“Well, I’ve made it in the last hour,” he said. He looked like he wished he could take those words back. “What I meant is, I have the means to fix things.”
“We agreed that I had the final say if you were going to spend more than ten thousand dollars,” she reminded him. “And this is way more than ten thousand dollars.”
He sighed heavily in response. “I know we agreed to that. Which is why I came here to tell you, even though Gary seems to want to keep this from you.”
“He didn’t want me to know?” Her heart sank. Heather had always known that Gary could be a jerk at times, but she had never expected him to stoop so low.
“No, he didn’t,” Simon replied. “But I had made a promise to you about how I spend my money on you, so I knew that I had to tell you about Gary’s proposal. This would never be something I would do behind your back. He wants this as hush money. I give him the two million and he said he’d disappear. Move away. Drop the custody battle and never bother you or Finn again.”
She was grateful for his honesty at least. Simon had kept his promise to her despite everything, but that didn’t make the hurt go away. He actually seemed to want to go through with Gary’s reprehensible demands and she couldn’t even begin to understand it.
“Why would you want to sink down to Gary’s level?” she asked in a disapproving tone.
“It’s not about sinking to his level,” Simon insisted. “But you have to admit, there’s something tempting about getting him out of Finn’s life.”
“No, there isn’t,” she said, in a shrill voice she hardly recognized. Gary wanted to abandon his own son, and instead of coming to her he had gone to Simon. To a man he obviously hated. For money. A wave of nausea roiled through her stomach. This was the worst thing Gary had ever done. Worse than his cruel words to her. Worse than constantly cancelling plans with Finn.
“Finn would be better off,” Simon said. “It’s going to hurt him, but no child should be forced to be with a parent who doesn’t want them.”
“No. Gary’s just going through something,” she said. “Maybe he’s scared, or in a bad financial situation.”
“Heather, when are you going to see the truth?” Simon got to his feet. “I’ve tried to avoid insulting the guy, but Gary is a deadbeat. He’s an asshole. A greedy, selfish bastard.”
“Gary is Finn’s father,” she said firmly.
He crossed the room to sink down next to her and took her hands in his.
Anger almost made her snatch her hands away, but her heart wouldn’t let her.
“He doesn’t want to be Finn’s father,” Simon said. “I get where you’re coming from. When Gary first came to me, part of me wanted to reject his proposal because I knew how devastated Finn would be. I know what it’s like to want a father’s approval and never get it. But I gave it some thought and I realized that Finn deserves better.”
“What’s better? You?” The venom in her voice made him jerk back in surprise. “Is this what you want, Simon? To take Gary’s place?” She knew she was being unfair by projecting her anger onto him, but she didn’t know what to do with the feelings that were mounting. Didn’t know how to deal with the crushing ache in her chest. Nothing could have prepared her for something like this. What was the playbook for realizing that the father of your child wanted nothing to do with him?
He released her hand, a look of pained surprise flashing in his eyes. “How could you think that?”
“I don’t.” She sucked down a gulp of air, trying to fight the tears that threatened to spill over. “I don’t think that. I’m just so upset that you’re willing to go along with this when it’s obvious that Gary is going through some kind of crisis. You can’t seriously consider something like this when he’s in this state.”
“I know you want to believe that Gary is going through something, but he’s not,” Simon said firmly. “He doesn’t care about anyone other than himself. Deep down, I think you know that.”