Page 79 of My Boss's Sons

He struggled to keep his smile in place. “I don’t understand. You don’t want the flowers?”

Tears blurred my vision and I shook my head. “No. I don’t want the flowers. They don’t change anything.”

“Sophia! Be reasonable. At least take the flowers and read the cards!” Ava groaned when I turned and walked away. “I’m sorry, sir. Just leave them right there, please. I’ll have my boyfriend bring them in later.”

I went to the kitchen and began plating sandwiches. My hands shook and I couldn’t stop the steady leak of tears that was happening, but I had to dosomething.

Ava stomped in after me and put her hands on her hips. “You don’t want to know what they have to say?”

“No.” I shook my head harder. “What good would it do? I already told them that whatever it was between us is over.”

“Is it?” She sighed. “Sophia, I’m not blind. I can see you fighting the urge to crawl back into bed and stay. I hear you crying in the shower when you think no one else is awake.”

“I’m upset about my job, Ava. I can’t support my family!” I dropped the plate on the counter too hard and it broke in half. “Dammit!”

“Just stop for a minute, Sophia.” She grabbed my hands and pulled them to her chest so I had to face her. “This isn’t just about your job. You care about them. They hurt you, but they were confused and lost in their dad’s bullshit. It seems like as soon as they knew the truth, they came back to you. I heard that speech Noah just gave. He was talking about you, wasn’t he?”

“You hated them a few days ago, Ava! What changed? Why are you suddenly team Anderson brothers?”

“Let me paint you a picture.” She saw me start to say something and held up her hand. “Yeah, paint a picture. Ha. Ha. Listen to me. Noah has worked his entire life to get to where he’sstanding today. He’s a few minutes away from being CEO and running a massive company. He’s probably stressed. He seems heartbroken about his dad. Yet, he’s up on that stage, talking about you. In his biggest moment, he’s thinking about you, Soph. That’s huge.”

I swallowed. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see their faces. They thought I was a monster, Ava. They were willing to hurt my family.”

“Get out of your own way. Forgiveness is a beautiful thing, babe.” She picked up the sandwich from the broken plate and took a bite. “We’re keeping those flowers. I can do a lot of shit with them.”

63

***Sophia***

Lily’s scream woke me up the next morning. I jerked out of deep sleep and ran out of my room to find my daughter and save her. I ran into Ava on the way my anxiety hit a new level when I saw the front door open. “Lily!”

“Mom!” Lily was sitting in the front yard with Milo and two fluff balls. “Ginger and Jasper! Ethan brought them back!”

I searched wildly for Ethan, half terrified of seeing him and half hoping I would. He was nowhere in sight, though, and the disappointment that I felt made me sink to my knees next to Lily.

“Oh, my goodness, Mom! I need to swear! This is damn awesome!” Lily held Ginger up to her face and nuzzled her belly. “Look at her, Mom!”

Milo held Jasper and looked at his collar. “Huh. I think this is for you.”

I shook my head and held up my hands. “No. I can’t. This is… He can’t do this.”

Ava stepped past me and took the puppy. “He can and he did. Are you going to make her give them away?”

Lily snapped her head around to me and instantly, she was crying. “No, Mommy! Please, let me keep them! Please!”

I glared at Ava, who just looked smug, and stood up. “Fine. It’s not like I have a job that would keep me too busy to watch them. Although, food and vet bills might get interesting.”

“Soph…” Ava handed the puppy off and jumped up to chase after me. I went straight to my bed and climbed in, feeling around to find my phone, and when she saw me, she groaned. “No, Soph! You can’t go back to bedroom zombie barbie. Please!”

My fingers connected with my phone and I brandished it at her. “I was just looking for my phone!”

“Oh, good.” She sighed and then gasped. “What for? You can’t make him come take them back, Sophia! You already told Lily she can keep them.”

I grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. “I’m not getting rid of the puppies. I’m furious, though, Ava. I told them that I couldn’t take care of a puppy and they just dropped off two, knowing I couldn’t do anything about it. I’m panicking about not being able to take care of the mouths already existing in this house and they just dropped off two more! They didn’t listen to me and if they thought this would help, they were sorely mistaken.”

“Here.” Ava held out a plastic bag. “This was attached to the puppy’s collar.”

I took it and immediately dropped it. “What the hell?”

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