Page 109 of Sometimes You Fall

“What’s wrong, Mom? Is Chase all right?”

“You need to come home.”

“Mom, you’re scaring me.”

“It’s Andrew, sweetie,” she says as I feel my stomach drop. “He’s here.”

***

By the time Grady pulls into my driveway, the tension between us is so palpable that you could cut it with a knife. Part of me is eager to hear what he had to say and upset that we were interrupted, but the other part of me is terrified, dreading what brought Andrew all the way to Carrington Cove. Deep down, though, I think I know exactly why he’s here.

Just when things started to feel like they were moving in the right direction, the past had to come back and remind me of my poor choices. Seems like this is a battle I’ll never win.

When Grady helps me down from the truck and Andrew sees my stomach, he starts laughing. “Jesus Christ, Scottie. You moved this far just to be unmarried and pregnant again? Seems like some things don’t ever fucking change, huh?”

“You’d better watch how you speak to her,” Grady interjects, standing in front of me, shielding me from one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“The man you’ll have to answer to if you don’t show Scottie some respect.”

“Respect?” Andrew laughs. “Funny. You know, I could have shown up with the cops since Scottie chose to move out of state without fucking telling me, but I didn’t. How’s that for respect?”

I stand next to Grady now, finding my resolve to face the consequences of my actions and the man who doesn’t deserve my fear orsympathy. “What I find funny is you deciding to show up now, after all this time.”

“My job is demanding, Scottie. You fucking know that.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, it always was more important than anything else, Andrew, including your family.”

“Which I think is reason enough for you to leave,” Grady chimes in.

“I have every legal right to be here. My wife and kid live here, and...”

“Ex-wife,” Grady corrects him sharply, “and a son you haven’t seen in over a year.”

Andrew takes a step closer to Grady, even though Grady towers over him by several inches.

God, I don’t know what I ever saw in Andrew.

And as my blood boils in my veins, I wish for a way to get him to leave our lives for good. Sadly, when you have a child with someone, you’re connected to them forever.

Andrew puffs out his chest. “I don’t know who you think you are, but—”

Cutting him off, Grady lowers his voice, but it doesn’t make him sound any less threatening. “I’m the man who’s having a baby with your ex-wife, the man who gets to love and protect her now, and the man who gets to show your son what it means to actually be a man of his word.”

Oh my God. “Grady…”

Andrew fires back. “Well, she broke the law by taking my son out of state without informing me.”

Grady starts to laugh. “You know, that’s rich coming from you, Andrew Warner.” Andrew’s eyes narrow but Grady doesn’t miss a beat. “You see, I knew this time was coming. When Scottie told me why she decided to move back here, I knew you’d come back around at some point, trying to exercise your perceived power. Men like youalways do.” Grady moves to his truck, swings open the door, and retrieves a manila envelope. Slamming the door shut, he strides back over to us and thrusts the envelope to my ex. “I wanted to make sure you knew the stakes before you started making threats.”

I watch anxiously, my pulse hammering in my ears, as Andrew takes the envelope. I can’t deny that I am also a little curious about what’s inside.

What the hell has Grady been up to?

“You think you can threaten me?” Andrew snarls as he pops the metal clasp and pulls a thick stack of papers from the envelope. His eyes dart back and forth over the words, and as he flips through the pages, his skin goes white.

“You sure you want to get the cops involved, or a judge, for that matter?” Grady asks, folding his arms over his chest, watching as my ex seemingly accepts his fate.

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