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Even though Dillan didn’t look anything like Anna off of Frozen, she had the same bubbly personality. She may look identical to Delanie, but she sure the fuck didn’t act like it.
It was what had drawn me to her in the first place.
“I don’t remember either.” She swallowed hard. “I thought you were Bourne.” Her quiet whisper had me looking up from my son to stare into her face. “You thought I was Dillan.”
I nodded once. “I did.”
She blew out a breath. “I remember the party. I remember drinking, but not excessively. I don’t… I don’t know how it happened, Booth. I just know that I would’ve never chosen you had I been sober. Thinking straight.”
Her words didn’t hurt me, because I’d thought them quite a few times on my own.
I sat down into the chair.
“I agree,” I told her honestly. “I feel like there are pieces of time that I’m missing.”
She blew out a breath and sat on the bed, all of a sudden looking exhausted.
“My dad wants me to move back in with him,” she said softly.
My brows rose.
“What?” I asked, surprised that she was even moved out.
She grimaced. “When he found out I was pregnant, he lost his mind. Kicked me out. Didn’t let me explain. I told him who the father was, and he just… flipped. Today he gave me an offer right before you came in. He wants me to move back in with him but not tell anyone who the father is.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“What does your dad have against us?” I asked curiously.
Her eyes flicked up to mine. “I don’t know. I just know that any time I mention your family’s name, he gets all tense and angry. We just don’t mention your name anymore.”
I ran my hand over my child’s full head of dark hair.
“This is going to be a mess as it is, Delanie,” I told her bluntly. “We don’t need your dad here making it worse.”
She snorted out a laugh. “You have no idea how true that statement is.”
Hours later, while Delanie was feeding Asa, I invited Bourne and Dillan back in.
Neither of them were talking, but they were still there, waiting to be let back in as if they knew that I’d cave.
Dillan stormed past me, a glare on her face, and I smiled at her in amusement.
Bourne watched her go then turned to me.
“I know that I don’t have a right to ask this of you,” I said softly. “And you might very well hate me but...” I licked my lips. “Can you stay? Can you hold off on going into the Navy?”
Bourne had been intending to go into the military with me eight months ago.
Instead, he’d been in a motorcycle wreck and had broken his foot the day before we went to the recruiting station. Instead, he’d stayed home. With the intention of following behind me when he’d gotten the all clear.
Except, thing after thing went wrong with his foot, and even now he was walking with a slight limp.
Though, that was likely due to him having surgery about ten weeks ago.
Bourne’s eyes met mine.
“I’ll stay,” he said. “Until you can get back, I’ll stay.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Make sure that he knows me, Bourne,” I said. “I have this really, really bad feeling that he’s gonna have no idea who I am.”
And I was right.
Though Bourne had done his best, the next five years were some of the worst of my life.
Sadly, it wasn’t anybody’s fault but my own.Chapter 1
I used to be cool. Now a tiny person shows me his asshole to make sure that he cleaned the poop off well enough.
-An actual conversation between Booth and his mom
Booth
Five years later
“Daddy, can we go see Uncle Bourne when we get home from school?” Asa asked. “He promised me that we could go get ice cream.”
I tried not to let my irritation show.
“Asa,” I said as I gathered up his school lunch. “Do you remember what happened at school yesterday?”
Asa narrowed his eyes. “Yes, sir.”
“And do you remember me telling you that you wouldn’t be going anywhere after school when you asked me that exact same question an hour ago?” I continued.
“Yes,” he said, looking quite a bit more sullen. “But I was hoping that you’d changed your mind.”
I didn’t smile, but it was a close thing.
Sadly, though I found his antics on the bus hilarious, his bus driver did not. Nor did the school.
Some little kid had started to pick on him due to his size.
Asa was small. Much smaller than the rest of his friends in his class.
He was normal, according to his doctors, but the kid just wasn’t a big guy. He was a small little guy, with a squeaky voice that kids loved to make fun of when they weren’t being watched as closely as they should be.
