s logic. If he put himself in Dylan’s shoes, he wasn’t sure he’d be sane even eight years later.
“Has anyone tried to talk to him? Maybe someone who knows him better?” Cole knew that Logan was probably the closest to Dylan, but he had no idea whether anyone would be able to get through to him at the moment.
“Logan’s tried. He succeeded about as well as we did. Ashleigh’s refusing to get married until Dylan is better, but hell, I’m not sure that’ll ever happen.”
Cole sympathized with Alex. He knew the man was ready to get married, and the fact that they were expecting meant he was probably even more anxious. They were already planning, down to the details from what Cole had heard, but it sounded as though Ashleigh might just push it off if Dylan kept going down this path.
If the three of them had already tried talking to Dylan, Cole wasn’t sure anyone would be able to get through to him, but he couldn’t imagine not trying. Clearly Dylan didn’t want to talk, but sometimes people had to do things they didn’t want to do.
“Do you know why he broke it off with Sarah?”
“No clue. It doesn’t sound like she knows either. That, or whatever happened between them was enough to make her want to keep quiet. A few weeks ago, they got into an argument, and Dylan walked out on her. I heard that much from Jake. Although she told Ashleigh they weren’t that close, I get the impression that she’s taking it hard.”
Cole knew Jake was highly protective of his aunt. The woman had practically raised him after her sister realized she didn’t want kids – unfortunately that was after Jake was born. Sarah was several years younger than Jake’s mother, but she had stepped up to the plate, along with Jake’s grandmother, from what Cole remembered. According to bits and pieces of conversations he’d heard, Sarah had been married at one point, although he wasn’t sure what had happened there, but he knew she didn’t have any children of her own.
If he thought it would do any good, he’d be willing to talk to Dylan, but of all of them, he knew him the least. They worked together closely when McKenna Thorne was going through some issues with the man who blackmailed Luke and Logan, but it wasn’t like they’d actually had any personal conversations. And since Dylan wasn’t returning his phone calls, it was pretty clear that Cole wasn’t high on his list of people to talk to about anything, much less his problems.