CHAPTER22
LUCIA
Iwake to the sound of Matthias giggling to himself as he sits on the end of my bed watching cartoons on his tablet. I swear this kid is better with technology than I am.
“Morning, munchkin,” I smile.
“Morning, Momma. What are we doing today?” He grins at me.
“What would you like to do?”
“Can we go see the horses with Jax?”
Jax. His name is like a knife slicing through my heart. Seeing him and Shannon last night—it wasn’t even that he was half-naked, it was the way he was with her. Like he was being his true self. I’ve seen him laugh plenty, but not like that. He has never looked at me the way he looked at her and he never will.
“Maybe later. I think Jax is busy. How about me and you do something? Just us?”
“Can we go dinosaur hunting?” he asks with a goofy grin.
“Yes.” I clap my hands. “I’ll bet there are lots of T-Rexs around here. How about we grab some breakfast and go find some?”
“Yes,” he shrieks, jumping off my bed. I smile at him as he walks back to his room, pretending to be a T-Rex. He is all I need. As soon as we get back to LA I’ll tell my father I can’t work for Montoya Inc any longer. The sooner I start to cut Jackson Decker out of my life, the happier I will be.
Molly made us fresh pancakes with blueberries for breakfast and we ate our fill before we came out exploring the fields. To my relief, there’s no sign of Jackson anywhere. No doubt Shannon is keeping his bed nice and warm for him. We have walked a fair distance from the house, but I have made sure to keep in sight of various landmarks on my way so we don’t get lost. That would be the last thing I’d need, having Jax come to my rescue like some white knight, when in fact he is the fire-breathing dragon.
“Momma. I found a dinosaur footprint. Come see.” Matthias shouts from beneath a tree a few yards ahead of me.
“Wow. Really?” I laugh. This kid’s imagination is something else. He makes even the most mundane things seem fun. I run over to him, not seeing the rock jutting out from beneath the grass. I catch my sneaker on it and fall, twisting my ankle as I hit the ground.
“Momma.” Matthias screams as he comes running over to me.
“I’m fine, munchkin.” I force a smile as I push myself into a sitting position. “I should look where I’m putting my feet, huh?”
“You need me to go for help?” he frowns, his little face so serious.
“No.” I shake my head. “I’m okay. I just need to get up and then maybe we should head back. Okay?”
“Okay,” he nods. “Then we can go see the horses with Jax.”
“Yeah.” I resist rolling my eyes, because this kid loves his Uncle Jax. That damn asshole! I push myself up, but my ankle throbs and pain shoots up my calf when I put my weight on it.
Damn! It must be at least a two mile walk back to the house. It’s going to take me forever.
“You can hold my hand, Momma,” Matthias says as he holds out his chubby little hand to me.
“Thanks, munchkin,” I say as I take it. “We’ll just have to walk a little slower, okay?”
He nods his agreement. “Okay.”