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“I’ll call Tess and tell her to bring the lighter fluid and blow torch,” Bodhi chirps as I slam my hand against the front screen door, and it flies open to smack against the outside of the building.
“I’ll call Birdie and tell her to bring… well, Birdie. She’s been wanting to kick Kevin in the balls for years,” Palmer announces.
“Who are you calling?” Murphy asks as I bring my phone up to my ear, and he climbs right into the front seat of my golf cart with me.
Even though Wren has always thought this is her fight, and I told her I would never step in unless she asked me, I still did my own digging on the asshole who fathered Owen right after I talked to the guys that morning at The Barge. Wren is finally making the call to the bullpen and bringing me into the game, and I’m not going to screw it up. I know exactly what I need to do to end this bullshit once and for all so she and Owen can finally have some peace.
“I’m gonna throw my goddamn money around the right way this time without crossing any lines,” I tell Murphy as the call connects to a hedge fund company in North Carolina.CHAPTER 20Wren
“I was taught to hit and steal.”“You didn’t know he was failing Algebra? Why am I not surprised?” Kevin asks smugly, and I just sigh, looking down at my phone for the tenth time.
It serves me right that Shepherd isn’t replying. God, I was so awful to him last night.
“I’m not failing!” Owen shouts angrily, and I quickly look away from my phone and wrap a reassuring arm around my son’s shoulders, so freaking pissed off Kevin ambushed us when we were playing catch in the front yard.
Playing catch with Owen always calms me down and makes everything better. Every year that he’s gotten older and he’s needed me less and less, no matter what I’m doing, I will always stop everything when he hands me my glove and asks me to toss him some balls. For a few minutes in time, I can stand out in this yard and pretend like he isn’t growing up right in front of my eyes, and all I see standing across the yard from me is that little boy who’d rest his head on my lap while we watched a movie, and who wouldn’t let me go to sleep until I read him three bedtime stories.
For a few minutes tonight, I was able to forget about what a stupid, stupid mistake I made last night with Shepherd. I’ve spent all day beating myself up about it, trying to find the right words to say to him to apologize and hope that he forgives me for saying such hurtful and callous things to him I never meant, and then Kevin had to come along and ruin it.
And now I have a headache, because he won’t fucking shut up.
“I’m not failing, Mom,” Owen quickly reassures me, looking at me with worried, pleading eyes, and I just want to punch that smug look off Kevin’s face for making my baby feel like this. “I failed my last test, and it brought my grade down to a D, and I already sent a text to Chris, and he’s gonna come over tomorrow and start tutoring me again. I was gonna tell you; I swear.”
“I know,” I tell him softly, giving him a reassuring smile and squeezing my arm around his shoulders tighter. “It’s okay.”
“Maybe if you didn’t work so much or spend so much time sleeping around with his coach, you’d know what our son’s grades were,” Kevin sneers.
“Screw you,” Owen immediately growls, and I have to tighten my hold on him when he tries to charge.
“Nice manners you’ve taught him.”
“Oh, eat shit, Kevin,” I finally mutter, having had just about enough of the last ten minutes of him berating me about my parenting skills and what a slut I am in front of my son.
“Nice. Really nice, Wren. What an excellent role model you are.” Kevin snorts, not even realizing what a hypocrite he is, as he just stands here in my fucking front yard, on my island, in his stupid pastel button-down and white linen pants, wearing loafers with no socks, and so much product slicking his hair back I wish Tess was here with a lighter.
“Owen, go inside.”
“But I—”
“Go inside!”
I can count on one hand how many times I’ve raised my voice with my son, and Owen knows when I mean business. Just to make sure he knows my anger isn’t aimed at him, I quickly lean in and press my lips to the side of his head. I take a deep breath of the smell of his hair fresh from the shower he took before we came out here to play catch, before whispering in his ear.
