“What doyouwant, Katie?”
“I…” I hold my breath as I wait for her reply. “It’s getting too late to call Callie,” she finally says.
We both know it’s not. It’s not even dinner time. This is where I start breathing again—or at least it feels like I do.
“Do you still want to go out?” I murmur.
“Maybe another night,” she answers.
“Lennon? Would you like to help me fix supper? I could use a helper in the kitchen.”
“I don’t feel good,” he mumbles. “I’m gonna go to my room.”
He moves off his mother’s lap and jogs toward the hall. My heart squeezes in my chest, my hopes plummeting.
“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.”