Page 48 of Return To You

“Has he been on a plane before? I forgot to ask because, I gotta tell you, Petal, he did awesome,” Noah says as we stand.

I manage to hold in the flinch at the nickname and admit, “No, he hasn’t. When Dad picked us up, it was by car, and after seeing you, Al, and Vanessa, we caught the train back home.”

He clears his throat and says, “Kingstonville is your home, Petal….”

I go to refute his words, but he shocks me when he kisses my forehead, and grabs the strap of my bag, putting it on his own shoulder, before carrying Diego toward the steps of the plane.

I blink and quickly follow, but halt at the top of the steps when I see two figures.

Their eyes light up as Noah walks toward them, bouncing Diego in his arms before passing our bags off to Cameron, but keeping Diego’s diaper bag. Cameron takes them willingly, while Barnett takes hold of my son’s fingers.

Hurt, denial, betrayal, and loss hit me.

I didn’t just lose my family and my love, I also lost my best friends, two men who I saw as older brothers, and who I loved unconditionally.

They chose Noah and I get it, he’s their family, but they didn’t even give me a chance to explain myself.

They left me, too.

Swallowing down the emotions that want to escape, I slowly descend the stairs, and their eyes come my way, both men straightening. Cameron looks at me with guilt, while Barnett looks at me with sorrow.

As I get closer, they both tense, but instead of getting angry, I take Diego from Noah’s arms, and walk over to the SUV, ignoring them.

“Shit,” Noah mumbles while Barnett whispers, “Fuck….”

Cameron, though, doesn’t let me get far. "You know, the old Rose would knee us in the balls right about now….”

“Dude, I fucking value my balls,” Barnett snaps, and I grit my teeth.

Ignoring them, I give the driver a slight smile as he opens the door and, very carefully, I place Diego in the car seat.

My small boy yawns, making me smile as I click him in. Then, without a word to the men, I walk over to Noah, who tilts his head but says nothing; he just watches me.

I don’t make eye contact with him as I grab the teddy bear out of the bag, and I hear him suck in a breath, but I ignore him and turn and walk back to the car, giving the teddy that I had hidden while Noah was at my apartment to Diego, who instantly squeezes it, his eyes closing.

Gently, I shut the door and turn to the three men, pointing at them and snap, “Next time you swear in front of my son, I’ll release all the embarrassing videos I have of all three of you to media!”

Cameron and Barnett both go still, their eyes widening, while Cameron looks like he’s about to be sick because, yes, he used to sing and dance to Britney Spears’ “Lucky.”

Noah smirks. “Mama bear not playing around, huh?” I narrow my eyes at him, but he grins and admits, “You can publish any video of me you want; it’ll just confirm everyone’s theories that I married my high school sweetheart.”

I narrow my eyes at him as Barnett snaps, “No, no! She has a video of us fucking singing fucking Hannah Montana to make her smile when her dad forgot her fourteenth birthday, jackass!”

I bite my bottom lip to stop my smile before I say, “And let's not forget the one of you three running butt naked through school after I stole all your clothes.” Cameron and Barnett’s faces pale, but Noah, smiles, not caring, but it soon wipes when I add, “And Noah, if you hadn’t ran with your tail between your legs, then wewould have beenmarried by now.”

His jaw flexes, but I ignore him, look at the other two, and say, "By the way, Noah drank Diego’s milk, not realizing it was breastmilk.”

Both men grin and look at Noah, who drops his head. I turn and climb into the SUV next to Diego, and wait for the boys.

Being around all three of them again is hard and so goddamn heartbreaking.

They were my family, and they abandoned me….

Twenty minutes—that’s how long it took to get to my dad's, while for me, it felt like hours. Cameron and Barnett kept asking questions I refused to answer, and because I refused to answer, they started bringing up memories of the past, but I ignored them.

They can’t act like everything is okay because it’s not.

When the driver stops in front of the home I grew up in, my dad opens the front door, smiling wide, and I can’t help but smile a little myself, especially at the way his light green eyes light up when he sees a sleeping Diego through the window.

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