Page 30 of The Best of Us

You have family, which means Colin has more now, too. So much to learn.

“Do you think Colin’s been obsessed with this city because he could feel you here when we visited? Is that crazy?”

“No crazier than you being drawn to my sister’s church. Or our son stealing my wallet. And I only wanted it back because of something she wrote to me that was inside it.”

“Wait, what?” I rewound what he’d said, but before I could ask a follow-up question, he spoke again.

“Colin told me where you were.” He stopped stroking my arms but didn’t let go. His eyes had a whole world of hurt in them, and something told me that wasn’t just about Colin. “Not crazy, no,” he added when I’d yet to cut through the uncomfortable quiet. “And I’d rather not talk about my sister.”

Ohhh. Oh God.Chills coasted up and down my arms, pebbling my skin. He probably noticed because he resumed soothing me again.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

I shifted around on his lap, the reality of where and what I was sitting on settling in.

“My body doesn’t give a damn what we’re talking about,” he said, as if reading my thoughts. “Your ass is there and you’re kinda moving around.”

My Scottish had to be showing through my fair skin. I was hot in the face and probably blushing all over. “I should get you off.”Oh. My. God.“I mean, get off you.”

His hands found a new home on my burning-hot cheeks. “You’re still the same girl I met back then, aren’t you?”

“Maybe?”

“Our son is lucky to have you as his mother.”

His words were the final nail in the coffin of my heart, and I was two seconds away from a full-on sob, prepared to list off a million ways I’d failed, but the words “our son” triumphed over the guilt and regret.

“We’ll tell him tomorrow. Is that okay with you?” I deflected, remembering Colin would return soon, so now wasn’t the time to go any deeper.

“Not now?” His hands returned to my arms.

“I’d call out of work tonight, but I’m already on thin ice. We can’t just drop this on him, and I walk out the door later. He’s waited his whole life for this news.”

He nodded. “Right, that makes sense.”

The pain he had to be feeling was terrible, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemies.

“I have a thing tonight, anyway, so tomorrow works.”

Thing? Not my business to ask.“Okay, good. Well, I have the rest of the weekend off. That will give us time after we share the news so he can process it. Do you have plans on Saturday and Sunday?”

“I’ll change them,” he said without hesitation.

“Good, um, thanks.” I shifted around again, and the side of his lips crooked into a semi-smile. “Sorry.”

He angled his head, his smile stretching. “I’m not, but Colin may not react well if he finds us like this.”

Good point.I scooted back onto his thighs, and once I was off him, we both stood.

He turned away from me, and I could tell he was adjusting himself by his movements. I stifled a grin as he turned back to face me a beat later, swiping his finger at the neck of his dress shirt as if trying to distance himself from what he’d just done.

Needing a distraction, I returned the Ziploc to my dresser before Colin came home.

Constantine came up behind me and set a palm on the dresser. He leaned close without our bodies touching as he met my eyes in the mirror. “In case I didn’t clarify, I want to be in your lives.”

The weight of a million tomorrows lifted from my shoulders.

“And you should know that whatever you two need, I’ll give you. A million times over.”

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