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Fucker.
“Who are those people?”
“Neighbors. Stan’s friends.” She exhaled slowly. “Some of the many who’ve taken his side.”
What?
“What side? There are no sides.”
Her head fell a little. “I was the one with a drug problem, and he was the hero who’d saved me—who’d found and put a deposit in for a different rehab program in the city.”
“Instead you came to Blooms…”
“If I did what he wanted, I would’ve ended up back there with him… back in that destructive cycle,” she said. “But they didn’t see it that way—or Stan didn’t give them a chance to.” She gulped. “He made sure all they saw was a pill-popping, stay-at-home mom who left him and our son.”
“To get help. To get better.”
“If you knew Stan, you’d know he managed to find some spin to turn him into the hero; he always does…” she trailed off and swallowed. “That if I really cared about getting better, why didn’t I go to the program he’d chosen? That he’d prepaid for? That I don’t care about anyone but myself, which is why I’m here when he asked me not to be.”
“That’s bullshit,” I spat.
Rage churned in my veins. Stan practically painted a damn scarlet letter on her chest, and for what reason? Was he that upset she’d left him? If he wanted her so damn bad, then why hadn’t he married her—why hadn’t he just been decent to her?
He didn’t want her. He wanted power. It was obvious.
“Kenzie.” I reached for her but she lifted her hand to stop me.
“I’m okay,” she insisted and faced the field.
Her spine was straight. Her hair was tied back, but I watched agust of wind come through and take a few strands across her face. She didn’t touch them—didn’t let them bother her. Her focus was only forward. Those dusky-lavender eyes only looking for one thing: her son.
Fuck,she was beautiful.
Her strength. Her composure. The way she could continue to stand while everything around her seemed to crumble. I’d always noticed that about her, and so had my sister. It was why she’d been entrusted with so many responsibilities at Blooms. No matter what the storm brought, she’d continued to stand. To survive.
Rules and boundaries be damned. I couldn’t just stand here and pretend I didn’t feel anything for the woman beside me even though I should.
I reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder.The kids were jogging back onto the field as I stepped forward, partially obstructing Kenzie’s view; Jake was still on the bench, so I didn’t feel guilty stealing her focus for myself.
“You were right. We shouldn’t have come,” she said, letting her guard down just for me to see.
It can’t mean anything, I reminded myself.
“No.” I caught her chin and lifted her face. “We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be, you hear me?” Maybe I should’ve said her not we, but hell, this felt like exactly where I needed to be, too.
“What if he decides I can’t see Jake?” Her voice was impossibly small.
“I won’t let that happen.” I stared down at the woman who’d been saving herself for so damn long, and I just wanted her to let me take the burden for a little while. “He has no grounds to do that. We’ve done everything by the book.”
“He’ll find a way to hurt me; he…” She paused, and I wished like hell I knew what she’d been about to say. “You don’t know him.”
Anger rolled through me, and I couldn’t understand how she was so damn calm.I had a pretty damn good idea the kind of man her ex was—the kind that everyone loved and admired. The EMT. Devoted single father. Charming friend. And toxic to those closest to him.
Kenzie had a serious drug problem—one that almost killed her—and instead of supporting her, he’d turned her into a fucking villain. Instead of doing whatever it took to help her get better in whichever recovery path she chose, he dragged her reputation through the mud because she didn’t want to do it his way.Because she didn’t want to come back to him.
Stan was a selfish piece of shit.
“Repeat after me.Fuck him.”
