Page 134 of The Moment We Know

After the meeting with Lauren was over, David walked Paige to her car in near silence. She held his hand in a tight grip the entire way and when they reached her driver’s side door, she let go and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Under normal circumstances, he would’ve welcomed the embrace, but these weren’t normal circumstances, and he had to force himself to return it.

“I’m so sorry all that happened to Jacob,” Paige said, her voice soft.

He didn’t say anything, because all he could think about was him and Paige enjoying the weekend, having bed-shaking sex … while Jacob was being emotionally and physically abused by an asshole, whose assholery would maybe only get him … probation.

“But he’s going to be fine,” she continued, then pulled back to meet his gaze, seeing how wrecked he looked. “We’ll make sure of it.”

David could hardly look at her as he nodded. The fact that she’d used ‘we’ and not ‘you’ should’ve been cause for celebration, because it meant she was committed to his son’s well-being. However, it only made David feel worse and the need to put some distance between them became grossly real.

“I’m glad I was here, so you didn’t have to go through that alone.” Paige blinked rapidly a few times, a sure sign that she was trying not to cry, before giving him one of her I’m pretending to be okay smiles. “Would you like me to come with you to your mom’s house? To be there when you talk to her?”

The thought of her coming with him right now and offering support while he talked to his mom, freaked him out, and he was enough of a mess as it was. “No. Thank you, but I should probably talk to her alone.”

“Okay.” She put her hands to his face and held on. “But if you need me for anything—and I mean anything—call or text me, all right?”

“I will.”

Raising up to kiss him goodbye, Paige put everything she had into it, because at that moment, she wanted David to know he didn’t have to navigate through this nightmare alone, that she was going to be by his side, no matter what.

Chapter 55

Feeling drained, Paige drove home, where she fed Sputnik, poured a glass of wine, drank half of it, and then FaceTimed Jules.

“Hey, how did it—”

Paige started in, cutting Jules off, and basically spoke for the next twenty-five minutes, filling her in on what had been revealed during the meeting with Lauren, in regard to Jacob’s abuse.

“Well, that’s really …” Jules trailed off with an extended sigh. “Jesus, it’s just astonishing to me how much people can suck. Especially when it comes to children.”

Paige finished her glass of wine, and debated pouring another one—a debate that ended rather quickly, because her day had been a crap-fest. “I know.”

“So, what happens next?” Jules asked.

Paige relayed the bad news/good news conversation between David and Lauren.

“Hmm. Well, whatever Plan B is, at least Lauren has one,” Jules said.

“Yeah, and hopefully it can get David sole custody because I really don’t know how he’d handle having to keep sharing custody with Ashley after all of this—even if it’s just two weekends a month. Especially if Liam continued to be in her life and would eventually be allowed contact with Jacob again.”

Jules frowned. “I know we’re talking about Ashley here, but do you think she would continue to have Liam in her life? After everything that’s happened?”

Paige exhaled loudly. “I’d like to think that if she really didn’t know what’s been going on, she’d kick his abusive ass to the curb once she found out, but her number one priority has always been herself, and what she needs and wants. So, unfortunately, I don’t know if she would. And if she didn’t, it would become an ugly mess.”

“For you and David both,” Jules pointed out. “You’d be dealing with it, too.”

“Yes.”

They were both silent for a few moments, then Jules said, “Today was obviously rough. I’m sorry.”

“It was rough. It brought up a lot of shit for me, which I did my best to hide. There were times when I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe, especially when Lauren was telling us about the park. The fear and shame Jacob must have been feeling … it broke my heart.”

Jules gave her a thoughtful smile. “That little boy is really lucky to have you in his life. So is David, for that matter, and I hope he knows just how lucky he is after today.”

Chapter 56

Sharing what David knew about Jacob’s abuse with Valerie turned out to be the most unpleasant conversation he’d ever had with her, although not needing to deal with Jacob nearby or having to wait until he fell asleep did help a little. Expecting his mom to cry, he was shocked when she didn’t, and just sat there, stone-cold angry and looking as close to murder as he’d ever seen—and this was a woman who didn’t like to kill spiders.

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