“Hey, buddy! How are you?” Cole would ask.
“I’m good. I just don’t like all the homework I get in school,” Lucas replied.
Cole laughed. “I’ll help you with some of it when I get back.”
I noticed Lucas was slowly growing attached to Cole. I had seen that kind of bond form before with Harper and Caleb, and it frightened me.
I did not want Lucas to get hurt again. Not that I ever planned to date Cole or even leave this village, but the possibility of emotional attachment still worried me. Lucas loved deeply and trusted quickly, and that made him beautiful and vulnerable all at once.
One night, not long after we had moved, Lucas asked quietly, “Do you think he misses me, Mama?”
“Who, baby?”
“Caleb,” he said softly.
The innocent question shattered my heart.
“I’m sure he does,” I told him gently. “Who wouldn’t miss a wonderful boy like you?”
“Was it something I did that made you two break up?”
“Absolutely not,” I said firmly. “I do not want you to ever think that. We just grew apart. That is all, sweetheart.”
“Did he hurt you, Mama?”
His words cut deep.
I wanted to tell him the truth, but I could not destroy the image of Caleb in his eyes. I blinked back the tears threatening to spill.
“I’ll never hurt you, Mama. I promise.”
“I know you won’t, Lucas.” I wrapped my arms tightly around him. “I know you won’t.” After that, I could not speak anymore.
Lucas never asked about Caleb again after that conversation. I never knew whether that was a good thing or a bad one.
I tried my best to hide my pain from him, but Lucas was a smart little boy.
I wished Caleb had never hurt him.
And I wished he had never hurt me either.
14
JIYA
Aweek and a half before the grand opening, something unforeseen happened.
That morning, I drove Lucas to school and then stopped by the restaurant before Marcus, Delia, and the rest of their team arrived. As I walked in, I noticed a bag of trash sitting right in the middle of the restaurant floor. Frowning slightly, I picked it up and walked toward the back door that led into the alleyway.
Halfway down the alley, I stopped abruptly.
Someone was sleeping next to the garbage bin.
I could not tell whether it was a man or a woman. My heart began to beat faster. I was not about to wake a stranger in an alley while I was pregnant and alone. The thought of putting myself in danger made my instincts kick in immediately.
Slowly and quietly, I backed away and returned to the restaurant. My hands trembled slightly as I pulled out my phone and called Jack. When he answered, I explained what I had seen, and he immediately told me to wait until he arrived.
I paced in the parking lot while waiting for him. When Jack arrived eight minutes later, he stepped out of his car carryinga baseball bat. He moved ahead of me like a protective father, clearly determined to make sure nothing happened to me.
