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“Okay.” I clapped my hands sharply. “Get ready. We’re going go-carting.”
“Are you going to race?” Alex asked tentatively, the beginnings of a smile spreading across his freckled face.
“Damn right. If Ruby can beat Vander, I can definitely beat you three.”
“You’re going to wear a helmet?” Jace asked skeptically, studying me as he moved closer to George.
“I am.”
“I can’t picture Minnie in a helmet,” George mused, smiling faintly at Jace as they found their shoes.
“I’ll have you know my boyfriend rides a motorcycle and when he takes me for a ride I wear a helmet.”
George’s eyebrows shot up. “Mr. Triggs rides a motorcycle?”
“Indeed.” I grabbed my purse and keys.
“And you go on it with him?” Alex asked as he pulled his shoes on, still skeptical.
“I do,” I confirmed, opening the door, my small posse surrounding me.
“Are you going to get your own motorcycle?” Jace asked.
I laughed. “I am not.”
Much later, after I beat them around the track, after I took them down to the beach for fish and chips and ice cream, after we watched Jurassic Park and I screamed, much to their delight, at all the obligatory parts, after they went to bed and I called Ruby and cried, especially when she put Vander on the extension and I heard the pain and disbelief in his voice, after all that, I slid into my bed and I wished for Lucky’s arms around me.
And I thanked God he had a child with a woman who loved him.
A soft knock sounded at my door.
“Come in,” I called softly, pushing myself up against the headboard and ensuring the sheet was tucked around my body. I wore pajamas, thick ones, but the lack of a bra made me feel exposed.
I fully expected to see Jace. There was no place in his tender heart that could fathom such an astronomical betrayal, but it was George who peeked his head around the door jam.
“Minnie, can I come in?”
“Of course,” I replied. “What do you need?”
“Can I talk to you?”
“Yes. Of course.” I moved to swing my legs out of the bed. “Do you want to go in the kitchen?”
“No.” He turned and gently closed the door. “I don’t want them to hear me if they get up.”
“No problem.” I moved over to the far side of the bed and patted the side closest to him.
He ducked his head and walked over, slowly easing himself down on the edge of the bed.
Alarms screamed in my head. Nothing about this situation felt safe. Should I call Vander to come and get him?
“Why doesn’t she love me?”
All my attention swung back to the broken boy in front of me.
“Oh, honey. If she doesn’t love you, she’s not capable of loving anybody.”
His back bowed, his shoulders curled in, and his face screwed up until a sob ripped from his throat.
