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“We were just talking,” I said quickly, and bit back a groan when Grey stepped up behind Jagger.
“Uh, so . . . hey, everyone,” she said slowly, and looked quickly among the three of us. “Charlie, my parents are going to take Aly home. Do you want them to take Keith too, so you can—”
“No, no, I’ll get him. It’s late, I was about to leave.”
“Looked like it,” my brother mumbled.
“Jagger . . .” I released a sigh and glanced over at Deacon, but his eyes were on the grass. Without saying a word to any of them, I started walking in the direction of the tent.
I hadn’t taken more than three steps before Deacon called out, “Char—”
“Good night, Deacon,” Jagger said roughly, and turned to follow me when I passed him.
Despite Jagger’s constant questions about what Deacon and I had been doing, and Grey’s questions about what she had walked in on, I remained silent as I collected my son and walked to my car.
“Deacon isn’t the kind of guy you should—”
I shut the back door of my car once I had Keith in his booster seat, and whirled on Jagger. “We were talking, Jagger. Literally talking. Nothing more. But even if for some insane reason there had been more, you cannot do what you just did.”
Jagger shot his arm out behind him. “Do you know how close you two were? Do you know what it looked like I interrupted? And with Deacon, of all guys!”
“I don’t care!” I cried out. “He was holding me because he was trying to keep me there so I wouldn’t keep walking away from him while he apologized for what he’d said last week.”
That stopped Jagger from whatever he’d been about to say. His head jerked back as he took in my words, and Grey’s eyes widened as she looked from Jagger to me. It was clear in her look that she hadn’t told Jagger that there had been tension between Deacon and me. Not that I’d thought she had. Jagger would have brought it up to me as soon as Grey mentioned it.
“Apologize?” Jagger asked softly, darkly. “For what?”
“It doesn’t matter; and you’re still doing it. Jagger, you are my brother. Just be my brother! I appreciate what you did for me growing up more than you will ever know, but I am an adult now. You don’t need to keep parenting me. You don’t need to force your way into a situation and act like my father when you don’t even know what the situation is. Do you know that people think I hide behind you? Do you know that people think I pawned Keith off on you because you forced me to go away to college alone? All I wanted was to be with my son, but because you think you know what’s best for me, I missed out on so many months with him!” I nearly yelled. “Jagger, I love you, but just stop!”
I rounded my car, ignoring Jagger’s protests, and slid into the driver’s seat.
“Are we mad at Uncle J, Mommy?” Keith asked softly from the backseat once I was pulling out of the parking spot.
I sagged against the steering wheel and put the car in drive, but just sat there with my foot on the brake for a few seconds. He’d still been asleep when I’d put him in the car. I hated that he’d heard us yelling. “No, buddy. No, we’re not,” I finally said.
“Then why we yelling at Uncle J?”
“Sometimes . . .” I trailed off, and tried to think of what to tell him. “Sometimes grown-ups don’t listen to each other very well. And sometimes when that happens, we raise our voices to get another grown-up to finally hear us, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. It wasn’t nice of me to do that to Uncle J. I’m sorry you heard that.”
Keith was silent for so long that I’d thought he’d fallen back asleep, but he suddenly said, “So Uncle J hears you now?”
I nodded. “Maybe.”
“Okay then, Mommy. Then it’s okay.”
I smiled though he couldn’t see me, and whispered, “Thanks, buddy.”
ONCE WE GOT home, I got Keith in his pajamas and in bed, then changed into something comfortable. I’d just finished taking off my makeup when I heard Grey and Jagger get home.
I checked my phone again, and tried to hide the disappointment that there was still nothing from the stranger, then walked out into the main room to talk to Jagger.
I knew he would be waiting for me, and I found him sitting on the couch, forearms resting on his knees and head dropped.
Long seconds passed in silence after I sat down next to him before he looked up at me. His expression was withdrawn and full of worry, but a small smirk tugged at his mouth when I sent him a shaky smile.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
His head was already shaking before I finished getting the second word out. “Don’t be. Apparently I still think you need me for everything. I think I’ve chosen to forget that you were raising Keith and dealing with Mom on your own while I was away at college. In my head, you still need me. I know that you can make all of your own decisions, Charlie, but I feel like I still need to make them for you. You know?”
