Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
“It was a bear, not a damn kitten.”
“He was safe. I would never put him in danger. I would cut off my own hand before ever putting him in danger, Max. You know that,” she conveys, and his shoulders sag ever so slightly.
“I miss him. I miss both of you,” he confesses, and it takes everything in me to keep in my place and my mouth shut.
“Max, please don’t. I care about you. I will always care about you, but before we ended, we ended. The only thing I want is for Hunter to have both of us.”
“You took him from me.”
“I didn’t take him from you. I moved. I told you almost a year before I moved that I was going to get out of Seattle. You and I agreed Hunter should live with me.”
Running a hand through his hair, he leans his head back. “I don’t like it.”
“I know you don’t, but Max, can you honestly tell me that if he lived with you, you’d be home? You wouldn’t be working all the time and traveling for business as much as you do now?” she asks, and his face goes hard.
“I have to work.”
Swallowing, her face softens and her lip goes between her teeth for a moment. “I know you have to work, and I know you love what you do, but if he lived with you, who would be with Hunter when you were working or out of town?” she asks gently.
“I’ll get a nanny.”
“When we found out I was pregnant, we both wanted one thing. We wanted our son to know he is loved,” she says, and pain rocks through me, because that was all we wanted for Samuel too. We wanted him to know he was loved beyond reason. Beyond us making him, we wanted him to have a family who could give him everything he wanted and needed. Everything we couldn’t give him at the time. “You told me once that you didn’t want Hunter to be raised by a nanny. To grow up the way you did, always feeling like no one really cared about you except for the people being paid to.”
“We’re not talking about this in front of your boyfriend.” He turns toward me expectantly.
“I’m not leaving,” I state evenly, and Shel’s face softens further before she moves to stand in front of me, but his eyes are still locked on mine over her head.
“Hunter and I are building a life here, and part of that life includes Zach and his kids. I won’t talk about your past in front of him if you don’t want me to, but he’s not going anywhere.”
“I know who he is Shelby,” he says, lowering his eyes to her.
“I know you do,” she agrees softly, taking a step back toward me. “And he knows you’re Hunter’s dad, and the guy who came at me, threatening to take our son from me just weeks ago.”
His nostrils flare. “You have to see where I’m coming from.”
“I do. I really do see where you’re coming from. I know it would kill me to be away from him, but for all I know, there might come a time when he wants to live with you. It’ll suck, but if that does happen, I will deal with it. I won’t make him feel like he has no choice, no voice or opinion in what’s going on. I won’t make him feel like he has to choose between us.”
“Fine,” he growls, tossing his hands in the air. “I’ll call my lawyer Monday and call the whole thing off.”
“Max,” she sighs. “What you did blindsided me and hurt our son. I don’t want to do this again in a few days, weeks, or months when you’re not happy with the way things are going. So if we need to have a lawyer write something up, then that’s what we need to do.”
“I was worried.”
“I know you were, and I understand that, but you should have cooled down and talked to me. Given me a chance to explain the situation and trusted I would never put Hunter in danger.”
“I know.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’ll talk to my lawyer and figure out a way to deal with everything. It won’t happen again.”
“Thank you,” she says quietly, then turns toward me. “Will you go get Hunter and let the kids know everything is okay?”
“Sure, baby,” I agree, giving her shoulder a squeeze and placing a kiss to her forehead before leaving and heading to my house.
“Is everything okay?” Hunter asks as soon as I open the door, where I find all of the kids and Penny sitting at the bottom of the stairs, huddled together.
“Yeah, kid. It’s all good. Come on. I’ll walk you over.”
“I don’t want to go back to Seattle. I don’t want to leave my mom,” he states, not moving, and something inside of me shifts. Walking toward him, I get down on my haunches so we’re at eye level, and rest my hand around the side of his neck.