Page 36 of Lush Curves

“Exactly,” Sarah said. “Here in Denver, here nearby. You call us, any of us, and we’ll help.”

“I know,” Noah said with the simple faith of a person who knows that they’re loved, loved without question. “You’re always here to help.”

“OK, then, baby boy.” Annie took a deep breath, prepared to release her tenacious hold on her child a bit more. Not completely, of course, because she’dneverdo that with Noah,neverdo that with Sarah, because it went against her motherhood DNA… but she loosened her grip on her son. Let him make the decision to live with Callie if he wanted, if she wanted. Let him take a step away from her, another one. Let him go his own way in this mad, bad, sad world. Just a bit more. “You have my full support.”

“Mine too,” Sarah said. “And Jax’s.”

“Thank you,” Noah said, then in a rare moment of raw emotion, he added, “I know this isn’t easy for you two to do.”

They nodded silently. He nodded back, briefly acknowledging their splitting heartache, then he stood up. “More tea?”

They nodded again, still quietly. They knew that for Noah, this decision was made and this conversation was over, but they needed a few more minutes to adjust to this new reality before heading home.

They needed a few more minutes to figure out how to let him go.

Another cup of tea wouldn’t do it, of course, but it was a place to start.

Chapter Seven

Two weeks later

“So, how was moving-in day?” Sam asked Annie as he scooped vanilla ice cream on top of her warm toffee cake. “Besides totally worrying, I mean. Obviously.”

Annie laughed, accepted the dessert plate. “You know… I think I may have been worrying about things too much. Maybe even overreacting a tad.”

“No!” Sam gave her an exaggerated, wide-eyed stare. “Not you!”

“Yes!” she rejoined, mimicking hisfaux-stunned look. “Yes, me!”

“Do tell.” He sat down next to her on the sofa, positioned himself to give her his full attention. “They looked happy to be living together?”

“Well… they were a bit freaked out at first about all the mess and confusion. The boxes thrown everywhere and towering piles of stuff really challenged their need for organization and order, you know? Noah especially needs for things to be ‘in their place’, can’t move ‘em so much as aninchbecause he notices and gets all fidgety about it, so having his belongings all shoved to the side or put on a whole different shelf or whatever was doing his head in.”

“Yeah?” Sam took a bite of cake, watching her closely. “Did he melt down?”

“No. Jax took him aside and talked to him, kept him focused on the big picture. Jax is great at that, you know. Noah gets all bogged down and tied up in knots about details, but Jax always sees the endgame, and he’s really good at pointing it out to Noah calmly and without talking down to him. So this morning, Jax reminded him about the goal, and had Noah map out all the small steps needed to get there. Once Noah had manageable and individual things focus on again, instead of the hugeness of the mess, then he cooled down. Came back into the living room and started cleaning up and sorting. Then he was OK.”

“Yeah, Jax is a good man.”

“He’s anincredibleman,” Annie said. “I didn’t always think so, but I was too busy being upset about his bike and his dive-bar business toseethat about him.”

“Did you…” Sam’s voice trailed off. “Actually, never mind.”

“No, go ahead.” Annie ate some more cake. “This isamazing, by the way. Did you make it?”

“Are youkiddingme? Ilivein bakeries, honey. Baked goods are my freaking kryptonite, and I’m never going to give up my almost-daily donut. They’re the reason I have to hit the gym four times a week and will never attain supermodel status. So much for my runway career, huh?”

Annie giggled and spooned up some ice cream. “So what were you going to ask me?”

“Just – well. I wondered if maybe Jax reminded you of Billy, if maybe that’s why you didn’t like him?”

“Oh, God, forsure. The first time I met Jax, he rolled on up to my house on a motorcycle, all sexy male confidence and macho swagger. Older than my daughter, far more experienced, hot as hell and didn’t he know it, a clear womanizer. I wastotallyconvinced that he’d take advantage of her innocent heart, sweet-talk her into bed, then use her and dump her, leave her brokenhearted as he moved to the next cute and shiny little thing. Worse, I thought she’d fall for him, likereallyfall for him, and lose all judgement the way that I did. Get knocked up by him, marry him maybe, tie herself to a horrible man for the rest of her days on earth. I didn’twantthat for Sarah… I wanted better for her than for myself.”

“Because you’re a good mother, Annie.”

She shrugged, and Sam resolved yet again to get the woman to learn to accept a sincere compliment. “Anyway, I watched Jax with Sarah, I watched him with Noah. I saw how he treated them both with such respect, so much care. I still didn’ttrusthim, you know, but I started to wonder if maybe he was a diamond in the rough of sorts. If maybe there was a good man under that scowl and hard face, just waiting to come on out. And of course, what he did when Sarah was in her coma… the way that Jax stopped his whole damnlifeto sit by her side, day after day. Brushing her hair, doing her muscle exercises, talking to her, reading to her. Not one syllable complaint, never once said how tired he must have been. He was – he was perfect. He kept me together, he kept Noah together, and he did that while almost falling apart himself.”

“I remember.”

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