Page 136 of When We Were Young

I can’t resist touching her, and I run a thumb down her cheek and along her jaw.

“Can I be honest with you?” She nods. “This is new for me, and it’s terrifying. I’m a thirty-one-year-old man, and I’m afraid of an emotional conversation. I’m frightened by the look in your eyes and the sadness surrounding you.”

She narrows her eyes in question. I exhale and cast my gaze downward.

“It’s reminiscent of when you ended things with me in college.” I force myself to meet her gaze. “Tell me that’s not what’s happening here.”

A single tear rolls down her cheek, but, to her credit, she doesn’t look away. A second, then a third tear trickles after the first.

It’s unbearable to see her in pain. All I want to do is give this woman and her son everything I have. To make every day one in which they feel more loved than the one before.

I take a chance and pull her onto my lap, encasing her in my arms. She comes willingly, but her tears flow faster in response.

I may have no real history with relationships, but I’m smart enough to know she needs a moment to cry. So, I hold her and stroke the back of her head in an effort to comfort her.

When her sniffling decreases, I kiss the top of her head.

“Baby, tell me what’s going on. What’s wrong?”

Just when I’m sure she’s not going to answer, she sighs.

“I saw Landon today. Before I came to the party.” Her words are barely audible.

Every muscle in my body tenses. I force myself not to say anything, needing a few seconds to settle myself. To allow my racing heart a chance to slow.

When I’m ready, I swallow past the lump in my throat.

“On purpose?” My words come out rough.

She pulls back and looks at me. “No. Of course not. He showed up here shortly after you guys left. When Simon came back in for his kites, I got distracted by the oven timer and forgot to lock the kitchen door, and he surprised me.”

“Did he touch you?” The words come out as a growl.

“No. I didn’t let him get close enough, and eventually, I was able to get him to leave, but⁠—”

“But what?” I brush the hair out of her eyes, as much to calm the fury inside me as to comfort her.

“He said a lot of things, and even though I think they’re not true... Well, never mind that. But he threatened⁠—”

“He what?” It’s taking all my restraint not to lose my mind.

“Let me finish. He threatened the business.”

I frown. “I don’t understand.”

Lizette closes her eyes for a second, then opens them and meets my gaze. “I guess I need to give you some background on him.”

She takes a few minutes and tells me more than I ever wanted to know about Landon Carter and how he has embedded himself in her life over the years.

But I need to know. To protect her. To love her like she deserves.

So, I force myself to stomach hearing it.

She tells me how it wasn’t just me he used to trap her into staying with him. When she thought there was no longer a threat to me, he got more creative. He threatened her mother’s job—the one that helped her mom dig out of her depression. Unfortunately, it was at a Carter-owned business.

He always had something to hold over her.

“It wasn’t until Sylvia died and I got Simon that I finally told my mom the truth. I apologized that I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to think about that little boy, and staying in Hollow Hills wasn’t what was best for him.”