Page 45 of All Our Secrets

As soon as I took the first step forward, Gerald said, “Let her rest.”

“Listen to my dad.” I had forgotten about Theodore until I heard him speak. “Better yet, stop touching my wife.”

I watched Theodore run up the stairs after Peyton and squeezed my hands into fists until the knuckles turned white. Looking after my Peyton was difficult when no one wanted me around her.

I really hated leaving her in that house with the ghost of her husband. But I had loathed leaving her ever since the day at the bar.Fucking dumbass.Theodore might be haunting me, his wife, and his home, but what truly haunted me most was that one simple choice. That one regret made me the outsider to the only person I’d ever connected with.

On my drive home, I got a text. Two words from Peyton. A smile stretched across my face.

THANK YOU.

Slowly, once more, I entered her life.

Chapter Nineteen:

please

Peyton

It’d been two days since my mom left, and I still felt drained. Not physically. My mind was harder to take care of than my body. And to make matters worse, breastfeeding still was not going as I wanted. Whether it was stress or something beyond my control, I was tired and needed help.

So I went to the doctor and heard the words I’d been preparing myself for. Supplementing with formula. He should have gained a few ounces since our last visit. She told me to keep trying, but that we may have to mix formula with my breastmilk if things didn’t change. As much as I wanted this to work for Junior and me, what was best for him would always come first.

Maybe things would have been different if I wasn’t so weighed down by life. I wouldn’t dwell on it much longer, I promised myself. I was sick of being so depressed. We’d try a little longer and see, but whatever the result, it would be okay. Such was life. Things were out of our control. All that mattered was keeping my baby boy healthy.

But what if his little stomach didn’t take to formula?

Stop, Peyton.

I needed normalcy in my life if I wanted to feel better, so I stopped by Sarah’s after the doctor’s visit.

“It’s so good to see you out of the house.” Sarah ushered us inside.

“It feels good too.” I glanced around. “Devin at work?”

“Yeah. King has been a loose cannon lately.”

I perked up. “Is that so?”

“Yeah.” She tilted her head, gaze flickering over me slowly before she smirked. “Wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Oh sweet baby Jesus. Had she caught me looking at him in a more than friendly way? I loved Theodore, but my gazecouldhave been questionable long ago. When Theodore and I first started dating. I definitely hadn’t looked at him in any sort of way recently.

I shrugged. “Silas is always like that.”

“His mom’s back in town. She’s staying at his place. I figured you’d know.”

Oh, so that’s what she meant.

But… “His mom?”

“Yeah, in and out all his life, or so Devin says. Always going after men with money.”

“I didn’t know that.” I pursed my lips as I sat on the sofa. After giving me all that shit over my mom, it seemed he had issues to work out with his own mother.

I bounced my knee, thinking about how he’d come to my rescue.

Sarah exhaled. “I heard about your mom coming to town too.”

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