Page 133 of When the Stars Fall
“Did you win, Daddy?” Noah asked, his eyes wide, forearms planted on the countertop as he knelt on the tall stool, his rapt attention focused on the man who was clearly a hero in his eyes. The stool tipped forward on two legs. My hand shot out to steady him so the stool wouldn’t fly out from under him and he’d end up face-planting on the granite. I kept my left hand on the wooden leg and drank my coffee with my right hand.
Brody shook his head. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “Nope. Getting too old.”
“Old?” Lila said with a snort. “You’ve only just turned thirty-one.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Been doing it since I was a teenager. The best guys on the circuit now are ten years younger than me.”
Lila gave him a little jab with her elbow. “Time to hang up your spurs, cowboy.”
He raked his fingers through his hair and exhaled loudly. “Looks that way.”
“I know you love it, Brody,” she said. “But we need you to stay safe and strong. That damned old rodeo has left you with more broken bones and injuries than any man should ever have in a lifetime.”
He side-eyed her. “Careful there. You’re starting to sound like you actually care.”
“I do care. I worry about you every time you’re on the road.”
I gritted my teeth, surprised that the mug in my hand didn’t crack under the pressure of my tight grip. She worried about him. Like he was going off to a combat zone instead of a stupid rodeo where all he had to do was stay on the back of a horse. He did it for the glory, for the cheers of the crowd and the adoration. I knew this because I’d gone to watch him in plenty of rodeos back in high school where he’d swagger around like he was God’s gift to women.
“And I always tell you not to worry,” he told Lila. “I’ll always come home.”
The dig was intended for me. But Lila was feeding right into it. Lapping this shit up.
This was a cozy little family scene and I was the odd man out. “You done?” I asked her tersely, reaching for her plate which she hadn’t touched since the cowboy swaggered in and took up residence right the fuck next to her.
“Yeah, but don’t worry about the dishes. I can—”
Ignoring her protests, I cleared the dishes.
“Yeah, Mommy,” Noah piped up. “Daddyalwayscomes home.”
I filled the dishwasher and slammed it shut with more force than I’d intended. Then I turned around to tell Lila that we needed to get out of here. Let Brody take Noah so we could spend our day together.
“Time for you to run?” he asked me. “Things aren’t going your way?”
“Brody,” Lila warned. “Don’t start.”
He smirked. “Just calling it the way I see it.”
Deep breaths. He was baiting me. He’d set up this scene on purpose because he wanted me to see that they were a family.
“Don’t get too attached to your Uncle Jude,” Brody told Noah. “He has a habit of running away when the going gets tough.”
My hands clenched into fists. That son of a bitch.
“Brody,” Lila hissed. “You need to stop.”
“Hey buddy, why don’t you go and get ready? We’ll go see the horses. Can you get yourself dressed?”
“I can do it,” Noah said, hopping down from his stool and running out of the kitchen.
When Noah was gone, Brody said, “It’s fun playing house, isn’t it? But you’ve only been doing it for a few weeks. And now I’m back. You won’t have Noah and Lila to yourself anymore. Let’s see how you deal with that. You were never very good at sharing.”
“Not when the person was mine to begin with.”
“Like I said, Noah’s mine, not yours. And Lila—”
“Belongs to no one,” she interjected. “I’m my own person. And I’m sitting right here. I’m not a bartering chip. I’m not a plaything you two can fight over. So stop marking your territory by pissing all over it. If you can’t settle your differences…” She stopped and shook her head, her eyes darting to me. “If you can’t do that, none of your sweet words or anything else will make a bit of difference.”
