Page 15 of Long Road Home

I sucked in a breath, the pain of her words ringing clear in her shaky voice.

“You should have asked me, damn it. You should have trusted me enough to work that out. We were leaving town anyway.”

“Yeah? Like you needed some pregnant girlfriend on a college campus while you were off living your dream. What did that leave for me? Following you around, going wherever you went, kid in tow? You think people wouldn’t have looked at you different? Treated you different? Treated you like trash because you showed up at college with knocked up trailer trash at your side? And what was I going to do? Go to school and raise a kid and be with you? Or was I just supposed to drop out?”

She pushed off the counter and flung her hair out of her face, swiping tears off her cheeks. Shoulders straightened, she pointed at me. “I get it. It was wrong. I could look back and tell you a thousand things I’d do differently. I’m sorry I kept him from you. I’m really, really fucking sorry, Jordan. But I’ve given that boy a good life. He has a great school and good friends, and he laughs, and he doesn’t have any of that shit following him. I gave him a life where he doesn’t have whispers following him, telling him the Matsens are nothing but trash and always will be.” Her pointed finger slammed into her chest. “I did that. I did that for him as much as it killed me. And Tillie told me to, so yeah, she lied to you too, but she did it because she also knew it was best for him.”

I popped out of my chair, the force knocking it back on its legs before it slammed back down to the wood floor. “Best for him? Best for him would have been knowing his dad. That’s what would have been best for him!”

My voice reached anger levels and at my shout, Destiny’s gaze went toward the front of the house. “We can’t do this. Not now. Toby’s outside and he’s had a hard enough few days, Jordan. Please, let’s take some time. Take some time to figure out what we want and then we’ll talk. But not like this. Not when we’re screaming at each other.”

Fuck that. If she thought I was going to calmly walk away, she was dead wrong. I knew what I wanted.

I wanted my damn kid. Something she said slammed into my chest, made it burn hot and fierce and my head whipped in the direction of the boy still playing ball.Toby.

Why did it feel so good to finally know his name? “Toby?” I croaked. “That’s his name?”

Her chin wobbled, and she nodded. “Tobias. Tobias Jordan.” A sob escaped her, and she covered her mouth.

My eyes burned at the same time my chest expanded. She’d given him my fucking name without any knowledge of his fucking father who would have moved heaven and earth to give him everything he needed. Including safety and peace.

“Shit, Des. I can’t fucking believe you right now.” I spun on my heels and put my back to her. The hits didn’t stop coming.

“I’m sorry.”

I didn’t need her worthless apologies. I needed ten years back with my kid. I opened my eyes to tell her that when my eyes caught on a box, taped and shoved in the corner. Then another. And another.

Holy shit. She was packing Tillie’s house.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked, throwing my arm in the direction of the boxes.

Her brows furrowed. So I was a squirrel, changing the conversation.

“I’m packing her things and selling her house, Jordan.”

“And leaving? Back to Texas?” The fuck she was. “Are you kidding me?”

She focused on a spot on the far wall, unable to look at me. Her avoidance only pissed me off more. “We live in Texas, Jordan. Our lives are there. His school. My job. My—” She shook her head and stopped. “Please. Let’s take some time. We can figure out a way for you to see him. I promise. And he wants to meet you, I swear it.”

“You told him about me?”

For the first time since I’d walked into that house, my heart slowed. At least she’d been honest with him.

“Last night. He saw our prom photo and put two and two together at the funeral.”

Jesus. She’d lied to him, too. Who knew the woman, the girl I’d wanted to spend the rest of my life with, could end up being such a selfish, irresponsible bitch.

“You can see him. I promise,” she repeated, and my shoulders snapped back. Fucking hell.

“Yeah? And you think I trust that? You think I trust you won’t whisk him away before I ever get to meet him? You’re fucking lucky I haven’t already picked up the phone and called my lawyers. No one in their damn mind wouldn’t give me custody, at least partial, once they know you stole my kid from me.”

It was the wrong thing to say. My brain screamed at me toshut upas I was ranting, but all that anger I’d been holding onto flew out of my throat before I could think.

Destiny’s face went white as a sheet and she stumbled back, already lifting a hand, shaking her head, gasping like a fish for breath. “Get out,” she gasped. “Get the hell out of this house.”

She turned on her heel, rushed down the hall and a door slammed shut.

My hands flew to my head and I tugged on my hair. “Fuck!”

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