“Shall we go see if we can get something to eat?”
He nodded and said, “You go ahead with Tommy. I’m heading to the bathroom. Be out in a sec.” He needed to catch his breath for a moment, get his head on straight.
He watched as his son’s eyes lit up when Ryleigh walked over to him. She held out her hand and without hesitation, Tommy took it. They walked hand-in-hand to the restaurant part of the event hall.
“Come, let’s get some grub, sweetheart,” he overheard Ryleigh say to Tommy.
Sweetheart.
Evangeline used to call their son that. Not like it was some overly special pet name. But it hurt anyway.
Ryleigh and Tommy looked the part of a cheerful mother and son, searching for something greasy to munch on after playing stupid video games for the past hour. He struggled to steel his emotions because in a perfect world it would be his ex walking hand-in-hand with Tommy.
But a perfect world didn’t exist, now did it?
Even after three years of zero contact, he still pictured her as the sweet, angelic Evangeline. A petite woman with long golden hair. How could he not think about her when his son is the spitting image of her?
Damn her for creeping back into his mind—a mind that already overflowed with thoughts about Ryleigh.