Page 93 of Hard To Leave

Jesus, this kid was killing me. “Whatever happens between your mom and me has nothing to do with us.”

“She’s not with him, you know.”

I felt my lips curl up in the corner. “I appreciate you saying that. I do.” Quite frankly, I was fucking relieved. “But, I don’t want you to worry about any of that. No matter what, we both love you.”

He sighed. “I wish you both would just apologize and kiss and make up already.”

I laughed. “You hated seeing us kiss all the time. Remember?”

“Yeah, but seeing that all she does is cry now, I’ll take the kissing.”

Talk about being kicked in the chest. I felt fucking crushed. Every waking moment had been consumed with thoughts of her. Wondering how she was and if she and Brogan were together. Wondering where we stood.

When I thought back to all the conversations we had about the future, all the late-night phone calls, she had plenty of opportunities to tell me about Brogan. But she didn’t. I thought I knew her. I trusted her. I wanted to spend the rest of my fucking life with her. Christ, I wanted to give her kid my last name. When all along, she fucking knew and never told me. My anger resurfaced, not doing me an ounce of good with Tanner sitting right next to me.

“I’m sorry that she’s so sad. And I’m sorry that you’re feeling sad too. Your mom and I need to figure some things out, but I don’t want you to worry about that.”

I looked around conspiratorially. “So, in the meantime, want to blow this joint and go get a peanut butter cup sundae?”

His eyes lit up. “Heck yeah.”

I laughed at his reaction while pulling a couple twenties out of my wallet. I placed them on the bar, then turned to Tanner. “Lead the way, buddy.”

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