Page 56 of Someone You Deserve

When I finally hear my son’s voice, my shoulders sag with relief. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hey, honey. How are you feeling today?”

“Besides being sweaty and dirty, I’m okay.”

“Well, a little hard work won’t kill you.”

“I know, Mom. You and Uncle Penn tell me that all the time.”

“Yeah, I know. Speaking of Uncle Penn, I have a question.”

“Okay?”

“He mentioned that he let you demolish a wall last night?”

“Yeah…”

“Was it at his house?”

“No. It was some house I’d never been to before.”

“Did Uncle Penn tell you who the house belongs to?”

“Uh, no. Not that I remember.”

“Did you recognize the place, though?”

He thinks about it for a minute. “Maybe? I think it was in the neighborhood we trick-or-treat in. Yeah, it definitely was,” he says confidently now.

“Okay. Anything else about it that stood out?”

“Why are you so curious about the house?”

“No reason. I just wanted to know where he took you, that’s all.”

“Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention too much, Mom. I was angry and just kept swinging the sledgehammer. And then…” he trails off.

“I know,Bentley. It’s okay.”

He draws in a shaky breath. “Well, anyway, I’m almost done with the weeds and then I have to crush all the aluminum cans.”

“Good work, honey. I’ll see you later tonight. We’ll make some popcorn and watch a movie and just relax before your big game tomorrow.”

“Okay. Love you, Mom.”

My heart instantly melts for the boy I’m still raising and the man he’s slowly becoming. “Love you too, Bentley.”

When I hang up the phone, clutching it to my chest, I take a moment to breathe deeply and remind myself of everything I have to be grateful for. My kids are healthy, I now have a business that I love, and a mother and brother that support me no matter what.

And then there’s Penn.

The man I count on for everything the other people can’t give me.

But do I really want more than that from him? And can that happen without jeopardizing everything else?

***

By the time I got back to the inventory sheets, I decided to wait to speak to Penn about his secret until he came by tonight to install the new floors. That way, I had plenty of time to decide on how I wanted to broach the topic with him. But the more I thought about it, the more it sank in that he kept somethingthatsignificant from me, and the more hurt I felt.

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