Page 61 of Needing You

Instead, because I’d hurt him by keeping him out of Jackson’s life for so long, Will had taken it upon himself to force us into a new life without giving me a say in the matter. We weren’t partners now because we never had been. And unfortunately, I had a feeling that meant we neverwouldbe.

I heard footsteps bounding up the wooden stairs, and my heart quaked thinking Jackson was back so we could hug it out and maybe even have a good cry. But when my son didn’t let himself into our apartment, and instead there was a tentative knock on the door, I knew right away it was Will.

Lovely.

“Come in,” I called numbly, knowing Jackson hadn’t locked the door behind him, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have done so since I was pretty sure he’d left without his keys.

There was a pause, then the doorknob turned, and Will’s face appeared through the crack in the door. He opened it slowly, like he was afraid I’d be ready to charge at him or hurl accusations at him like knives. But honestly? I was too damn tired.

Seeming to sense that he wasn’t walking into the line of fire, Will came all the way in and closed the door softly behind him. He stepped forward, jamming his hands into the front pockets of his blue jeans. There were beads of water on the shoulders of his leather jacket and cheekbones and throughout his mop of black hair, and I realized it must be raining.

Pain stabbed through me with a new force. Not only had Jackson gone off for a run after dark—because let’s face it, he wasn’t a kid anymore, but I still worried about him—but he was also running in the rain. It just seemed so…sad.

“Kate,” Will said, sitting on the coffee table in front of me and dipping his head so he could catch my eyes. “Can we talk? Please?”

“Sure.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

I blinked, tucking my back deeper into the couch as if I needed a little distance to see him better. His face was totally composed, but there was a fierceness in his eyes—like he’d do or say anything at this moment to make sure I felt the truth in his words.

But what was he even talking about?Leavingme? Did he mean that if I didn’t want to go with him to Denver, that was just too damn bad because I wouldn’t have a choice?

Before I could reply, he reached forward and grabbed my hands in a vice grip. “I said, I’mnotleaving you. Or Jackson. I don’t know what that asshole said to you at the bar, but whatever it was, it was complete bullshit. I’ll tell you the same thing I told Eric. I don’t know what I did to deserve you and Jackson, but now that I have you both, I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to keep you.”

Stunned, I looked down at our joined hands, realizing I had more energy in me than I realized. Or maybe his words gave me a second wind. Abruptly—so abruptly he failed to stop me from yanking my hands free and dashing to my feet—I moved away from him and ran my fingers through my hair. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Kate, listen to me—”

“No,youlisten,” I hissed. All the sadness I’d felt moments before morphed into the exact kind of rage my son had shown me before he’d stormed out of here. Maybe he hadn’t gotten all of his rarely displayed temper from his father after all. “If you think I’m going to let you uproot my son and move him to Denver just because you’ve decided you’re going to do whatever you can tokeepus,you’re dead wrong.”

His face changed from determination to confusion, and he took a step back with his palms up. “Whoa, hang on.”

“I’m not done,” I spat. “I don’t want to bekept, Will. I’m not a toy you can pack up and bring with you as you turn your back on the rest of your family once again. And neither is my son. It’s not happening, and the fact that you made this decision without even talking to me first shows me we’ll never be the kind of partners we need to be for this to work.”

“Kate.”

“No. When you asked about me opening a bakery, I didn’t think you meant inDenver.It was hard enough to wrap my head around you helping me when I thought it was going to be here in Granite Springs, but in Denver? No way. You can’t come in here and take charge just because you have money and I don’t.”

“That’s not— If you would just—”

“Don’t you get it? I know it’s my fault we didn’t start this relationship on even ground, but you can’t just decide we’re leaving—”

In a move I didn’t even see coming, Will crossed to me in two swift strides and cut off my words with an absolutely bone-crushing hug. His arms wound tightly around my back and head as he pressed the side of my face into his chest, and there was an odd note of tenderness in the embrace despite how hard he was holding onto me. Almost like… almost likeIwas the toddler throwing a tantrum, and he was the one trying to hug it out ofme.

Will kissed the top of my head, and my mind whirled as his chest crackled with a choked laugh. “You thought I wanted to move you and Jackson to Denver?” he asked, his chin resting on the top of my head. “You’re mad because you thought I made that decision without talking to you about it first?”

“I—well, um.” I started to push him off me, but his hold was too strong, so I let my arms fall to my sides with a sigh. “I’m lost. Is that not what’s happening?”

Will released me only enough to take my face in his hands. “No, sweetheart, that’s not what’s happening. I told that asshole weeks ago that I had no interest in working for him. Andfuck—I thought you thought I was leaving you. I thought he said some shit to make you think I’d taken the job and was about to bail on you guys.”

I shook my head, wincing from the pain of a headache that started to form. “No. He said all this stuff about a football program at some big high school for Jackson and a space for lease near your restaurant where I could open a bakery. He said he’d talked to you about it.”

Will’s eyes swirled with rage. “What? A bakery? How would he know anything about a bakery? I didn’t tell him that. I think I said something about needing to get to my son’s football game on our first call, but nothing about you and the bakery. What the hell?”

I squinted, recalling that Jackson was the one who’d said something about me opening a bakery moments before Jason had brought it up, and that must have been the look I’d seen on his face. He was playing me.

“He heard Jackson say something about it,” I said, not having the energy to recount the conversation or the hurtful things my son had said. “But obviously the guy’s a master manipulator because I thought— It’s just that… he made it sound like you’d already accepted the job and told us everything we had to look forward to in Denver, and I couldn’t believe you’d make that choice for us without consulting me.”

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