Page 34 of Loving You

I kept myself busy by wiping down the counters and double-checking that the coffee maker was set for tomorrow—things I’d done for the first time hours ago.

After a minute, I turned to find her eyes glued to my ass. I couldn’t help it, I had to tease her. “Good view?”

She blinked slow, then threw on a devilish little smile. “Sogood.”

Aaaand that was not a smart move.

It was also pretty shitty of me to bait her like that, and it sure wasn’t doing my body any favors.

I took the plate she’d abandoned after eating half the bagel—better than nothing—and dumped the crumbs before sliding it into the dishwasher.

She watched closely as I grabbed some pain meds, snagged her water bottle, and flipped off the lights in the kitchen. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”

The lamp in the living room was on, but otherwise, the house was dark. She got up and looped her arm through mine, mumbling something unintelligible as we slowly made our way to her room.

Once inside, she stumbled over to the bathroom and shut the door, so I set her water on the bedside table and slipped out to shut the rest of the house down. I locked the dead bolt at the front door and turned off the lamp, then returned to check on her right as she slid into bed.

“Did you at least manage to have a little fun tonight?” I asked from the doorway.

She stared at me with such a serious expression, it made my heart ache. Gone were all traces of the silly, giggling, feisty woman from earlier. Here was the aftermath—the reality.

And not just from the booze, but from whatever the hell had been plaguing her.

She summoned a sad version of a smile and said, “I sure tried.”

I moved to her then, compelled. She watched my approach with curiosity, leaning back into her pillows in order to see me where I stood next to her. “Good night, April. Sleep as long as you can.”

And then, despite my better judgment, I bent and dropped a kiss to her head.

She exhaled as I pulled away, and when I saw her face, it almost physically hurt. I couldn’t explain the reasoning other than it was worry I had for whatever the hell was going on.

I needed to understand and fix it.

That’s what all this was.

It had nothing to do with her trusting me to be so close to her when she was vulnerable. It had nothing to do with how much I liked her, even when she was broke-ass drunk.

And it certainly had nothing to do with her faintly whisperedthank youas I left, and the incredible sense that it should’ve been me thanking her.

* * *

Kate’s car sat out front of my mother’s house when I pulled up the next morning. I’d checked on April twice—once when I first woke at six, and again at nine when I decided to leave her be and go collect a few more pieces of information.

Starting with one Jenna Walker.

The fact that Kate was here too and had a bit less to drink than everyone else had would be useful. But when I walked inside to find my mom cheerily dancing around the living room in front of Lea, and Kate cradling a mug of coffee, anger shot through me.

There was no way either of them had had half as much to drink as April or they wouldn’t be grinning, and I suspected Will would’ve still been caring for Lea.

“Well, there’s my handsome son,” my mom said, not even bothering to look up.

“Do you even know which one of your sons it is?” I asked, irritated with her and Kate and everyone… except Lea. I dropped to a knee and smiled at her where she sat in her baby swing. Her answering smile made that anxious, angry feeling in my chest pop and deflate. “Hi, little one. Is your wacky grandma making a fool of herself for you?”

My mom straightened. “Any good grandparent worth their salt is willing to surrender dignity in the name of baby smiles.”

I huffed a reluctant laugh, feeling the need to cut through the shit. “Listen, I came here for a reason.”

My voice came out sharper than I’d planned, and my mom, Kate, and even baby Lea looked up at me with concern.

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