Page 132 of Rinkmates

“Where is he now?” Riley says, still brushing away tears with his thumbs.

My face feels so hot. My nose is so full. I can’t even breathe through it anymore without sniffing. Shit. I knew I’d be a mess the minute I started talking about Rory.

“Some friends,” I say through tears and bite them back again, and start anew, “Some friends told us about a family in Pennsylvania, a couple in their fifties who always wanted a child but couldn’t have them themselves. I made an agreement with them—they would be his grandparents, and they agreed to take him until I could afford to take care of him and myself. They’ve even paid for flights so I could visit, let us FaceTime wheneverwe wanted, visited Mom and me. But every time I had to say goodbye—”

The sobs take over again, it’s out of my control, each one rippling through me like a tsunami. Everything I bottled up for so long—the pain, the isolation, the agony of leaving my son behind—breaks free, swallowing me whole. But no matter what, Riley holds me through it all, whispering words of comfort against my hair.

In the depths of my sorrow, one truth keeps me afloat.

Riley is still here. Still holding me. He hasn’t turned away.

For the first time in forever, I don’t feel alone.

“All the moments I lost,” I whisper, pulling back just enough to meet Riley’s gaze again. “I missed his first steps, Riley. I missed his first words. I missed his first day of kindergarten, and now he’s already four, and I missed his birthday on May twenty-eighth. I have a four-year-old son who barely knows me.”

There’s a sinking sensation in my gut. When his birthday came around last week, I really wanted to visit him, but I had the show, and it just wasn’t possible. I constantly feel like the worst mom, and missing his birthday only makes it worse.

“Shit, Lia…” Riley whispers.

“Mom and I worked ourselves to the bone, saving every penny we could to move closer to my baby. We were so close, Ri. So damn close. But the renting costs always got higher and higher and it felt like we worked for nothing, but then I heard about Grace’s show, about the million-dollar prize, and I knew it was my best shot. The fastest way to stop missing moments with my boy.

“I took the money we saved and put it toward rink fees, a new costume since I sold anything but my old skates. I even reactivated my Instagram after five years. I asked if anyone knew of an affordable apartment, since the prices were way too much for me. And then Nina messaged about a cheap apartment…”

“I’m so glad she did,” Riley says. “I’m so glad I met you, Liora.”

Trailing off, I shake my head. “I have to win this, Riley. It’s the only way I can get my son back.”

“That’s why you did it,” Riley says, and I can’t quite understand the look he gives me. Admiration? Is it that? “Only a mother would fight like this. Only a mother who loves with her whole heart would put herself at last.”

I nod. “I have to stop losing moments, Ri.” It’s why I can’t believe Riley’s parents willingly gave away all these moments they could have shared with their son. I never would.

He nods. “We can leave now. Let’s go get him.”

I shake my head. “No, I need to do this myself, I know you would help me, but I am a week away from finally solving it. I’m not the girl that looks for a rich man to do it all for her.”

“You don’t have to—”

I put a hand on his chest, so grateful that he wants to help. “I’ve come so far. I can fix it now. I can’t be in anyone’s debt anymore. Mom and I worked our asses off to pay the sponsors back. I’m so close to fixing it. Let me fix it, Ri.”

He waits, unspoken works hanging between us.

“But…but I understand if it’s too much for you, if you don’t want to be tied down by all my baggage. I love you, but I love you enough to let you go if that’s what you need.”

Riley’s brow furrows, his whiskey eyes swirling with an emotion I can’t quite name. Fear claws at my throat. This is it. The moment he realizes I’m too broken, too complicated. That I’ve come with a family.

“Lia, I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but I’m not going anywhere. There’s nothing about you I can’t love. Rory is a part of you. How couldn’t I love him?”

I gasp for air. Is this real? Is he really saying these things?

“You love me too,” he adds. “There’s nothing that holds us back now.”

“There is. I have a son.”

“And I can’t wait to meet him.”

I rake a hand through my hair. He doesn’t understand. “My boy didn’t have a mother for three years of his life. I can’t just introduce him to a man who might leave us.”

He winces. “Why would I leave?”

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