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Abby shook her head. “It was a gift. But I’m usually too tired to open a bottle, and I can’t drink the entire thing by myself.”
“Well, tonight, you have me.”
Fifteen
ABBY
Well, tonight, you have me.
His words played on repeat in my head while he uncorked the bottle and poured the red wine into two coffee mugs.
I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I don’t have wineglasses. Nothing fancy here.”
I held up my glass. “Just you. But you’re not fancy. Just beautiful.”
I took a sip to cover my pleasure at his words. He was a sweet talker. I didn’t care that he tried to deny it; he was good with words. Almost too good. It made me wonder if he was that smooth with all the women.
“Did you leave someone back home?” I almost winced at my question. Why was I asking him about girlfriends? He’d think I’d want more with him.
“I never would’ve been with you that night if I was involved with someone,” he said with conviction.
“I know that. I just wondered if you’d met someone since. Not becauseIwant to know. I was just curious if you had to leave someone you cared about to move here.” I forced myself to stop rambling because I was making it sound like I did care if he was seeing anyone.
His face was drawn. “There was no one. I think I kept things surface level because I always knew this day would come. Austin would get himself into something he couldn’t get out of. I was always ready to step in.”
“That’s good for Brody, but no way to live your life.” I felt for him. Living that way had to be difficult.
“I don’t know that I knew that was what I was doing. It was easy for me to end my month-to-month lease and move everything here.”
“Yet you didn’t buy one when it was just you?”
“I knew Brody would need me one day. Not just for me to step into the uncle role, but for me to step in for Austin.”
Nick had lived his life knowing he’d need to pick up at any minute to take care of Brody. He was there because it was better for Brody to live somewhere familiar. “With Austin’s track record, I can see why you thought that.”
“I would have kept him in the same house if it had been decent, but Austin didn’t care about providing a safe home for Brody.”
“I hate that for him.” Hunter missed out on a father, but I’d always provided him with what he needed: a home, clothing, and activities.
“Brody behaves for me. He’s almost too good. Like he’s afraid to mess up because he thinks I’ll walk away.”
“Hunter and Brody go to the same school, but his name hadn’t come up before.”
“The administration was after Austin to get him to school. He was either late or not there at all. At least until Brody realized if he wanted to keep up, he needed to get himself to school.”
“An eight-year-old shouldn’t have to be responsible. Sure, I want Hunter to do some chores, remember he has homework, and do it. But I can’t imagine him being responsible for getting himself to school.”
“I feel bad I wasn’t more involved.”
“You couldn’t have known how bad it was, and you wanted to give Austin the benefit of the doubt.”
“Brody didn’t want to tell me what was going on.”
“Maybe he was embarrassed.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“He might’ve been proud. He didn’t want to admit how bad his father was. Maybe he was afraid he’d end up in foster care. That you wouldn’t take him in.”
