AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My body is so attuned to Parker now that I know he’s here even though I didn’t hear him come outside. Turning, I find him watching us, a beautiful smile on his tired face.
“Sorry about that,” he says sheepishly, his embarrassment evident in the way he’s shuffling his feet and avoiding my gaze.
“It’s no problem. Is everything okay?” I ask as I bend down to pull East back a little, stopping him from venturing too far.
“They’re having a welcome-home party for Heather tomorrow. Ellen wants Easton there…for his birthday. It’s a bad idea. It’s not a controlled environment, and…I don’t want Heather near my son after how reckless and selfish she was.”
“I get that. But at the end of the day, she is his mother.” East runs over to the little plastic police motorcycle Harrison dropped over. He pushes off and makes police siren noises.
“You don’t know her or understand what she did. She fu…” He looks over at East and pauses. “Messed up so badly, and now she can’t even finish her treatment?”
He stares at me, his gaze almost haunted. His shoulders are slumped, and he’s wearing his internal struggle like a noose, strangling the strength out of his body.
“She hasn’t changed. She never will. I can’t let her hurt my son.” His voice breaks and with it my heart. I can’t bear to see him like this, to know he’s in so much pain.
“Look at me, babe,” I coax, trying to grab his attention from the black hole he’s about to fall into. When his gaze meets mine and he inhales a deep breath to steady himself, I continue. “I appreciate that I don’t understand the entire situation, but if I were her and he was my s—”
“But he’s not your son. You’re not a parent, so you don’t understand. You’re still young and naive to this crap show of a situation.” His voice is harsh, and the words smack me right in the chest.
I know Easton’s not my son. But that doesn’t mean I love him any less. He’s my world—they both are—and Parker disregarding that is like a thousand paper cuts to my heart. When I glance over at him, I can see he is unsure of what’s going on. He’s no longer playing and is watching our exchange.
Trying not to let on how much that remark hurt, I smile over at East before saying, “I’m not a child, Parker. I’ve been looking after myself long enough to grasp how important it is to protect East and to make sure that he’s safe.”
I can feel tears desperate to make an appearance, whether from hurt or anger, I’m not entirely sure. But either way, I won’t let him see them.
Easton starts fussing, climbing off his bike and running over to pull at my hand. I lift him into my arms for a cuddle. Whether he can sense the tension or he’s overtired, I don’t know. But I do know we’re done here.
“We should get him home.” Without casting another glance at Parker, I pick up our shoes and carry East into the house.
12
PARKER
Why are you doing this? I ask myself one more time as I unbuckle Easton from his car seat and give him one final once-over. The small owl pin on his gray linen jumpsuit reads: Two Twooday! Something he’s super excited about, given the balloon bouquet Mom and Dad sent him along with the wooden racing kart he wasn’t happy about leaving behind to come to Ellen’s party.
“Remember,” I tell him, twisting the buttons on his shoulders to be sure the jumpsuit won’t come undone. “You gotta tell Daddy if you need to go pee-pee.”
“Okay.” He nods, but I grab the diaper bag before helping him down from the car and walking the path up to Ellen’s front door that’s decorated with pink and blue streamers.
A large “Welcome Home” banner covers the glass pane to the side of the door, and that’s all it takes for my insides to twist tight in apprehension.
Fluffing East’s hair a little, I can’t resist the urge to pick him up. Truth is that I’m looking around me for a sign that I should leave as we wait for the door to open.
Reaching for one of the streamers, he holds it in front of my face with a smile as he tells me, “Blooooo…”
“That’s right, blue. Can you tell me this color?” I point at the pink streamer.
“Pin! Pin!” He kicks his leg in excitement before knocking on Ellen’s door again and telling me, “Red.”
“What else is red?” I continue making small talk to distract me from the shadow coming closer behind the small glass cutout on the door.
“Noods.”
“Yes, and?” I draw in a deep breath as Ellen’s voice filters through. “Coming…coming…”
“Sum air.” Not what I was expecting him to say, but…
“Yeah, Summer’s hair is red. Pretty, right?”
