Page 139 of Their Greatest Strength

“That’s the last time you bring up Nate,” I warn, pushing off the pole. “I’m not playing games with you. You’re nobody to me, and you’re sure as hell nobody to him.”

She cocks her head, trying to read me with little success. Her sigh is exasperated. “I’m not interested in playing games, Blakely. I was just hoping that you would still feel some loyalty to your mother and be open to helping if I came to you.”

“Loyalty?” I spit the word and sneak a look around us before pinning her with a glare. “You wouldn’t know loyalty if it bit you in your ass,Mother. The fact you thought for even one second that you’d be able to just show up out of nowhere and try to get anything from me shows how little you paid attention to me when you were still around.”

“I really wish you weren’t being this way,” she grumbles.

I blink, staring at her in disbelief. “Do you want an apology?”

“No. But, you’ve left me no other choice but to remind you again that you need to remember who you are and who I am to your brother.”

“Don’t.”

“You love him, don’t you?”

“I love him more than you’ve ever loved anyone in your life,” I declare, throat tightening as my fear starts multiplying.

“He was always a good boy. A bit dim, but quiet. Talented too. Like your husband. I’m sure he’ll go far in his football career.”

I keep looking for Jamie, but he’s still not here. And now, I don’t want him to be. Not if he has Nate with him.

I’d take a million more conversations with this woman before allowing her to see him and for him to be reminded of who she is and why she didn’t stay.

“Get on with it, then. Tell me what it is you want so I can get you out of our lives and keep you there,” I snap.

Her eyes light up, assuming she’s won. “I need money. My rent is due at my place, and I can’t get away without paying it another month.”

“How much?”

“Ten thousand.”

I suck in a breath, jaw hanging open. “What do you mean, ten thousand?”

“It’s been six months.”

Rubbing my mouth, I shake my head. “You can’t expect me to have ten thousand dollars to just give you.”

“I searched your husband up online, Blakely. Have you been unaware that he makes three million dollars a year this entire time you’ve been together?”

It’s hard to keep from visibly showing my surprise because no, I wasn’t aware of that. I never cared. The money he makes has never mattered to me. He could be broker than I was when we met, and I would have fallen in love with him had I still gotten the chance to get to know him the way I have.

“I’m going to be honest, Blakely. I need that money. Without it, I’m going to be on the street, and I won’t survive a winter out here. If you’re not going to get it for me, then I’ll have better luck trying to convince my landlord for another break with my son with me.”

“And if that didn’t work? You’d make him live on the street with you? Why? To prove a point to me? No one in their right mind would allow you to have custody over Nathan with the way you abandoned us,” I push, having trouble pulling in a full breath with the terror seizing my throat and lungs.

“You wouldn’t have a choice but to agree. In the eyes of the law, he’s still my son, sweetie,” she drawls, pushing her lips out in a demeaning pout. “I’m his mother,notyou.”

I can no longer breathe. My reply is wheezed, hardly audible. “I have a few hundred dollars.”

“What is that going to do for me?”

“It’s all I have. If you can wait until?—”

“I can’t, Blakely. Don’t you get it? I’ve pushed it too far to wait. If you had done an interview and grabbed my attention earlier, maybe we could have found a better solution. But now, I’m too short on time,” she says, annoyed.

Tears drip down my cheeks too quickly to dry them all. I’ve faced a lot in my life, including my fair share of back-against-the-wall situations, but I’ve never had anything like that thrown at me. Nathan might not be my son, but he’s still mine. He’s my brother and the other half of me. I’ve done everything for him, and I’ll continue to do that every day for the rest of my life.

“It’s impossible for me to give you more money than what I have.”

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