Page 77 of Feel My Love


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I knew it wasn’t good for Hunter, but I wasn’t sure how aware he was. “I’m sorry.”

Hunter shrugged my hand off his shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”

His words were emphatic. Hunter was getting older, forming his own opinions. I was getting a glimpse of the man he’d become some day. None of it boded well for his father.

“You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to.”

He let out a breath, his entire body relaxing. “That’s good.”

“Do you want to see him?” I asked carefully, unsure of his answer. Had I screwed everything up?

“Not now.” Hunter’s lips pressed together.

I turned on the burner again.

“Am I still going to Coach Nick’s on Saturday?”

“Of course.” My heart twinged for a different reason. Was Hunter replacing his poor excuse for a father with Nick? That wasn’t a good idea either.

It made me feel like I was more in over my head than I’d originally thought.

Twenty

NICK

Hunter was coming over today, and I was nervous. I tried to tell myself it was just a playdate, but logically, I knew it wasn’t. I was doing Abby a favor. A very big favor. And I could understand her hesitation. It wasn’t just a couple of hours playing with Brody. The wedding festivities lasted most of the day.

I couldn’t believe Hunter’s father didn’t want to see him. It was heartbreaking and frustrating. I knew Abby had years to get used to it, but I didn’t know how she did it.

When a knock sounded on the front door, Brody ran to get it. I could hear the boys talking excitedly, then they dashed past me to get to the backyard. Brody and Hunter were always up for a game of wiffle ball. I’d bought more balls for the occasion since most ended up in the neighbors’ backyards.

Abby stood in the foyer, chewing her lip.

She was wondering if leaving Hunter with me was a good idea, and I sensed it wasn’t just about my ability to babysit. She was worried Hunter would get attached to me. The thought of being close to Hunter as an extension of Abby warmed my heart, but I couldn’t tell her how I was feeling—not when she’d set the rules.

I smiled, trying to reassure her. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this. We’ll play baseball, eat, and watch a movie.”

She took a shallow breath, her gaze finally meeting mine. “His dad called the other day. He wanted to see him.”

A mix of feelings flooded my system—shock and jealousy. “Is that what you wanted to do? You could have cancelled. I would have understood.”

It cost me a lot to say those words. Her ex might have been Hunter’s biological father, but he didn’t deserve the little moments much less the big moments with him. He’d left Hunter and Abby when they were at their most vulnerable. He couldn’t just ask for more eight years later.

Abby shook her head. “I told him no.”

There was something more to the story. I stepped closer. “Have you done that before?”

Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I used to think it was good for Hunter to see him, so I accommodated him when he called.”

I dropped my head back slightly. “You’d rearrange your schedule to make it happen.”

“I’m not proud of that. It made Brooke mad, so I stopped talking about it.” Her voice was so small, so vulnerable.

I could hear the boys talking and laughing and the crack of the plastic bat outside, so I took a chance that they might walk in and see us and stepped into her space, resting my hands on her shoulders. “You didn’t do anything wrong in this situation. You did what you thought was best at the time.”

Her gaze lifted to mine as her palms came to rest on my chest. “I don’t like the way it makes Hunter feel when he shows up out of the blue wanting to see him. I don’t think it’s good for him.”

“I don’t either.” She’d shared something big with me, and I wanted to do the same. “Austin called the other night, too. He wants me to bring Brody to see him in jail.”

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