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Deek gave me a hug. “Maybe you do want kids after all, huh?”
I would adopt Saylor this minute if it meant making that woman disappear.
“Maybe.” I smiled. “I don’t know about giving birth. But being a mom to that sweet little thing?” I sighed. “That would be a pleasure.”
“She sure as hell deserves a better mother than the one she was born to.”
I thought back to my brief first impression of Maya.
“It’s hard to believe that strange woman gave birth to Saylor. I think until now, I’d sort of pictured her like a snowy television screen. Nothing clear. Just white noise.”
“What was she like?”
“I didn’t spend all that much time in the room with them when she was there.” I shrugged. “She was pretty. I mean, I always knew she would be, because it wasn’t like Colby was going to hook up with someone who wasn’t. She had dark hair, long like mine but not as dark. She doesn’t look much like Saylor. It made me realize how much Saylor takes after Colby.” I shrugged. “I might have gotten a better look at the woman if I hadn’t been so damn focused on making sure Saylor didn’t notice anything was off.”
“Understandable, yeah. In that sense, it’s really good you were there.”
I rubbed my eyes. “God, I can’t imagine if I wasn’t.”
Justine returned from her break, interrupting our conversation. I was close with her, but I didn’t want to rehash everything, and Deek knew to keep his mouth shut without me having to tell him.
Within a few minutes, our next clients arrived, ironically a mother and daughter getting matching tattoos. The universe definitely had a way of fucking with you sometimes. I nearly cried while tattooing the same sentence onto each of them: I love you more. The mother-daughter relationship was like no other. For someone like me, who didn’t have the best mother, I’d always longed for more. Maybe the only way I would get to experience that would be to become a mother myself.
The day dragged on as I waited for Colby to stop by after work. I’d specifically not texted him because I didn’t want him to feel obligated to explain everything in a message or on the phone when I knew his plan was to lay it on me in person.
After the shop closed, Deek hung out with me until Colby arrived.
When my man finally walked through the door, his eyes looked sunken and bloodshot. His tie was crooked and his hair mussed, probably because he’d been pulling on it. This was definitely bad.
I ran to Colby and pulled him into my arms. I knew he needed that first and foremost. For once, Deek remained quiet. Now was not the time for words, and he knew it.
I was looking over Colby’s shoulder when Deek said, “I’m gonna lock the door behind me.”
I nodded and mouthed, “Thank you.”
After Deek left, I stepped back and wrapped my hands around Colby’s cheeks, bringing his face to mine and kissing his forehead.
“Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay,” I whispered.
It took Colby a few minutes to even start speaking. I’d wanted so badly for him to tell me what happened. But once he opened his mouth, I wished I’d never heard the words.
“She wants me to marry her.”
***
I paced nonstop. After Colby told me the story, all I could do was walk back and forth. If I didn’t do that, I might do something rash, like toss a chair through the window. I’d never been angrier in my life.
While I continued to pace, Colby sat down with his head in his hands.
“I can’t believe the nerve of that fucking woman,” I spewed.
He looked up at me. “I’m not marrying her.”
If only it were that simple, and that statement could have made her disappear.
“Except that she said if you did enter this sham marriage, she’d sign full rights over to you, Colby. That’s something to at least consider, as hard as this is to stomach.”
He gritted his teeth. “I can’t fucking marry her.”
“You’d rather have to deal with fighting her for custody?”
“Are you trying to convince me to give in to her?”
“I don’t know.” I pulled on my hair. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I feel like I’m in the middle of a nightmare.” I stopped pacing for a moment. “Look, I am the last person who wants you anywhere near that woman. The idea of it makes my skin crawl like you wouldn’t believe. Which is why making her go away permanently is so enticing. A little pain for major gain—never having to worry about her threatening you again.”
Colby’s hands trembled. I ran over, grabbed them, and brought them to my mouth, showering them with kisses. I’d never seen him like this. I worried about his mental health in the weeks to come. No matter which direction we went, this wasn’t going to be an easy road. “We’re gonna figure this out,” I whispered. “She said you have a week to decide, right?”
