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I frown harder, a sinking feeling in my stomach.“So?”
Matty’s gaze locks on mine.“He doesn’t know I also speak German.He was talking about Chase needing a more stable home environment than what he’s getting at his mother’s place.”
My eyes practically bulge out of my head.“What?”
He lifts a hand.“He was just talking, playing the part of the super stepdad for attention.”
“He’s not his stepdad,” I snap.“Not yet anyway.How dare he gossip about me in front of my own brother?Did you tell him to fuck right off?”
Matty gives a small shake of his head, a calculating look in his eyes.“You know what they say—keep your friends close and your enemies closer.I pretended I didn’t understand what they were saying, grabbed my coffee from the breakroom, and left.But my ears are open, and I’ve got your back.I just thought you should know that this may have roots in something more than Aaron staying with you.After all, Aaron wasn’t anywhere in the picture two weeks ago.”
I curse and abandon my slice of cake on the pedestal.“What should I do?”
“Eat your cake, go pick up Chase, and have a great time at the witch house.”
“I’m not hungry anymore.”I fetch the kettle from the stove, pouring the hot water over the coffee grounds.“Seriously, what am I going to do?Do you think Radcliffe is turning Ben against me?”
“He might be trying, but he won’t succeed,” Matty says.“Ben knows you love Chase more than anything in the world and that you’re a great mom.”
I swallow the acid rising in my throat.“Right.You’re right.”
But I’m not sure I believe it.And when I see Ben’s car parked outside the daycare center two hours later, my already acid-filled stomach begins to roil in earnest.
“Hey,” I say, crossing my arms against the chill as he meets me on the sidewalk.“What’s up?”
“I just wanted to get the address of where you’re staying,” he says, his gaze guarded and tired.
“Sure,” I say, pulling out my phone.“You could have just texted me.”
“I wanted to see you, too,” he says.“Chase was talking about Aaron last night.Quite a bit.I’m worried he might be getting attached.”
Fighting my knee-jerk reaction to tell him to mind his own business and stop being a helicopter parent all of a sudden, I take a breath.I force my jaw to relax and wait until my pulse slows before I say, “I don’t think that’s something to worry about.Aaron really likes Chase, too.I’m sure he’d be happy to visit with him whenever he’s in town from now on.”
“When he’s in town,” Ben says.“Which is almost never.”
“Why is that a problem?”I ask.“Lots of kids have uncles and family friends who only visit every once and a while.That doesn’t make the relationship a bad thing.I thought we agreed—the more people who love our son, the better.”Swallowing the sourness rising in my throat, I add sweetly, “Which is why I didn’t object to you having Chase over to Radcliffe’s place, even when you were first dating.”
“That’s different.”
I frown.“How so?”
“Radcliffe is going to be in Chase’s life for the long haul.”
“But you didn’t know that when you first moved in together,” I counter.“Back then, he was just your fuck buddy.”
Ben scowls.“That isn’t fair, Melissa.”
He never calls me Melissa.Not unless he’s mad.I’m always Mel or Lissa, his pet names for me from when we were a couple.
But we’re not a couple anymore and I’m starting to wonder if Ben is someone I should trust without reservations.
“It’s perfectly fair,” I say, my heart aching.I never wanted this.I never wanted to be at odds with my son’s father, but it’s past time that I stood up for myself.“What isn’t fair is you judging every move I make as a mother and finding it lacking.I’mactuallya single parent, Ben.You don’t know what that’s like.Within weeks of moving out of our home, you had another partner to help you out.If you were juggling work and parenthood without any help, you might not have it all together all the time, either.Now, I have to go.I’ve had a long day and I want to see my son.”
I start up the walk to the daycare, but turn back when Ben calls out, “I just want what’s best for our baby, Mel.That’s all.”
I nod.“I know.So do I.We’re on the same page and the same team.Just try to remember that, okay?”
He sighs and nods before lifting a hand.“Tell Chase I’ll see him Saturday morning.”
