Page 62 of My Not So Wicked Boss (My Not So Wicked 3)

“Leland, keep talking like that and you will never see Chloe. I’ll hire the best lawyer money can buy. That’s a promise, not a threat.”

That wiped the smirk off his face. “I just want to see our daughter.”

“Why?”

He stared at me blankly like I’d asked him a difficult question.

“Is this just to spite me?” I finally asked when he couldn’t answer.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I know I screwed up. I wasn’t ready to be a dad when we had Chloe. I didn’t want to marry you, but my dad me told that’s what a real man would do.”

I grabbed my heart and held back tears. I wasn’t under some delusion that deep down Leland had wanted to marry me, but his words still cut because the girl inside me wanted to believe that he loved me in his way, and that she was at least wanted by the boy she gave everything to. “You can quit reminding me that you didn’t want me. I got the message loud and clear.”

“I did want you,” he scoffed, “but not the way you wanted me to. I wanted to have fun and you always had expectations. Like my wife,” he said quietly.

“I thought she was the one,” I mocked him.

He ran his hands through his hair and paced. “She doesn’t have any idea, just like you didn’t, about the pressure.”

“What pressure?”

“To provide for a family. I didn’t get to finish college, so it’s hard to find good paying jobs.” He cast me an accusatory look.

I found it rich he didn’t think I knew how hard it was to provide for a family. What did he think I had been doing for the past twelve years in his absence? “Don’t blame me for that decision. Your dad offered to pay for you to keep going and I supported that. I even offered to work two jobs so you could finish. You’re the one who dropped out, insisting it was a waste of time.”

He threw his hands up in the air because he knew I was right.

“Leland, I don’t know what’s going on between you and your wife, but think about this before you decide if you really want to see Chloe. She has expectations of you. Those include you being all the way in. So, if you’re not ready to be present and involved, don’t continue to hurt her. She doesn’t deserve it.” I pointed toward the café. “She’s in there right now scared to see you because she so badly wants you to love her,” I choked out, “but she’s afraid you won’t.”

“I do love her.” It was the first time I ever heard any real emotion in his voice.

“Then prove it to her. Even if that means leaving her alone.”

He stared at me with bulging eyes. His lips parted several times to speak but he never did. He eventually walked off without another word.

I bent over and tried to catch my breath.

Miles came rushing out. “Are you all right?”

I stood up and inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I think I’m going to be.”

Miles opened his arms.

All I had to do was nod my acknowledgment and acceptance of what he was silently offering, and like oppositely charged magnets, the force drawing us together was too hard to fight. I found I didn’t want to. In his arms, I felt empowered and safe.

I sank into him, letting go of all the tension in my body. “You’re the best boss ever,” I laughed against his chest.

He didn’t laugh with me. Instead, he rested his chin on my head. “We may need to do something about that.”Chapter Twenty-FourI felt like there was a weird tension between Miles and me all week after what transpired on Saturday. He wasn’t avoiding me, but our interactions were short and to the point, including dinner and bedtime. He would eat, help clean up Henry, and then go back to work. At bedtime, he would meet me in Henry’s room, read him a story, tuck him in, take the monitor, and say goodnight. He was never curt, always kind to me, but professional. It was as it should be.

Why did I feel so empty, then?

I was going to contemplate that question while I drank a glass of wine and binged Broadchurch, a British crime drama I had been meaning to watch on Netflix. Chloe was spending the night at my parents’, so it was a good night to unwind and watch a show I wouldn’t allow her to see. Her soccer game had been canceled due to all the cold rain we had received the last week and chances were high it was going to snow tonight. Hello, October.

Before I headed for the cottage, I wanted to give Miles the drawing I had completed of Henry and Sophie. I was kind of thinking it could be a ‘thank you’ for being so kind to Chloe and me last week. It meant the world to her that he had come to her soccer game and taken interest in her. Especially in light of Leland failing miserably. He hadn’t contacted me again. I supposed that was his answer. I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or devastated. Or pensive. Leland had a way of surprising me in the most unpleasant ways imaginable. For all I knew, he would show up with Kylie one of these days.

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