Page 55 of Choosing Forever
“Yes it is! At least you have nowhere to hide right now. I need an answer, Darren. Are you seeing her again?”
“No.”
“No? That’s all you’re going to give me?”
“No, I’m not. And if I were, I wouldn’t be going to you for permission.”
She sucks in a breath, eyes flaming. “Yes, you will. You’re not a teenager anymore. Abbie is involved now.”
“Don’t talk down to me. I’mmorethan aware that Abbie’s involved.” I heave a breath and swipe a hand over my head. “I’m not having this conversation here. Where’s Abbie?”
“She’s with Brad at the market. I figured I would keep her away from us while we talked. Discussions about her father and schoolteacher aren’t good for her to hear,” Sasha snaps.
I scowl, losing my patience quicker than I can recoup it. “You know that I’m still on the fence about him being alone with her.”
Sasha lifts both of her brows, lips firming. “Well, it looks like we’re both making missteps, then.”
“Sasha,” I warn.
“Yes? What’s wrong, Darren?”
“You clearly came here to get a rise out of me, and I’m not dealing with it. Please go back to Abbie and respect that I don’t trust your fiancé to be the sole caretaker of our daughter yet. I’m trying to get there.”
“Okay, and what about me?”
“What about you?”
“Am I not allowed to have doubts about who’s watching Abbie as well?”
I blink slowly. “I’m the only one watching her when she’s with me, other than my parents or sister. Don’t tell me you have a problem with my family now. I’ve never once put up a stink about yours.”
“They’re only watching her outside of school.”
“Spit it out, Sasha,” I demand, exhausted.
“Do you really expect me to allow your ex-girlfriend to watch our daughter at school without either one of us there but be sympathetic to you not wanting my soon-to-be husband watching her on his own?”
There isn’t a word for how dumbfounded I am by that. My expression exposes my thoughts, encouraging a frustrated scoff from Sasha.
“Are you really trying to compare my not wanting Abbie alone with Brad because I don’t know him enough to trust him yet to her being in a classroom with her . . . schoolteacher?”
She grips her waist and juts her chin, eyes cruel. It’s the same stance she had the day I watched Delaney walk away from me for the last time, my heart torn to shreds and bleeding. My breath grows thready at the reminder.
“Yes. I am.”
All at once, I’m hit with memories and emotions that I’ve been ignoring for so long. My shoulders threaten to curve forward beneath the weight that slams atop them.
Swallowing, I turn away from her and glance at the sky. I’m still half-naked with my trunks dripping water down my thighs and pooling beneath my feet. The chill helps keep me fromfeeling like I’m going to ignite into flames, even as my cheeks thump with heat.
I turn at the waist the moment Bryce’s voice reaches us. “It seems we missed the invitation for this little rendezvous.”
Sasha’s immediate reaction to my best friend’s appearance is to fake a smile that Bryce doesn’t buy. The smile is gone in a flash. She stares at the woman standing slightly behind Bryce and huffs a breath.
“Unbelievable.”
Delaney’s gaze is soft and almost apologetic when I let Sasha’s comment go and look at her. Embarrassment plows through me at the realization that she quite possibly heard some of Sasha’s and my conversation. The one centred around her.
“We were just about done, actually,” Sasha says.
