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“He’ll be fine here for a little bit,” Michael told me over the roof of the car. “Relax.”
The panic inside me receded a little, but only enough for anger to take its place.
“You’d think that with a mother like yours, you’d have learned by twenty-four years old not to tell a woman to relax.”
“Rookie move,” Mrs. Hawthorne agreed. “But he’ll be totally safe with us, Em. You know that.”
I opened the back door and leaned in to talk to Rhett.
“Hey, you wanna hang out here for a little bit so me and your daddy can run an errand?”
“Mama go?” Rhett asked uneasily.
“Just for a little bit,” I repeated. “I bet Grandma will give you a snack if you ask, and you can play outside.”
“Okay,” Rhett murmured, unsure.
“We’ll be back in just a little bit,” I assured him as I unbuckled his seat.
“Hey, Rhett!” Mrs. Hawthorne said happily as I helped him out of the car. “I was thinking of making some cookies or cupcakes or something. You wanna help me?”
“Cookies?” Rhett said, glancing up at me as I set him on his feet.
“Have all the cookies you want,” I said with a chuckle. “Go ahead. Have fun.”
He kissed my arm before hurrying over to his grandma.
“We’ll be back in a few,” Michael told his mom as he climbed back into the car.
“We’ll be here,” Mrs. Hawthorne said to me. “No plans today except making some treats.”
I watched as she walked Rhett into the house before getting back into the car.
“That was bullshit,” I said quietly as Michael turned around in the driveway. “You ambushed me.”
“You could’ve said no.”
“Not without hurting your mom’s feelings.”
“We needed a minute without Rhett, and now we’ve got it.”
I didn’t respond. I felt naked without Rhett. Like I’d forgotten something. It probably wasn’t healthy, but I was used to him being with me always. To drive off without him made my stomach churn with nausea.
“Where are you going?” I asked suspiciously as we turned down a familiar country road.
“Somewhere we won’t be interrupted,” Michael said calmly.
I crossed my arms over my chest, not really believing that he’d go where I thought he was going. When we pulled up to the gate outside the Aces Motorcycle Club compound, I glared at him.
Mick rolled down the window and nodded, and the prospect at the gate rolled it open without a word, letting us pull through.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I mumbled under my breath.
The path he took was overgrown with weeds and blackberry bushes, but we’d spent enough time carving it out in high school that it was still passable. The closer we got to our spot, the antsier I got and by the time he rolled to a stop, I was already unbuckling my seat belt. I hopped out of the car and slammed the door shut, anger and disbelief running through me.
“Why the hell would you think we should come out here?” I asked as he calmly climbed out of the driver’s side.
“Never been interrupted out here before. Figured we wouldn’t be today.”
