Page 45 of Moore to Love

Waking up at Ellie’s house with the kids was a whirlwind of activity. She’d been right about Benjamin and Madison being ready for this step because they barely blinked at finding me in the kitchen, helping to make breakfast when they woke up. And I’d been right about how quickly word would spread about being a couple because my mom texted me when I was in the shower while Ellie did school drop-off.

Knowing it was better to head her off at the pass, I called her instead of sending a reply.

“Finn Elias Moore,” she three-named me, letting me know that she wasn’t happy with me. “Why am I the last one to hear that you’re in a serious relationship?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Plenty of people don’t know about Ellie and me yet, Mom.”

“Your cousins must be in the loop since word around town is that Ellie went to the wine bar with Skylar, Waverly, and Vienna last night,” she argued.

I winced at the speed at which the Mooreville grapevine worked. “It’s barely eight o’clock in the morning, and you’ve already heard all that?”

“Yes, and I also now know that she works for you, has two children, and your grandfather thinks she’s wonderful.” She sniffled. “And that you told her you loved her before kissing her in front of an entire bar full of people.”

“Grandpa is right. She really is wonderful. You’re going to love her, Benjamin, and Madison.”

“A boy and a girl,” she whispered. “How sweet.”

There was a pounding on the door, so I quickly pulled on my jeans. “I’m going to have to call you back later, Mom. Someone’s here, and they don’t sound happy. I want to take care of whoever it is before Ellie returns from dropping the kids off at school.”

When the knocking repeated, louder this time, I raced downstairs without bothering to put on a shirt first. Throwing open the door, I hissed, “What the fuck do you want?”

Her ex-husband puffed out his chest and tried to push past me. “Where’s Ellie?”

No way was I going to let him inside her house when she wasn’t here. Bracing myself, I widened my stance so he couldn’t get around me. “School starts in ten minutes. Where the hell do you think she is?”

His gaze dropped to my bare chest, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “Go put a shirt on, for fuck’s sake. You shouldn’t be walking around my children’s home half naked.”

Although I didn’t owe him any explanations, I muttered, “I was fully dressed while they were here. I waited until after they left to hop in the shower.”

“After spending the night?” he hissed.

Ellie stomped up her front steps to face off against her ex. “That’s none of your business.”

I’d been so focused on him that I hadn’t even heard her pull into the driveway. But I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let her confront the jerk alone, so I stepped out onto the front porch and closed the door behind me. Moving to her side, I wrapped my arm around her back to let her know she had my full support.

“It absolutely is my business. You let him watch our kids without talking to me about it first,” he growled, planting his fists on his hips as he paced back and forth on the front porch.

Ellie heaved a deep sigh, her hand tightening on my arm as she nodded. “I did, and for that, I’m sorry. But only that.”

“They shouldn’t have even known about him before I did,” he argued.

“You don’t have a whole heck of a lot of room to complain, Thad. You introduced Penny to Benjamin and Madison before our divorce was final without saying a word to me about your decision,” she pointed out. “And that was a much more confusing time for the kids since they didn’t understand what our breakup meant yet.”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, well…they have good reason to be confused now, too.”

“I don’t understand why you think that.” Ellie shook her head. “Things have been going so well lately. You haven’t missed a weekend with the kids, and that consistency has been really helpful, especially for Benjamin.”

“I broke up with Penny,” the bastard blurted, his angry gaze darting toward me. “And the kids know that I want to work on our marriage.”

“What in the hell did you just say?” she hissed, stomping over to him to jab her finger against his chest. “Please tell me that you did not get our children’s hopes up about their parents getting back together without so much as a conversation with me first? Because if you had bothered to talk to me about our marriage that officially ended almost two years ago but was over much longer than that, then I would have gladly explained to you that pigs will fly before I would so much as consider for even one minute getting back together with you.”

I moved to stand at her side again, crossing my arms over my chest to stop myself from slugging the guy. “And as a veterinarian, I can confirm that’s never going to happen.”

“Butt out,” Thad growled, his eyes narrowing. “What happens between my wife and me is none of your damn business.”

“Ex-wife,” I corrected, emphasizing the important part.

“If you’d do the right thing and back off, we could be together again,” Thad insisted.

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