Page 53 of Finding Forever

“That looks painful. You should put some ice on it,” I said flippantly as I pushed my front door open.

Chris opened his mouth to say something, but by the time he got the words out, I’d already closed the door and was working on the locks.

It wasn’t my job to nurse him back to health.

“Is everything okay in here?” my mom asked, walking from the kitchen with a steaming mug of tea. It was her nightly ritual to drink tea at the kitchen table and read the day’s paper.

Knowing all that, I still jumped when she appeared in front of me.

“Mom, you scared me.” My hand clutched the front of my robe as I gasped.

Curiously, my mother observed my actions and took a sip of tea. “Want to talk about whatever it is that has you walking around here acting as if you’ve seen a ghost?”

Thinking about it, I immediately shook my head. I didn’t want to rehash anything that had just happened until I had fully processed it myself.

“Let me sleep on it,” I told her before disappearing into my room.

And what exactly would I say tomorrow when she asked me again? Words failed me even as I tried to explain it to myself. An agonizing ache burned in my chest. A feeling I was quickly able to identify as heartbreak. The last time I’d felt this low, Chris had been involved.

What were the odds that he’d be the culprit of me revisiting those agonizing feelings?

As easy as it would be to shift the blame entirely to Chris, I knew the real culprit. Maverick was a grown man and nobody had forced his hand. He’d easily admitted to hitting Chris after I defended him in the past.

I felt blindsided by the events that took place this week. First, those stupid custody papers and now this. What if Chris pressed charges against Maverick for hitting him? I’d spent so much time avoiding getting the legal system involved in our lives, and now it looked inevitable.

Skin care routine forgotten, I crawled into bed and the tears shake my body until I was too exhausted to do anything but fall into a fitful sleep.

∞∞∞

Trying to focus at work after a night of terrible sleep and a ton of troublesome thoughts plaguing my mind was proving difficult. Okay, not difficult.Impossible. As soon as I woke up, memories of last night flashed through my mind. I was disappointed to realize it hadn’t just been a bad dream.

But, no.

Chris had come to my door.

I’d called Maverick.

And he had confessed to doing the unthinkable.

And then I’d gone to bed trying to wish away my reality, only to wake up and be faced with the same nightmare.

I hated everything about this.

Something told me there was more to the story with Maverick and Chris, but I was too far gone to even consider it. It didn’t help that we’d been in a tiff prior to me finding out, so the news could not have come at a worse time.

I was immobile, at my desk staring down at my hands when I heard the office door’s welcome chime play to let me know someone has walked in. On auto pilot, I went into my usual greeting. “Welcome to Dr. Long’s Family Dentistry, how—”

My words stalled as Enrick and Penny came into view. Why had my life turned into one agonizing loop of unexpected—and unwanted—visitors?

It was really getting annoying. It felt like any control I had over the usual interactions was out of my hands.

Like I said, I hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Hated it.

Maverick’s younger brother walked up to my desk with a docile Penny at his side. The closer they got, the more unease entered my heart. Well, that was, until I saw the beginnings of a smile on Penny’s face.

A smile I had missed for so long. Despite the chaos happening around us, she looked to be in better spirits, and that did a lot to soothe the aching in my chest.

“Hi, honey!” I called out to her, unable to contain it. The little girl was a light and my adult problems could wait while I greeted her. Speaking of adult problems, Enrick’s eyes were trained on me and it made me squirm a bit.

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