Page 98 of Broken Boundaries

I sigh. I wish Zach would talk to me about this instead of siccing his mother on me. I guess I should’ve known she would try other means of contacting me when I didn’t respond to her texts or calls. But in my defense, I’ve been busy. Lacey was last on my list.

“Tell me it’s not true, Brooks. Tell me he’s mistaken.”

“He’s not mistaken,” I admit. “Aspen and I are together.”

She looks at me like she has no idea who I am, and really, she doesn’t. She’s always seemed to think she had some sort of weird claim over me since we have a child together. But whatever claim she had ended the moment we broke up.

“Have you lost your mind?” she asks.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“She’s the same age as your son.” Technically, she’s two years older than Zach, but now doesn’t feel like the time to bring that up. Plus, it’s none of her business.

“Yes, I know how old she is.”

Her eyes widen when she realizes that I don’t care. “So, you’re choosing her over your own son then?”

Just like Lacey to jump to conclusions. “No. Of course not. But Zach has pushed me away at every possible turn over the years. Because of you, I assume.” She rolls her eyes. “He wants nothing to do with me, and as much as that kills me, I can’t keep fighting a losing battle. I didn’t mean to fall in love with Aspen. It just happened, and I’m tired of putting my happiness aside for everyone else when no one else seems to care about me.

“I understand Zach isn’t happy right now. I don’t expect him to be ok with this. But I’m hoping that one day he’ll realize that Aspen and I are together for us and not to hurt him.”

Lacey shakes her head. She’s certainly not the one I want to be explaining myself to. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a father.”

Those words always sting, but I can’t act like they’re not kind of true. Especially at this moment. “Yeah, well, neither of you ever gave me a damn chance.”

She huffs a laugh and tries to look over my shoulder to where Aspen is sitting, but I shift slightly, blocking her view. “Have a nice life with your little whore.”

“Hey! You watch your fucking mouth, Lacey. Now I see where Zach gets it from.”

I couldn’t believe the things Aspen told me he’d said to her. I should’ve followed him out of my office that day. I could’ve gotten her away from that quicker. I should’ve known he would go to her next.

“At least I’ve given him a loving home and plenty of support,” Lacey tells me, as if that’s any consolation.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Lace. The kid has no respect for anyone except himself.”

“Oh, please. Don’t try to turn this around on me. You’re the one that fucked up here.”

“I’m willing to own up to my mistakes. You’re the one who can’t look past your own ego to see that our son is not the little saint you wanted him to be. Now, if we’re done here, my breakfast is getting cold.”

She opens her mouth to say something else, but I shut the door before I have a chance to hear it. Out of everyone in Blue Haven, Lacey is the last person whose opinion I care about. I’ve stayed silent about how she’s treated me over the years, but I’m done trying to be the nice guy.

I walk into the kitchen and sit back down next to Aspen. I focus directly on my food, because as much as I don’t want to admit it, Lacey’s words got to me. I do feel like I’ve failed Zach as a father. And while I know it’s not entirely my fault, I feel like maybe I could’ve tried harder. Maybe I should’ve made him spend his weekends with me even when he didn’t want to. Maybe I shouldn’t have given him as much freedom as I did. I really thought that as he got older, he’d come around and want to spend time with me. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, I guess.

Aspen rubs my back and asks softly, “You ok?”

I take a deep breath. “Yeah. Just not how I wanted this morning to go.”

“I imagine we might have a few more mornings like that once people find out about us.”

I put my hand on her leg. “Well, whatever happens, we’ll get through it together.”

“And you know you’re not a bad father, right?”

“I don’t know. Kinda feels like it sometimes.”

“You were way too young when you had Zach. I think you did the best you could at the time. And there’s only so much you can do for someone who constantly pushes you away.”

The tension relaxes in my shoulders. Of course, I already knew what she’s saying, but it feels nice to hear it from someone else. Especially from her, since she got Zach’s perspective too.