Page 95 of Tripped By Love
The screen door creaked, and Maliyah made her way out, using her cane and the porch rail to sit on the steps next to me. We were quiet, but the sounds of Austin could be heard beyond the silence of her backyard. Cars and horns. The neighbor’s music and voices raised in argument. The Katz’s were renown in the community for their love spats.
“I want you to take Jonas with you,” she said quietly.
I looked at her, surprise in my eyes. “What?”
She patted my arm. “Did you really think I wouldn’t hear about what happened? The social worker called me the day he was hauled into police custody. He’s my responsibility, you know.”
My heart twisted, stomach falling. “Maliyah?”
She smiled. “I know, I know. You were afraid I’d have another episode, so I let you both have your little secret.”
Silence settled down amongst us for a moment before she continued, “I realized after you tried to keep it from me that you both probably thought you were responsible for this. For my heart. I don’t think I ever told you…I had an episode long before you ever came to me.”
A wave of emotions flew through me. Relief followed by more guilt and then fear. Maybe I wasn’t the one to break her heart first, but I also didn’t know what I’d do if she was no longer around, if she died because of it, whether I caused it, or Jonas caused it, or her own body just gave out.
“I don’t want them to put Jonas in a home if something happens to me,” she said quietly, tears filling her eyes. “And I also don’t think it’s good for him to stay here. When school starts, he’ll be drawn back into that world. Arthur and Mel are seniors, and he’s a year below them on the food chain. They can make his life hell if they want to. I’d like him to have a fresh start. I’ve already started talking to the social worker about it. They’d let you take him.”
I tucked her arm through mine, grabbing her hand. “Do you think he’ll even agree to go? We can’t make this decision for him. He’s old enough to make it himself.”
She seemed surprised by my words. Even a few weeks ago, I would have all but forced him into the car and the plane without giving him a choice, needing to protect him from everything that could come after him. But Cassidy had torn back my blinders. I couldn’t save him from his own choices. I had to let him make them and just be there to pick up the pieces if I needed to. Like Maliyah had done with me.
“Can we tempt him with more time with Brady O’Neil and The Painted Horses?” she asked.
I chuckled. “Painted Daisies. The band is The Painted Daisies. And they won’t be in Grand Orchard much longer. They’re just about finished with their album.”
“Damn.”
“Language,” I teased, and she smiled before getting serious again.
“He needs a male influence. He needs you.”
“He’s surrounded with male influences at Maria Carmen’s,” I said.
“It’s not the same. You’re the only one he considers a brother.”
Hell, it hurt my heart at the same time as it filled it.
“Besides,” Maliyah said with a smile, “he spends most of his time with Álvaro when we’re there, and that man is the biggest playboy I know. You want Jonas to learn to treat women as interchangeable body parts?”
I chuckled, and she shoved my shoulder with hers, reminding me of Cassidy who was prone to do the same. My body was crying out to be with my angel again. In my mind, I’d seen myself, like a fuzzy dream, returning to Grand Orchard, but not to the apartment above the O’Neil’s garage, but to Cassidy’s bed. Without even giving it much thought, I’d seen myself getting down on one knee, putting a ring on her finger, and making her and Chevelle both my own. Could I return to her and ask her to accept Jonas and me both? To take our baggage and make it hers?
It was a big ask. To take two tormented men into her life while she tried to raise a son. I supposed instead of going all in, I could simply ask to date her…continue to see her in some way. I could find an apartment or house where Jonas and I could each have our own room so I didn’t have to continue sleeping on the couch. But it left a bitter taste in my mouth because I didn’t want to be apart from her. I didn’t want to just date her. I wanted Cassidy O’Neil to be mine. To belong to me and only me, just like I wanted to belong to her, completely and absolutely.
I tore myself from those images and thoughts back to the porch and Maliyah’s questioning gaze. I’d just have to take it a step at a time. I’d talk with Jonas, get back to Grand Orchard, and figure the rest out from there.
