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“I never said you weren’t,” he said gently, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion.
“No one would ever take him,” I continued. “A judge would never agree to that.”
“A judge?” He took a step toward me, his face creased with concern. “What are you talking about, Emilia?”
“I think we should probably find somewhere else to stay,” I said, looking at Rhett again.
“You can stay here,” Michael replied. It only took two of his long-legged steps to reach me, and before I could take a single step, my wrist was captured in his grip. “What the fuck is happenin’ in that head of yours?”
“I think I did this all wrong,” I said with a little laugh. Hysteria bubbled up inside of me, making the sound far from joyful. “We should definitely get some kind of plan in place. I shouldn’t have just invaded your life.” My eyes shot to Rhett again.
“Emilia,” Mick said gruffly. When I didn’t look at him, he gave my arm a little shake.
“Stupid,” I muttered, trying to smile like it was no big deal. “I think I was just so excited to be back that I didn’t really think of the logistics, you know?”
“Look at me.”
I glanced at him and then away again. I didn’t know him, not anymore. My mistake had been assuming that I still did. Once, I’d known every little thing about him. I’d been able to read him, anticipate what he would think and how he would react. That wasn’t the case anymore. Stupid. So stupid.
Mick mumbled something under his breath and then moved past me toward the living room.
Without thinking, I threw myself in front of him.
“The fuck?” he blurted, staring at me in bewilderment.
It took me a second to realize that I was acting like an absolute lunatic. I forced my body to move out of his way.
“Rhett,” he called, walking into the living room. “You wanna go over to Grandma’s house?”
“Yes!” Rhett called back. He came running. “Grandma’s house?”
“Yep,” Michael said, picking him up. “I’ll carry you to the car, yeah?”
“Coming, Mama?” Rhett asked worriedly over Michael’s shoulder.
“Yeah, Mama,” Michael said, walking toward the front door. “You comin’?”
I followed them out of the house and back to my car, then stood there stupidly while Michael figured out Rhett’s car seat buckles.
“You wanna double-check these?” he asked as he backed out of the way. “Not sure how to tighten them.”
I nodded silently and tightened the belts, leaning forward to give Rhett a kiss on his head.
“Play outside?” Rhett asked as soon as we were pulling out of the driveway.
“We’ll see, bud,” I said, staring out the windshield. Internally, I was still panicking, but the knowledge that we were headed to Michael’s parents’ house soothed it somewhat. There was something about that house that made everything feel like it was going to be okay. I didn’t take the time to analyze it.
When we pulled up in front of the house, Mrs. Hawthorne came outside to greet us.
“Okay, so I didn’t want to intrude,” she said, coming toward the car as we climbed out. “But I was really hoping you guys would come back over today.”
“Can Rhett hang with you for a while?” Michael asked, making me jolt in surprise. I thought we were all going to hang out with his family.
“Always,” Mrs. Hawthorne replied easily. She looked over at me. “As long as that’s okay with Emilia?”
“Mama, out!” Rhett called from his seat.
I hesitated.
