“I’m going for full custody of Candice—”
“Good for you.” I cut him off.
His jaw tightens. “We always wanted a baby. We always wanted to be parents.”
My heart twists as what he’s suggesting registers.
“I want you back.”
My body goes rigid.
He must be crazy. Does he really think I’m so desperate to be a mom that I’d take him back?
“I’ve always loved you. If you give me a second chance, we can make this work. We can have the family we always wanted.”
“Are you nuts?” My question is whispered, betraying the rage I’m feeling.
“We were happy.”
“You are . . . You are . . . You’re nuts. Completely off your rocker.”
“Courtney.”
I don’t let him say more. I stand, tossing my napkin on top of my uneaten lunch. “I don’t want anything to do with you. And now”—I turn to look at Lorie—“I don’t want anything to do with you, either.” I look back at Tom, staring him in the eye. “You didn’t just hurt me when you had an affair, you killed the love I had for you. You made me see the kind of man you really are.”
“Court—”
I hold up my hand. “I hope that one day you find someone to love, Tom. I really do. But that someone is not me.” I pull in a breath, then hold out my shaking hand. “Please hand me my purse. Do not ever contact me again, or I will be getting a restraining order against you.”
“Honey, hand her her bag,” Lorie says quietly.
Despite the sadness in her voice, I don’t look at her. I’m done.
“Don’t be mad at Mom. I made her tell me when you were meeting.”
I don’t acknowledge his words, I just keep my hand out and my face blank. I want to get out of here. I need to get out of here.
With a deep sigh, he reaches behind his back and grabs my purse, then hands it to me. I lift my chin and, without a backward glance, I leave.
I get into a cab right outside. As soon as I’m seated, I call Lucas.
“Hey, baby. How was lunch?” At the sound of his voice, the tears and anger I was holding in are released. I start to cry, not answering his question. “Where are you?”
“In . . . in a ca-cab,” I sob into the phone.
“Tell the driver to bring you to my office,” he demands.
“I think I should . . . should just go . . . go home.”
“Tell the driver to bring you to my office. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
I don’t say okay, I just give the driver the new address. During the ten-minute ride I don’t talk to Lucas, but I know he’s still on the phone. When I reach his office building, he’s standing outside with a worried look on his handsome face. He opens my door and helps me out of the cab before leaning in to pay my fare.
“Come on.”
I curl myself under his arm and let him lead me inside the building and up to his floor. Once we are there, the secretary who gave me her shoes the last time I was there starts to smile, but then worry etches her beautiful features. Lucas takes me down the hall into his office and leads me to his couch. He holds me on his lap, murmuring soft words as I cry ugly tears. I tell him about lunch through my sobs. He doesn’t say anything, but I feel his tense body coil tighter with every single word.
Eventually my tears dry up. My eyes and body are beyond tired. “I’m sorry,” I say, pulling back from his chest to look up at him. “I’m sure you have things to do today.”
“Nothing is more important to me right now than knowing you’re okay.” He rubs his thumbs under my eyes, swiping at the wetness that has coated my cheeks. “I should have known something like this would happen. I should have known he wasn’t going to give up.”
“I never would have guessed something like this could happen.” I drop my eyes.
“Are you crying because of him?”
“No, because of Lorie,” I whisper, feeling a fresh wave of tears. “Things . . . I thought things between us . . . It doesn’t matter now. I guess I’m crying because now my relationship with her is over, too.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he says softly.
I shake my head. “It does. I can’t trust her. I won’t be able to trust her ever again.”
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“Me too.” I cuddle closer to his chest and rest my forehead in the crook of his neck. We sit like that for a long time—until he gets a call that he has to take. Then I lie down on his couch and eventually fall asleep.
When I wake up, he tells me it’s time for us to go. We stop at my place, since his parents are picking up Maddi from school. I shower, reapply my makeup, and change. Then we head to his apartment to meet his parents. After what happened today, I’m no longer nervous about meeting his mom and dad. I’m just bone-deep tired.
When we get to his place, he opens the door. I enter before him.
“Courtney!” Maddi shouts, running to me from across the room. I hold out my arms to her, and she buries her face in my stomach for a moment, then looks up at me, grinning. “Linkin talked to me today.” Seeing the smile on her adorable face, I smile back, forgetting about everything that happened this afternoon for a moment.
“Did he?”
“Yes! And he sat with me at lunch. He even gave me one of his cookies.”
“I think that means he likes you.”
“Fuck me,” Lucas grumbles under his breath, but I ignore his comment and stay focused on Maddi.
“Did you take it when he gave it to you?”
“It was flaxel seed.” Her face scrunches up. “I took it, but I didn’t eat it because I don’t know what flaxel seed is.”
I laugh at her interpretation of flaxseed, then wonder what a flaxseed cookie might taste like. Probably not very good.
“We will have to make some chocolate-chip cookies next week. You can take him one,” I tell her.
She looks up at me, her eyes shining bright.
God, I love her.
“Well, honey? Are you going to introduce us?” I look away from Maddi and see an older woman and gentleman standing in the middle of the living room. The woman has a bright, welcoming smile on her face that matches her motherly appearance. Her hair just reaches her shoulders and is curled under, framing her face. Her T-shirt is covered in rhinestone flowers of different colors, and her jeans are snug and boot cut over a pair of simple flats. The man next to her is also in jeans, but he has on a green polo shirt that is stretched across his wide chest and stomach. It gives me the impression that he enjoys food and beer. Even at his age, though, he’s handsome. I can see that Lucas favors him.
“Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Courtney. Baby, these are my parents, Lisa and David.”
“It’s so nice to meet you both.” I start to stick out my hand, but his mom startles me by wrapping her arms around me in a hug.
“It’s nice to meet you, too. Madeline hasn’t stopped talking about you since we picked her up from school,” she says, letting me go.
I look at Maddi, who’s standing at my side.
I’m tugged into a hard chest next, then picked up off the ground by David. “Hi, darlin’.”
I laugh as he sets me on my feet, then grin as Lucas wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Maddi, honey? Why don’t you go change? Once you’re done we’ll head out for dinner,” Lucas says.
I notice that Maddi has her school uniform on—a dark-green polo with the school’s emblem on the right breast pocket, khaki pants, and simple white sneakers.
“Okay.” She skips off, and I laugh as I watch her go.
“Maddi said Eva’s been around a few times over the last week,” Lisa says.
Lucas’s arm tightens around me. “She has. She moved in with Heather.”
“Let me guess . . . The guy she was with got tired of dealing with her bullshit and kicked her out?” David mutters.
“That’s my guess, but I haven’t asked her about it. All I care about is Maddi’s well-being.”
Lisa’s eyes go to Maddi’s closed bedroom door. “She seems happy.”