Page 70 of Borden 3

Hector had serious baggage. I sensed his brokenness even when he was a manwhore. Even when he pretended to be cocky and misogynistic. We didn’t vibe back then—I’d made sure of that, only because I knew if I let Hector in, we’d vibe more than my own fucking husband. And lately, I was letting him get close, and it didn’t frighten me, though it reminded me of Graeme and that made me sad.

Graeme was killed because of me.

Because I made bad choices.

Like the bad choice I made when I went to Neverland.

“I shouldn’t have gone there,” I said, on the verge of tears. “You could have…I was being stupid. I’m sorry, Hector.”

Hector ruffled my hair just then like I was a kid. “I made the final call. I wanted you to feel like you could do these things, and you should be able to. But it’s not that kind of world, is it?”

“No.”

“But you have Borden, and you have me. If it can be done, I’ll try my best to make it happen.”

I continued to fight back tears. I wasn’t used to this. Making friends. My life had been a series of bad friendships after bad friendships, and after Blythe lured me to my almost-death, I had thrown the towel in.

Hector was different. He was a protector. I felt it back there in that room. He held me tight. I looked at him again, feeling my heart crack at the constant melancholy in his eyes.

“Thanks, Hector,” I said.

“For what?” he asked, dubiously.

“For being there.”

Hector looked back for a moment, considering my words. “That’s my job, sweets.”

I smiled sadly. “You’re not fooling me.”

Hector looked away, swallowing for a moment. He drove again, taking his time now, weaving through the busy streets.

“Still gotta tell him,” he mumbled.

I sighed. “I know.”

???

The rain didn’t let up. Link and I couldn’t go for our usual walk around the gardens in our ridiculously huge property. I sent Granny home when I decided to cut the day short after running into Theo.

I was in the bedroom with Link. We were playing with his firetrucks and police cars. The latter’s irony was not lost on me, given my lawless lifestyle.

We were putting out a fire on a playhouse. It was a fitting game to play since I was sure I’d be putting out a fucking fire at home when Hector told Borden everything. Or maybe he already had at this point. Hector was kicking around the property, for some reason still glued to my side after our run in with Theo. I was suddenly glad it wasn’t Gerry at my side. Gerry was painfully stoic. He’d have run straight back to Borden. Actually, he wouldn’t have even allowed a detour to begin with.

“Koala Dan’s house burned down now, Mommy, they couldn’t save it!” Link exclaimed, rounding up the toy family of koala kids on the floor.

I nodded, putting on my serious voice. “You think they can rebuild a house?”

He pondered that, his lips bunching to the side. “That takes time.”

“It does.”

“Where would they go first?”

“Maybe they have a family they can turn to.”

Link looked at all his toys. “No other koalas, Mum. I think they’re alone.”

I tapped my chin. “There might be others like them.”

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