AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Emery gasped and jumped back.
I yanked my hand away, but hurt flickered through my stomach. Yearning. I’d shared my deepest secret and I’d wanted a moment with Emery. To soak in the comfort she offered. But this wasn’t the time or the place.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she faced Avery. “What’s up, hon?”
“Another cat let us pet her.”
I tucked all my emotions back in the box I’d kept them in. Only this time, I didn’t lock the lid. I stepped around her, and we were back to acting like nothing had happened. “That would be Downy. I call her that because she keeps mice away better than the fabric softener sheets.”
“Those keep mice away?” Avery asked, her tone incredulous.
I grinned. “I don’t know, but that’s why I have so many barn cats.”
Avery darted away, yelling the cat’s name to the others. I started to follow her.
“Holden. It’s just that—”
I hoped my reassuring smile didn’t come across as forced, but I was still raw. “I get it, Emery. Just because my dad was a piece of shit didn’t mean that I wasn’t a shitty kid when Mom dated other guys. You want to keep your kids from that. I get it.”
She pressed closer to me. “You can talk to me. Any time. Okay? I need you to know that I’m not going to shut you out.”
I briefly tangled my fingers with hers. “I know.”
Telling her about my past had been like turning myself inside out and thwapping myself against the ground a few times for good measure. But as I went in search of Downy and Avery and the kids, my steps were lighter, like a perpetual dark cloud had been released to float away, if only for a little while.
And now it was about the kids. The pivot should have made my head spin, but I’d told Emery I understood and I did. I was like Avery once. I had been like Landon and Afton too. It didn’t matter the age. Mom would bring a guy home, or I’d wake up to him in the kitchen. Sometimes he’d be really nice to me, like I was the way to win Mom’s cold, brittle heart. Other times, he’d ignore me. I preferred that.
I didn’t want to be one of those men, but the way Emery had reacted, I found myself in that category. Did I want to be the annoying new guy, the one the kids didn’t want around?
I had tried so hard not to be. I didn’t go home with my dates if I knew they had kids. I wasn’t going to be that strange guy at the fridge looking for eggs. The line in the sand was crystal clear and permanent. Until Emery.
She had shit going on with Henry, and that was where I had to be a better man. I had to get over my pride. Emery was trying to protect the kids from the way their suddenly absent dad made them feel. She shouldn’t have to worry about my reaction to her doing what she thought was best. But when I’d reassured her that I understood, my sincerity had been lacking.
I should talk to her. Before I got to the patio, I turned to talk to Emery and froze.
Her brows lifted and she waited, but my gaze was on the road. A large F-250 was turning off the highway.
Shit.
Mom wasn’t the warm, welcoming type. Before Teagan, I’d had a couple of other long-term girlfriends. One in high school, and then one the year before I met Teagan.
Mom had hated all of them. She didn’t come out and say it, but I suspected she supported my playboy lifestyle. Less hands in the Barron pie. Mom could deal with me, she could barely tolerate Nora, and she definitely didn’t care to deal with another person who thought they had a say in her business. If I got serious about someone, that would shit all over Mom’s day.
So nine years of fucking off all over town and she was going to have questions about Emery and her kids.
“My mom’s coming,” I said as if I was warning about an F5 tornado bearing down on the property.
“Oh.” Emery twisted and squinted toward the road. “I can gather up the kids and go.”
“You don’t have to.” If I thought my earlier comment was missing reassurance, this was empty. I didn’t want her to go, but I wanted what was best for her, and that wasn’t meeting my mother.
She lifted a brow. “No, it’s fine.”
I stuffed a hand through my hair. Things were going so well. We had obstacles yet to face, but I wanted the chance to deal with them. Mom could obliterate all that with one caustic comment. “Em, I don’t want you to go. I wanted to talk to you more, but my mom is like walking across coals barefoot on a good day.”
“No, it’s no problem.” She went to the corner of the house and called to the kids. “Hey, guys. We’ve gotta get going.”
There was a chorus of disappointed sounds that, no shit, made me feel good. They liked it here. It was more about the animals than me, but I’d made this place into my haven from all things shitty. My family was the only exception, but they weren’t crappy all the time.
