Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“Lennon, get back in here—”
“Let it go, Katie. It’s been a rough evening for him.”
“For all of us,” she adds, and I nod.
“You sure you want me here?” I ask the question that I desperately need answered—regardless if it’s what I want to hear or not.
“I’m not going to lie. My head is a mess right now,” she confesses.
“I can—”
“But I don’t want you to leave, Jake.”
“Then, I’ll stay.”
“Just like that?” she asks.
“Just like that,” I confirm. She stares at me, the moment stretching between us. She gives me a weak smile, and I take it, feeling a little bit of hope. Lennon might hate me, but at least, Katie hasn’t retreated away from me. It’s a small victory, and right now, I’ll take any I can get.
CHAPTER 4
Katie
I sigh, fluffing my pillow before lying gently back on it. “I’ve just been thinking.”
“That’s a dangerous thing sometimes.”
“It can be,” I admit and force myself to look at him. He’s standing over my bed after helping me lie down. “Aren’t you sleeping here tonight?” I find myself asking because he’s making no move to get into bed. In fact, he’s still wearing his jeans and not his jogging pants or the gym shorts he wears at night because of Lennon.
“I wasn’t sure you wanted me to,” he says, his gaze appraising me.
“I know you’re mad, Jake.”
“You do?” he asks, sounding surprised.
“Yeah, if I had let you talk to Lennon, he wouldn’t be upset with you right now and giving you the cold shoulder.” God, that’s the understatement of the year. Throughout dinner, Lennon wouldn’t even look at Jake. He asked to be excused early and whenever Jake tried to talk to him, he was greeted with silence. I tried to get after Lennon, but Jake stopped me. Then, Lennon ran to his room. It was a tense night to say the least. Even my mother was silent.
Jake sits down on the edge of the bed. His fingers tangle into my hair. I close my eyes, relishing the sensation of pleasure that spreads through me with his touch. It’s a feeling that I will never get used to—I just hope I get the chance to have more of it.
“I want Lennon to know I’m his father, Katie.”
“I know, honey, and we will do that together.”
“When?”
“Can we give it a day or two just until Lennon’s emotions settle?”
“So, in two days?”
I swallow nervously. I knew this moment was coming, and I understand Jake wanting a deadline. That doesn’t make it any easier. There’s a part of me worried Lennon will be upset with me—maybe even hate me—for keeping his father a secret. He’s young, but he’s not so young that he won’t resent me for keeping quiet. God, I don’t know how everything became so complicated.
“What if we tell him this weekend? We can ask your mother to take Mom to bingo. Barb likes to go, too. Then, it will just be the three of us here and we can try and tackle it together.”
“Saturday night,” he says, and I can tell he’s not happy with the wait, but he nods an agreement. I feel a little of the heavy emotion in the room lift and I’m grateful.
“Saturday night,” I agree.
“You’re not going to put it off, right? I’m sick of this secret causing problems.”
“I promise.”
“I can wait that long, I guess.”
“Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“I owe you an apology. No, that’s not right. I owe you more than one. I’ve handled things so badly.”
“Katie—”
“I should have told you about Lennon from the beginning. I was hurt and scared. It turned me into a coward.”
“Katie, we were young. We both made mistakes. I wrote that letter because you kept dropping hints about growing old together and starting a family. It sucks, but I panicked. You wouldn’t even consider going on the road with me and I couldn’t see past my dreams dying.”
“I should have told you about the pregnancy instead of trying to drop hints,” I whisper.
“Sunshine, it sucks, but I still would have left.”
“I know,” I admit. Jake will never know how painful those two words are to give breath to. “I’ve always known, and I let that color my actions, but…”
“But?”
“You would have tried to be in Lennon’s life. It might not have been the version of a father that I wanted for my son, but you would have been there.”
“You sound so positive of that.”
“I am and that’s why I want to apologize to you.”
“I’m not following, baby,” he says, looking down at me. I reach up and soothe out the worry lines around his eyes. His warm skin makes my skin tingle.
“When Jeff and I were talking, I could just see it…”
“See what?”
“I could see that you were telling the truth. Jeff didn’t tell you about Lennon four years ago. When I pressed him, he admitted it.”