Page 44 of Need You To Choose Me

“Hey, what are you doing there?”

“Hungry.” He glances at the door before his attention returns to me. “Who was that?”

Shit.

“Our neighbor.”

How much did he hear? I go back over my conversation with Savannah. We didn’t mention the baby, but still…

I have to tell them.

I tried a couple of times, but every time I opened my mouth, it was like I couldn’t find the right words. How the hell was I supposed to explain to them what happened? Levi wouldn’t understand it, but Daniel… he would understand it perfectly. Which was exactly what I was afraid of.

His eyes narrow slightly. “What did she want?”

“Something about her porch?” I shrug, trying to play it off and start toward the kitchen, changing the subject before hecan ask any more questions. “I was actually just going to start dinner. We have tacos. How does that sound?”

“Fine.”

Levi joins us a little while later, and the two of them set the table while I finish the food. Meanwhile, Levi chats about school and his new friends, including a boy he wanted to invite over.

I was grateful that he seemed to be doing well and adapted so quickly, then again, this was Levi. Up until Reina left, he was always a cheerful and happy kid with lots of friends.

I glance toward my oldest son as we sit at the table to eat. “How is school?”

“Fine.” He shrugs, shoving a big bite of taco in his mouth.

“Make any new friends yet?”

“No.” He rolls his eyes. “They’re all weird.”

“Kyle’s not weird!” Levi defends instantly.

“Well, all the kids in my school are weirdos. And their accent is so thick I can barely understand them.”

“You should give them a chance, Daniel.”

“Why would I do that?” He looks up, anger flashing in his irises as he glares at me. “They don’t seem to have a problem with judging me. So why should I give them a chance?”

“If you came with that attitude, I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Whatever, I don’t care about what they say. I don’t need friends like them anyway. Besides, I’ll be going to college soon.”

I don’t point out that he has to graduate high school first in order to do that. Daniel was a smart kid, but since starting high school he barely put in any effort whatsoever. He kept getting in with the wrong crowd, which didn’t help motivate him to do better in school.

“Any extracurricular activities you’ll be picking out?”

“Like what? Horseback riding?” he snorts. “Yeah, I think not.”

“I’ll be playing football.”

My head snaps up, and I look at Levi, who’s shoving a huge bite of taco into his mouth, his hands sticky with the sauce.

“You wanna play football?”

Contrary to some of my teammates and colleagues, I didn’t put pressure on my kids to play football. Daniel used to insist we play catch when he was younger. It was like he was obsessed with it. We could stay out in our backyard for hours just tossing the ball. He wanted to play peewee football, and for a kid, he had a really good arm on him, and he was wicked fast. Then, one day, he just stopped. I’m not sure what happened exactly. Did he lose interest? Or did I just become too busy and told him no one too many times, so he simply gave up? Probably the latter. Either way, around eight he stopped playing and hadn’t picked up a ball since.

Levi, on the other hand, never showed much interest in playing. He liked to watch me out on the field, but to actually be the one with the ball? Not that kid.

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