Page 44 of The Homewrecker's Fate

“It seems like you all already had their time planned out for them. Not sure where I fit into that.”

“I told you when we set out for our vacation that if you were going to show up for the kids, you needed to give me some notice. Just because your other plans fell through, doesn’t mean that you can just pop in and have the world rearrange itself for you, Rich. Jesus, it’s that damn mentality that got us all in this position to begin with. Start thinking of someone other than yourself for once!” Mel spat the words at him and then turned her back and moved toward the kids who were trying to spy on us even though they were far enough I didn’t think they could hear.

“Go play with your children, Rich. Tell them we’ll be back down to build castles and swim in just a bit.”

“If you leave now, they’ll blame me.”

“Well, it was kind of your fault.” I rolled my eyes at him. Despite the fact that I thought he should reap what he sowed, I wouldn’t do that to the kids. I called out to them instead. “Brax has to help me back up to the house because I have to pee again. We’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay,” they both called out excitedly. “Avi always has to pee,” Gwen complained.

“She has a baby sitting on her bladder,” Mel reminded her daughter.

“She could just pee in the lake like the fish,” Gwen stated.

“Gross, Gwen!” Gavin made an awful face and then stepped back from his sister. “I’m not swimming with her anymore. I bet that’s why the water was so warm yesterday,” he surmised.

“Oh, for the love of…” Mel groused as we walked away.

“If you guys need to pee, come up to the house,” Braxton called to them as we left.

“I can’t believe he had the nerve to show up here,” I whispered as we continued to walk away.

“Sorry, we would have been prepared if I hadn’t forgotten the phones.”

“It’s okay. I don’t want to be on guard and behave a certain way, so as not to set him off. He needs to learn to stay out of my business. I shouldn’t have to accommodate his delicate sensibilities.”

Brax laughed. “His delicate sensibilities?”

“Yeah, you know, his poor little feelings get hurt because I moved on. That is not my problem, though.”

“No, it’s not. I loved the way you looked out for Mel’s kids, even when their own dad didn’t think to do better for them.”

“Well, he’s not the best example anyway. I don’t want them to see their dad make a whole dramatic display because of me, especially during a family vacation. It will just make them hate me all over again.”

Brax shook his head. “Nah, they love you. You saw how Gwen reacted.”

“That’s because she was about to miss out on time with her Uncle Brax. Can’t say that I blame her.” I winked at him.

By the time we grabbed our phones, took a bathroom break that really had been necessary, and put some more drinks into a small cooler, Rich was talking to his kids by the water. None of them looked happy.

“What’s going on?” I asked Mel.

“The idiot got a phone call,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Seems his girlfriend was able to find someone to cover her shift after all, so she wants him back to watch the fireworks with her tonight.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered.

“He’s going to have to live with his regrets one day,” Brax added.

“Yeah, I just hope my kids aren’t the ones who suffer for his regrets,” Mel put in. “He showed up to do breakfast with them and promised he’d be here the whole day.”

“It’s not even lunch time yet,” I added with a shake of my head. “Let’s go distract them with sandcastles and swimming,” I suggested and Brax followed me down the sandy beach to where the kids were scowling at their father as he walked away. “You should be ashamed of yourself,” I told him as he passed by.

“I can’t win with you,” he muttered.

“It’s not me you need to win with. It’s those two beautiful children you disappointed that needed the win from you today. Congratulations, for once again prioritizing someone else over them.” I turned to look the asshole in the eye then. “That will not happen with my child. It won’t hurt my feelings if she never knows that you’re her biological father, but I won’t allow you to hurt her the way you’re doing your children by always choosing someone else over them.”

“They don’t want me here,” he seethed between clenched teeth.

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