Page 70 of Reclaim Me

He scoffs in disdain, but the next time he speaks, his voice is at a more acceptable level. “You’re unbelievable, you know that? I go out of my way to plan a romantic weekend for you, and you jump ship the first chance you get to go play house with your baby daddy.”

The knife I’m holding slips out of my fingers and clatters to the ground, and I stand there for a second, stunned at the audacity of it and the man across from me. Shaking my head, I bend over and pick it up, shoving it into the utensil holder in the dishwasher.

“It’s a work trip,” I remind him, saying the thing I wanted to say when his mother brought it up at dinner in front of Hunter, and he chimed in, making it sound like some grand gesture instead of a thoughtless invitation he sprung on me at the last minute to try and smooth things over from the last fight we had. “You’re going to Atlanta for work, which means I would have spent the entire weekend in a hotel without you.”

“Don’t make it sound like some hardship, Rachel. You’d be in a suite at the Waldorf Astoria.”

I bristle, the way I always do, when he uses my full name to admonish me, to minimize my feelings and concerns while treating me like a child. “But I’d be alone, Aaron, and away from Riley for no good reason. You know how much I hate that. This way I get to be with her?—”

“And Hunter,” he says, cutting me off with a sneer. “You get to be with Riley and Hunter, which is exactly what she wanted, by the way. Do you feel good about that? Being played like a fucking fiddle by a nine-year-old.”

“She didn’t play me.”

“Oh, yes she did.” He laughs, and the sound is ripe with false humor. “She’s always manipulating you.”

“Feeling safe enough to express her emotions is not manipulation; it’s a healthy way of communicating her needs.”

“What about my needs, Rae?”

My head snaps up, and I stare at him in disbelief. “Did you seriously just ask me that?”

I used to think Aaron was a smart man. I mean, I don’t think he’s dumb now, but I do think he has to be missing that fundamental part of his brain that’s dedicated to self-preservation because I know there’s murder in my eyes right now, but instead of backing down, he keeps going, launching into a speech that’s all about how fucking neglected he feels.

“Yes, Rae, I did because we haven’t made love in weeks. All of your extra time and mental space is dedicated to your school, which I knew was going to happen, by the way, but I still agreed to let you keep it.”

I grab the pan off the stove and shove it into the bottom rack. Marcy says it’s supposed to be washed by hand, but I don’t care. Tonight, everything in this damn kitchen is going in the dishwasher, so I don’t end up chucking it at Aaron’s head.

We both know he didn’t have a choice in the matter when it came to me keeping the building.

“And when you’re not at that building or talking to Dee about your school, you’re focused on Riley and Hunter. I mean, it feels like the dude lives with us now. He’s here every week.”

“He’s here once a week, Aaron, which you agreed to.”

“Sometimes more than once,” he insists, putting his hands on his hips. “Last week, he was here twice. I never agreed to that.”

Wiping my hands on the dish towel on my shoulder, I gaze up at the sky, praying for patience and reminding myself that while I look good in a lot of colors, orange is not one of them.

“Hunter was here for all of five minutes on Wednesday because I had to ask him to pick Riley up from school when your mother forgot her.”

Why he thinks it’s wise to remind me of that little mishap right now, I’m not sure. All it does is make me more upset, more frustrated, and more confident that giving Hunter more time with Riley is the right choice because he came through when Aaron and Marcy let me down. And he didn’t utter a single complaint when I called him, frantic and upset because Riley was waiting, and I couldn’t get to her because I had to be at the building to sign for several deliveries. He dropped everything he was doing and picked her up, took her out for ice cream, and then brought her home and waited with her in the backyard until Marcy got home from the last-minute hair appointment she thought was more important than my kid.

Aaron, who hates when people point out his mother’s flaws just as much, if not more than his own, grimaces. “You wouldn’t have needed Mom to pick her up if you weren’t opening that school.”

My final thread of sanity snaps with a loud pop that turns everything in my vision red and blurry. Unfortunately for Aaron, his words hit me at the same time the rack I’m trying to push in to close up the dishwasher refuses to slide into place. I shove it hard several times, but each time it bounces back out because something is off. I bark out an enraged laugh and straighten to my full height, then snatch the dish towel on my shoulder off and throw it down. It lands in a defunct heap on top of the dirty dishes, and I don’t care because I’m done.

I am so done.

“Well, I am!” I bellow, finally unleashing the madness Aaron has been trying to taunt out of me for the past hour. “I’m starting the fucking school, Aaron. It’s happening, and I wish you would just get the fuck over it already.” I blow out a breath, pushing the curls that have broken free from my bun out of my face. “We moved here for you, and you’re living your dreams, aren’t you? You’ve got the job you’ve always wanted, this big ass house we can barely afford, and your mom under our roof and all in our business; why should you be the only one who gets what they want, huh?”

A myriad of emotions plays across his features, chief among them anger, but I don’t care. He wanted this fight, so I’m going to give it to him.

“Why can’t I have my school?” I ask, my hand going to my chest before sweeping up to gesture at the ceiling. “Why can’t Ri have her dad, hmm? Have you even taken a second to look at her lately? To notice how much happier she is now that Hunter is around?” Tears crowd my vision as the image of Riley’s face the first time she met Hunter flashes in my mind. “It’s like a piece of her was missing, and now she’s whole. You say that you love her, so that should make you happy too, but all you’ve done since Hunter has been in the picture is sit around and bitch and moan about how it affects you.”

Now that all the anger is out, I find myself deflating, my shoulders sagging with exhaustion. I shake my head at Aaron, hating that I can’t see a hint of the man I fell in love with looking back at me. “I’m sorry this is hard for you, I truly am, but you’ve got to find a way to figure your shit out because Hunter isn’t going anywhere. He’s going to be a part of our lives for as long as Riley wants him to be.”

“Riley or you?” Aaron asks, stone-faced.

“Both,” I say, answering honestly because there’s no reason to lie. I want Hunter around. I like having him around. He’s a good man and an even better father, and when I’m not pushing him away, building up walls meant to protect Aaron’s ego, he’s a great friend.

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