Page 33 of Love At Close Range

“He claimed to not even know I was pregnant,” I corrected as I looked at her. “According to Lennox, he never knew shit about a baby.”

“But you said you told him,” Taryn pointed out as she looked between me and Mona.

“I did,” I replied as I set my glass down. “I told him that shit too. I told his ass even after he broke up with me the way he did, I still felt like he deserved to know, so I texted him and told him I was pregnant.”

“What did Lennox say when you told him that?” Mona asked. She had actually been there when everything happened. She remembered what shape I was in after Lennox ended things, and she knew about the pregnancy from the beginning. She was the only one in my corner.

“He kept saying he didn’t know what I was talking about,” I explained as I grabbed my drink again. “He swore he never got a message from me saying I was pregnant, and he kept acting like he was just finding out about Rhyse.”

“Did you tell him about the response you got?” Taryn asked with a frown.

“No… I wasn’t about to keep going back and forth with him over some shit he dropped the ball on,” I replied as I shook my head. “I was already pissed. I told him to keep the same energy he had back then and stay the fuck away from me and my son.”

“Did you believe him when he said he didn’t know?” Mona asked.

“I’on fucking know,” I admitted as I dropped my gaze to my glass. “That’s what’s bothering me. Lennox looked confused as hell, but I also know what happened. I know I sent that message, and I know I got a response, so what am I supposed to believe?”

Neither one of them answered immediately, which gave me even more time to think about shit I didn’t want to think about. I had spent eight years believing Lennox knew I was pregnant and wanted nothing to do with either one of us. That belief shaped every decision I made afterward because I knew from that moment forward I was going to be raising Rhyse without him.

“I thought I left all this shit behind me,” I admitted. “When I left Cannon Hills… I was done. I didn’t spend years looking him up or wondering what he was doing. I had a baby to raise and a life to build, so that’s what I did.”

“And now he’s popping back up like Daddy-Fucking-Dearest like everything is all good,” Mona added.

“I hate this shit,” I muttered as I shook my head and reached for the bottle. “I was doing perfectly fine without Lennox Steele popping back into my life.”

“And it still will be fine,” Taryn assured me.

Mona looked between me and Taryn before turning her attention back to me. “So what are you going to do about Lennox now that he knows about Boosie?”

I stared at her because, for once, I didn’t have an answer, and that bothered me almost as much as seeing Lennox had.

“I really don’t fucking know what I’m going to do,” I confessed.

This impromptu pop-up was weighing on me more than I’d like to admit, but I couldn’t ignore it even if I wanted to.

By the time I left Mona’s, I wasn’t any closer to knowing what the hell I was going to do about Lennox. Talking everything out with her and Taryn helped calm my nerves a little bit, but it didn’t change the fact that the man I hadn’t seen in eight years had suddenly shown up in Arbor Point asking about our son.

I pulled up to pick Rhyse up from camp, and he came walking out with his friends, engaged in a conversation before they went their separate ways and he got into the truck.

“Hey, Boosie,” I greeted as he climbed into the passenger seat and dropped his backpack by his feet. “You have a good day?”

“It was aight,” Rhyse answered as he buckled his seat belt. “We played basketball outside, but it was hot as hell.”

“Hot as what?” I questioned, ready to pop him in his mouth.

“I said it was too hot outside,” he corrected.

“That’s what I thought you said,” I replied as I shook my head. “You getting way too comfortable with that mouth lately.”

“I hear you say it,” Rhyse pointed out as he looked out the window.

“And I’m grown as hell and pay bills,” I reminded him. “So, until you get to that point… watch your mouth before the Tooth Fairy becomes a millionaire off your teeth alone.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled. “Can we get something to eat on the way home?” he asked after a few minutes as he looked over at me.

“No,” I replied as I stopped at a light. “I’m cooking.”

“Cooking what?” He countered.