Page 26 of Wait For You

Eric didn’t start running. He had his own little rebellions with his father. I refused to even look at Rich again. Every interaction for him was an opportunity. If I made eye contact, he would scoff and tell me I shouldn’t worry so much about my son. He might sneer at Eric for his scrape.

I waited, holding perfectly still until Eric stopped beside me. He lifted his eyes to his dad, holding his gaze without any emotion. “I thought Mom was picking me up.”

“She is. Just making sure you weren’t being a crybaby,” Rich said.

It was remarkable that the insides of my cheeks weren’t bleeding from how often I had to bite them. Eric’s expression remained flat. “I’m not.”

Rich simply nodded. “See you in two weeks.” He rolled his window up.

I stood perfectly still until he had driven away and turned down the road out of sight. I could feel the tension drawn like tight wires inside my body.

Eric reached for my hand. “Let’s go, Mom.”

I glanced down, and my little boy, the piece of my heart that lived and breathed as a separate human outside of me, was fine. His father’s comment didn’t even rattle him.

“Are you okay?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I already told you I’m fine.”

We walked to my car, and he released my hand, glancing up as I opened the hatch on the back of my small car. “Dad’s a jerk. He always will be.” Eric shrugged. “I don’t care. I’m just glad we don’t live there anymore.”

My mouth must’ve dropped open because his brow furrowed. “It’s okay, Mom.”

I wanted to say so many things, but I didn’t. It would do nobody any good, much less me or Eric, for me to dwell on everything I thought I had done wrong. Because the biggest one was ending up with Rich, to begin with. Yet the paradox was that because of Rich, I had my son.

“Are your friends coming over tonight?” Eric asked a few minutes later when we were driving toward home.

I briefly slid my gaze sideways before looking back at the road. “They are.”

“I figured. You have them over when I’m supposed to be at Dad’s. I like it when they come over. It’s fun, and you laugh more than usual.”

My heart gave an achy beat, but I ignored it. The bar was low for laughing more when I’d been with Rich.

Chapter Seventeen

Adam

“That’ll work.” Kenan was across the hallway saying something to Rhys.

I expected him to show up in my office any minute now. He wouldn’t be able to resist an opportunity to tease me.

As predicted, a moment later, he crossed the hall and knocked on the inside of my open office door with a grin. “Thanks for picking up that work truck.”

“Right on schedule,” I returned with a waggle of my brows.

“On schedule?” he prompted.

“Yeah. You showing up in my office.”

He shrugged. “Of course. Do you think I’m not gonna show up to give you a little hell?” He glanced over his shoulder before turning back. “What the hell is going on with you and Tessa?”

I looked pointedly past his shoulder to the door. He took a few steps backward and closed it before returning to plunk down in the chair across from my desk. “Well?” he prompted.

I was always honest with Kenan. “I don’t fucking know,” I said flatly.

“She’s one of McKenna’s best friends so that could get messy,” he pointed out.

I bit back a groan. “I know. Honestly, I don’t know what happened. I know her, but I don’t really know her. She was years behind us in school. The other night, I saw her at the party at McKenna’s place and almost kissed her and…”