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He shrugged. "They're kids, Olive. If people took everything kids said seriously, the sky would be green and the grass would be blue." I slid backward out of his embrace, cocking my head and trying to breathe through the sudden irritation growing in my chest. Lucas sighed. "What did I say?"
Maybe I needed to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Nothing, it's just...this isn't just some person. It's Claire. My...our daughter."
His hands fell to his side. "Thanks for the clarification."
"I'm just saying, I know this parenting thing is new to you. But anything that could affect her happiness affects mine."
"I think that maybe you're a bit more bothered by the single mother comment than she is." Lucas glanced across the park to where Claire was in the middle of a game of tag with the Carlyle twins.
I twisted my bottom lip, watching Claire run after the boys with a wide grin on her face. "Fine. Maybe you have a point."
"Look at it like this," he said. "I might not have as much experience as you do with kids, but I know enough to understand that, at this age, it's one of two things. The first is usually projection. And from knowing Senator Carter, I can tell you right now, that guy is not present in those boy's lives."
"Yeah, but it's not like Rachel Carlyle raises them on her own as some single mother. She has like nannies."
"I get that. But who do you think they see more? Their mom or their dad?"
My sigh was huge. "I see your point."
Lucas exhaled, his eyes closing as he weaved around my back. "Come here, baby." He kissed the top of my head as I pressed my cheek into his chest. Unlike before, his smell and his touch was comforting.
Still cradled in his arms, I glanced up at him. "What was the second option?"
"Huh?"
"You said two options. Projection or what?"
He shrugged. "Or they're just repeating what their parents say."
If that was the case, then that meant—
"Olive Winters?"
My muscles stiffened at the sound of Rachel Carlyle's voice.
Then that meant that Rachel Carlyle had been talking shit about me being a single mother, and her boys had overheard it and redirected the judgment at my kid.
Leaning back from Lucas, I twisted around, my eyes narrowing. Rachel was standing behind us. It was barely eleven on a Sunday, and she was dressed in stilettos, a skin tight white dress, and a fluffy fur coat.
"Rachel, hi."
Rachel's eyes had already flicked to Lucas. "Olive, I thought that was you." But I knew this had nothing to do with me. She'd certainly seen the news story about my mugshot, about Claire...and about Lucas.
I already knew how she was going to play this. Twisting on her fakest voice and most charming smile, she cocked her head. "Lucas? Lucas Wilson?"
"Ms. Carlyle."
Rachel snickered, waving her hand away. "Please, it's Rachel, you know that." Her eyes darted between me and Lucas, and it was clear she was trying to investigate to see if it was true—if I was actually dating a billionaire who was up for consideration for the future Vice President. "So, how do you two know each other?"
Rachel was a bully, just like her kids. And I'd always struggled with obvious confrontations like this, even the passive aggressive kind.
Even as far back as high school, I would replay bullies' attacks on me, thinking about how I could have acted differently. My revenge was always anonymous and silent, one of the reasons I enjoyed hacking so much.
But this was different. It was abundantly clear that Rachel's twins weren't projecting anything. They were parroting what their mother had said. I wanted to shove it in her face that I was actually capable of dating someone she considered above me, but my cheeks flushed with warmth, and I couldn't move.
To Lucas's credit, he picked up on all of this. We were standing side by side, and Lucas leaned over, draping his arm over my shoulder and pulling me against him. "Oh, Olive andI go way back." He kissed my cheek, and my smile deepened as I looked up at him. Cocking his head, he tapped the tip of my nose. "Isn't that right, baby?"
"That's right."
