Page 80 of The Run Home
“Okay, calm down,” Mom murmured. I gave her a glare that immediately had her backtracking. “Sorry. You’re right. That’s never a helpful statement when one is panicked.”
She gestured to the couch, but I ignored the invite to instead pace the living room, the same thing I’d been doing since Shae told me we were done. Through the fucking door. That was the part I was angry about. When had I ever given her the impression that she couldn’t tell me her deepest and darkest fears straight to my face?
We’d known each other from birth. There was nothing to hide. I got mad and cursed and generally acted a fool at times, but I’d never be physical with her. Hell, I hadn’t even raised my voice through the damn door in fear of upsetting her enough to harm the baby. She was in a delicate condition right now, which meant I needed to tread lightly.
What Iwasn’tgoing to do was give up though.
Mom sank onto the couch and took a deep breath. That wasn’t good. If Mom was thinking before speaking, the news must be terrible.
“What did I do?” I wailed. I’d spent the last three hours wracking my brain, trying to come up with some misstep I’d made. Or something I said? Something I didn’t do? I’d been busting my ass to prove I was the man she needed, but I’d clearly missed something.
“Hey, what’s all the yelling about?” Kinsley stumbled down the stairs, hair a wild mess and a teenage scowl that matched my own.
“Shae’s trying to break up with me,” I said, not bothering to couch the terms or hide this from her. She was eighteen and would have figured it out on her own anyway. Our relationship was finally healing. I wouldn’t lie to her now and jeopardize that.
Kinsley’s eyes went wide, instantly awake and plopping down beside Mom to stare up at me. “What? Why?”
“I don’t know. That’s the problem. She won’t talk to me, so I sent Gigi over there.”
We stared at Mom, who took another deep breath. Jesus, how bad was it??
“She gave me a lame reason and I called bullshit. Then she cried, I hugged her and promised to come back tomorrow to talk it out. These things can’t be rushed.”
My mouth flopped open as I continued to stare at her. That was no fucking help at all. “Wait. What was the bullshit reason?”
Mom rolled her eyes. “Something about raising a baby being hard work and you eventually giving up. You don’t make it into major league baseball being a quitter, so I knew right away that was just an excuse.”
“An excuse for what?” Kinsley asked.
Yeah. Exactly what I was wondering.
“It’s a tale as old as time,” Mom answered mystically.
“I can see how Shae’s the beauty and Dad’s the beast, but I still don’t understand,” Kinsley drawled, instantly getting the reference as she’d grown up a Disney princess fan, hence the Tinkerbell nickname.
I pointed at her. “Yeah, what she said.”
“She’s scared!” Mom exploded. “She said she loves you and then proceeded to tell me why it wouldn’t work out. The girl is running scared from love.”
I froze. “Wait, she said she loved me? Like, those specific words?”
Mom nodded, looking confused. “Yes. Hasn’t she told you that?”
“No!” My hands went back into my hair. “I’ve been giving her space to say it back, but she never said those words.”
“Oh.” Mom deflated. “Well, I’m sorry you heard them for the first time in a game of telephone.”
“Tatum told me he loved me last night.” Kinsley just casually dropped a bomb in the middle of an already tense conversation.
“What?” Fuck, my scalp was killing me. I forced my fingers to let go of the strands and folded my arms across my chest. There. At least I wouldn’t go bald by the end of this conversation.
Kinsley was grinning like a lovesick fool and Mom had her arms around her already. “And I love him too!”
I was going to be sick.
The two women squealed and rocked back and forth like this was the best news ever. While I liked seeing Kinsley happy, I didn’t particularly like her being this wrapped up in a boy at eighteen years of age. She had a lot of living to do before tying herself down to one guy.
“Um, hello? Can we table this for just a minute?”
