Page 69 of Reclaim Me

“I don’t want to stay with Jayla and Sonia,” Riley says, pounding a little fist on the table. “Their house is stupid. I want to stay with Daddy.”

“Riley.” Rae narrows her eyes, speaking her name like a warning. “We don’t call people’s houses stupid, and you can’t stay with your dad because Taurin?—”

“Taurin will be gone for the weekend,” I interject, even though I’m not exactly sure how Rae was planning on using him to put Riley off. “His girlfriend, Alyssa, has asked him to go with her and her friends on a college tour.”

For the first time since T brought up the trip, I’m grateful that I agreed to let him go. I’m still going to have to give him a long talk about setting boundaries and making good decisions when he’s surrounded by temptation, but I’m willing to do that and a hell of a lot more if it means making Rae comfortable enough to let Riley stay with me this weekend.

Rae lets out a long, exasperated sigh that almost makes me feel bad for stripping her of another excuse. Almost. She picks up her glass of water and takes a sip before looking at Riley and me and saying, “I just don’t think we’re ready for an overnight visit yet.”

Although I’m disappointed—with her answer and with myself for allowing even a modicum of hope to swell in my chest—I nod. “That’s fair.”

“No, it’s not!” Riley wails, shooting to her feet. There are tears spilling down her cheeks and her bottom lip trembles with indignation. “That’s not fair at all!”

“Nugg—” Rae starts, but before she can finish, Riley runs out of the dining room and up the stairs, sobbing all the way to the second floor. She ends her dramatic exit by slamming her room door.

Marcy tuts her disapproval, muttering something under her breath about the perils of never saying no to your child, and Rae silences her with a glare as she stands and tosses her napkin on her plate. “I’m going to go check on her.”

Aaron places his hand on her arm. “Just let her work it out on her own, babe. You can’t go running every time she throws a fit.”

Now, I’m the one glaring. The one wishing my eyes were lasers so I could turn the fingers wrapped around Rae’s arm, and the man they’re attached to, to ash. Rae snatches away from him, rolling her eyes as she walks out, leaving me to sit in awkward silence with her little boyfriend and his helicopter mom until she returns.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take long.

When Rae comes back into the room, she’s alone but there are tear stains on her shoulder and chest, which I can only assume have come from Riley.

“Is she okay?” I ask, rising to my feet because the moment I know they’re both good, I’m out of here.

“Yeah.” She nods, running a hand over her dress. “She was pretty upset, but I managed to get her calm enough to talk to me, and we came to an understanding.”

I don’t know what it is exactly that tells me the tides have just turned in my favor. Maybe it’s the way Rae keeps biting her lip and shifting her gaze between Aaron and me, or the gentle understanding in her eyes, or maybe it’s just that I know her so well that I can get a line on her without her needing to say a thing. Whatever it is, I’m grateful for it because it means I get to sit in the glory of her decision before Aaron and his mom ruin it.

“I’ve decided to let Riley stay the weekend with Hunter,” Rae says, her eyes trained on my face, cataloging exactly what her words have done to me. I make sure to show her the joy and the absolute appreciation, but I hide everything else—the love, the adoration, the desire to grab her by the shoulders and kiss her on the lips.

“Are you sure?” I ask, returning her intense stare with one of my own.

She nods. “Yeah, I’m sure. She wants to feel closer to you, to know more about you and your world, and she can’t do that if I don’t give her the chance to.”

There’s sincerity in her voice, but there’s certainty, too, which tells me that she didn’t change her mind because Riley shed a few tears or threw a temper tantrum. In fact, she didn’t change her mind at all. Riley’s raw reaction just acted as a catalyst, helping her to honor a choice she’d already made but was just too afraid to acknowledge.

“So you’re just going to let your nine-year-old daughter spend the weekend alone with a virtual stranger?” Aaron asks, incredulity and an unmistakable hate glittering in his eyes as he looks between Rae and me.

“No,” she says evenly, like she anticipated this question. “I’m going to stay too. If that’s okay with you, Hunter.”

“If that’s what you need to feel comfortable, Sunshine,” I say, my voice rough with emotion at the thought of having both of my girls under my roof for an entire weekend and my mind working overtime to try to figure out how to turn two measly days into a lifetime.

25

RAE

Now

“And why does he keep calling you Sunshine?!” Aaron shouts. His voice a loud and annoying boom that I know is audible all the way upstairs. He’s been on a full-blown rampage since Hunter left, following me around the kitchen as I clean up dinner and airing out his grievances with no care or concern about the child upstairs who can hear him.

“Keep. Your. Voice. Down.” I say by way of response, bending over to put another plate in the dishwasher while he stands there doing nothing but puffing out his chest and complaining.

“Seriously?” he hisses. “You think my volume is the only thing we need to be concerned about right now?”

“No, Aaron, I don’t. But if you actually want me to listen when you voice your other concerns, I’d suggest you bring it down a notch.”

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