Page 109 of That One Heartbreak

Her eyes met Marley’s. “Nothing, honey.”

“Why’s Marley here?”

“He’s just leaving, sweetheart.” She walked back to the house, shooing him inside the doorway. “You should be asleep,” she said softly.

“I tried to find you. My arm hurts.”

Her chest tightened. “Like normal hurt? Or worse?” she asked him.

“Normal. I just wanted a hug.”

“You can have all the hugs. Go up to bed, sweetie. I’ll come hug you to sleep.”

“You won’t tell James, will you?” Ethan asked.

“About what?”

“About me needing hugs.”

Her face softened. “James needs hugs sometimes, too. We all do. He wouldn’t tease you about it.”

“Okay, but still don’t tell him.”

She ruffled his hair. “I won’t. Now up you go. I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Thanks, Mom.” He looked past her, out the door. “Is Marley taking the grill away?”

Oh, so he’d seen that. “Yeah, he just thinks it should go.”

“I think it should, too.” Ethan’s bottom lip wobbled. “I hate it.” He pulled out of her grasp and walked to the stairs, his movements heavy with the sleep he must have only just escaped from.

Kate took a deep breath and turned back to look at Marley, trying to remember why she was so mad about the damn grill.

He watched her stroke her son’s hair and send him up to bed, before her shoulders lifted with a deep breath, as though she were readying herself for something. When she turned around the expression on her face was neutral.

At least compared to the anger on it only moments before Ethan interrupted them.

He’d messed up again. He was tired of doing it. He was downright tired. He hadn’t slept for days.

But this argument wasn’t about the grill at all. He knew it and she knew it.

It was an argument about who felt more guilty for Ethan’s burn. And the fact was, she shouldn’t feel guilty at all. It wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one who’d made a solemn vow to Paul before they’d taken him away. She wasn’t the one who’d seen her husband die in front of him, because he didn’t have the fucking skills to save him.

She was the one who suffered, though. And she was suffering again. And it was fucking killing him.

Everything that had happened was down to him. He’d broken his promise.

“You can take the grill,” she said, her voice soft. “Take it all. I don’t want to see it again.”

And because they were both too fucking exhausted to argue, he fetched the rest of it from behind the house while she stood on the porch and watched. And once he’d closed the tailgate he walked up to the door, mostly because he couldn’t leave without saying anything.

“Is Ethan okay?”

“He will be. He just wants hugs.”

He nodded. “Then you should go.”

“Marley…”

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