Page 42 of The Neighbor's Son

“To talk about getting back together.”

Brayden chooses this moment to reenter the living room. He winces at Derek’s statement. “Here, babe. Just how you like it.”

I accept the steaming mug and flash him a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

“Should I go?” Brayden asks, eyes locked on mine.

No.

Please stay.

I’ll get rid of him.

And yet, I find myself nodding. Derek is struggling, actually showing emotion for once, and he needs to get it out. I can at least hear what he came to say.

Hurt flashes in Brayden’s eyes, but he quickly shutters the look. He presses a soft kiss to my forehead and then slips out of the house without another word. A shiver races down my spine. It’s as if he took his sunny warmth with him.

I sit down on one end of the couch and draw a blanket into my lap. Mo prances into the room, meowing and letting his presence be known. I pat my thigh, and he jumps up onto my lap so he can get morning cuddles.

“You got a cat?”

“Stole it.”

Derek’s expression of horror would be comical if I weren’t so annoyed about him being here in the first place.

“Maggie,” I explain with a sigh. “Mo just visits when he wants.”

Derek stops pacing to take a seat on the other end of the sofa, angling his body toward me. “It was not easy seeing that up there.”

Me with another man.

“I’m sorry it upset you.”

He scrubs a palm over his scruffy face. “Nick told me he saw you. Failed to mention your date was a teenager.”

“You’ve made your point how you feel about that, but I won’t continue to take this level of disrespect from you in my own home.”

His body flinches and I know I’ve gotten through to him. He’s being an asshole, and he knows it.

“Sorry,” he grumbles. “I just got jealous, you know? The thought of you with someone else made me miss our good times.”

“Too little, too late, Derek.”

He nods. “I can see that now.”

“This isn’t like you. You’re not explosive or angry. In fact, you usually bottle up all your feelings.”

“I gave up smoking,” he says with a grunt. “Turns out when you can’t smoke, the feelings burst out a lot more easily.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I just thought about us and…” His bottom lip quivers just once, making my heart ache.

“The baby,” I whisper. “Not a day goes by where I’m not sad too.”

“It really messed us up losing it.”

I take a sip of my coffee as I stroke Mo’s soft fur. “We were messed up before getting pregnant. We were too stubborn to admit it.”

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