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“Why don’t you go climb in my bed?” I suggest. “I’ll bring Mia in with you. I’m sure you’ll both be much more comfortable.”
Dani lets out a deep breath as she pushes herself up off the couch, looking as though she has no idea what’s going on. “Good idea,” she murmurs before sleepily making her way down the hallway, dragging her feet. Carefully scooping up the napping bundle off the ground, I take her down to my bedroom and slide her in beside her momma.
I can’t help but gaze at them together, and I’m hit with a wave of grief crashing over me. I back away, unable to take it a second longer. I hurry out the front door, making sure to lock up behind me before I’m in my car and pulling up outside Frisky Framing.
I push through the door of the little store and instantly come to a screeching halt. My frame leans up against the front counter, and my God, it is big. Much bigger than I anticipated. My gaze roams over the piece and I take in the picture of Tank and me that has been blown up and printed in black and white.
The picture perfectly captures the love we have for each other, and also the love we have for our child as Tank cradles my stomach, forever protecting him.
A tear slides down my cheek as I make my way closer to the counter. “Hey, Sophie,” the framing guy says. “Do you like it?”
I look up at him with a beaming smile. “It’s absolutely perfect,” I tell him with complete honesty.
“Excellent.”
I look at the pure size of it and realize there’s no way I’ll be getting this home by myself, so I look up at Luke with my man-eating smile. “Do you mind helping me get it to the car?” I ask.
I have to stop myself from laughing at the way he stares before he’s able to pull himself together. “Oh, um, yeah. Of course,” he says as he comes around the front of the counter and helps me lift this bad boy.
We make it outside and he balances the frame against the glass window of the store as I quickly go through my car and put the back seats down.
After a lot of maneuvering and struggling, we finally get it stashed in the back, and I close the door to thank him when I hear a voice calling out from across the street.
“Hey,” the angry voice roars, demanding my attention.
I turn around and practically drop my jaw in shock at the person I see storming toward me. Crazy Jill rushes across the road, and doesn’t come to a stop until she’s right up in my face.
“Umm . . . Can I help you?” I question as I take a step back to give myself a little personal space, but all that does is back me into my car and make me appear scared of the crazy bitch.
“Yeah, you can,” Jill says, raising her finger and jabbing me hard in the chest. “You can back the fuck off,” she demands.
Ahh, fuck. Here we go with this shit again.
I grab her finger and give it a hard twist away from my chest and use every bit of my willpower not to rub the spot she just jabbed. Regretting my choice of stepping back into my car, I push myself forward, forcing her to take a step away from me. “Back off?” I question. “Look who’s talking,” I practically laugh at her.
“Tank is mine,” she tells me like the crazy bitch she is. “He’s wasting his time on you, and now that your kid is dead, you can stop trapping him and he can finally see that he belongs to me.”
No. She. Fucking. Didn’t.
“Excuse me?” I question as I get in her face and start backing her into the wall of Frisky Framing. “How dare you mention our child.”
“Please,” she scoffs. “It probably wasn’t his anyway. His child wouldn’t be weak like yours was. I couldn’t have been happier that day. I followed him to the hospital, and it was like all my dreams came true. But I swear, I could have killed you for making him feel that way. I would never do that to him. You don’t deserve him.”
I see nothing but red as she continues spurting out crap, but a voice to my side pulls me out of my rage-fueled anger. “Ahhh . . . I’ll leave you to it, Sophie,” Luke says, with both hands raised, letting me know he wants nothing to do with this.
“Yeah, thanks,” I grunt as I turn my attention back to Jill, tears of rage filling my eyes, unable to believe that anyone, even this crazy bitch, is so fucking shallow as to say such nasty things about my sweet baby boy.
