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“You don’t have to pretend to be fine, Luce,” he frowns at me. “You were almost—” he doesn’t finish that sentence because of Matthias, but he doesn’t need to.
“I’m fine,” I snap at him. Being mad at him is so much easier than facing up to the truth right now. I can’t keep letting him rescue me. I can’t keep relying on him because one day he is not going to be there and it will break me. I should never have agreed to this, but it seemed like the best way to keep me and my son safe.
“We’ll be at the ranch in time for supper,” he says as he leans back in his seat.
“Okay.”
“You’ll like it there. You both will.”
“Yeah,” I mumble as I stare out of the window, wondering how long it will be before I can go home and get on with my life.
After an hour’s driving we turn down a dirt road.
“Are we there yet?” Matthias pipes up from the back seat.
“Almost, buddy,” Jax replies. “You see that huge house up ahead?”
My son leans forward, craning his neck to see out of the front window. “Yeah.”
“That’s it.”
“Wow! Did you grow up here?”
“Sure did.”
I look at the impressive house as it comes into view. It’s beautiful and the surrounding land is vast. It seems so peaceful and serene. “How do you ever leave this place?” I ask him we drive through the gates.
“I have plenty to go back to LA for,” he says with a shrug.
When the truck rolls to a stop outside the house, the screen door opens and a woman comes rushing out. She looks to be in her late-forties and has dark blonde hair tied up in a bun, tanned skin and a huge smile. Jax climbs out of the truck and she runs to him.
“Jackson,” she says, throwing her arms around him.
“Who is that, Momma?” Matthias asks.
“Let’s go find out,” I say and the two of us climb out of the truck.
As she sees us, the woman steps back from Jax and walks toward Matthias and me. “You must be Lucia and Matthias?”
I don’t even have time to answer before she pulls me into a hug too. She smells of sandalwood and fresh air and there is something comforting about her. I like her already.
“This is Aunt Molly,” Jax says as he shakes his head. “As you can see, she doesn’t get many visitors here.”
“Oh, Jackson,” Molly says dismissively.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I smile. “Thank you so much for having us.”
“The pleasure is all mine, sweetheart,” she says before she crouches down to Matthias. “Do you like blueberry pie?”
Matthias grins at her. “I like any pie.”
“Then come with me. I made some special, just for you.” She holds out her hand to him and he looks up at me seeking permission to go off with this stranger.
“Go on, munchkin. I’ll get our bags.” I wink at him and he takes Molly’s hand and walks toward the house. Before they reach the door, it opens again and a huge bloodhound lumbers out and plods down the steps with his tail wagging.
“Momma,” Matthias shrieks.
Oh damn. The dog at the park the other day really freaked him out.
