“I am,” I said. “But I rode with my mom and it looks like she left without me.”
He was silent for so long that I started to fidget.
“It’s fine,” I said finally. “I can just ask Aunt Callie.”
Just as I started to turn and walk away, his voice stopped me.
“I’ll give you a ride,” he said gruffly. “Give me a minute to get him dressed.”
It didn’t take long before I was riding in the front seat of his SUV, my arms wrapped around myself to keep warm. Those wet spots on my sweatshirt had grown cold and clammy once we’d gone outside.
“Don’t—” He stopped, scratched at his scruffy face and then spoke again. “Don’t go messin’ with my son, alright?”
“What?” I asked in confusion, glancing back at where Gray was kicking his feet.
“You’re leavin’,” Leo said. “He’s got enough a’that right now. So just keep your distance.”
“What?” I said again, quieter.
“You got another life, yeah? I get it and I got over that shit a long ass time ago. But he won’t understand that.”
“Leo,” I said, shaking my head. “I wasn’t trying to—”
“You’re never tryin’ to do anything, Lily,” Leo said, impatience threading through his voice. “But you’ve made it real easy to leave everyone behind, and my son’s two. He doesn’t understand that shit yet.”
“You think I’d do anything to hurt him?”
“I think you look out for Lily first, and anyone else has gotta just deal.”
“But you got over that shit a long ass time ago, huh?”
“Fuck, woman,” he snapped, his voice growing louder. “This is my kid we’re talkin’ about. Not fuckin’ ancient history.”
“It doesn’t sound like that to me.”
“Daddy?” Gray called.
“It’s all good, son,” Leo replied through clenched teeth.
Without another word, he took two left turns in the wrong direction and pulled into an empty parking lot and threw the rig into park. “Out,” he ordered.
I was just mad enough to unbuckle my seat belt and climb out of my seat, but caught myself from slamming the door behind me. I was fully expecting him to leave my ass stranded, but as I rounded the hood of the SUV, he met me there.
“There’s no reason for you to have any relationship with my kid,” he yelled, the veins in his neck bulging.
I took a step back, startled at the volume of his voice, but it didn’t take me long before I was yelling back.
“I have every reason.”
“The fuck you do. That kid just lost his mom, you get that? He’s got no idea that his life is completely changed, and you’re playing house with him at Callie’s like you ain’t about to leave again for God knows how long!”
“I hung out with him for a couple of hours,” I screamed, throwing my hands up in the air. “And you’re being an asshole! What, did you expect me to treat him like crap? Ignore him when he wanted to play?”
“Seemed likely, considering the way you acted when you found out about him.”
“That was never about him, and you know that. For fuck’s sake, Leo. The man I was in love with was having a kid with someone else.”
“In love with?” Leo laughed derisively. “You don’t know what the fuck that is.”
“And you do? You just let me go. I made you leave, but you never fucking came back. You didn’t even try to change my mind.”
“That was because I love you, you stupid bitch,” he screamed, making my head jerk back in surprise. “You think I was gonna hold you back? You honestly think I would’ve begged you to stay? For what? So you could go to some shitty community college or worse, get a fucking job and play house with me?”
“Who are you mad at?” I asked, shaking my head. “Me or yourself?”
“All of it,” he yelled, bringing his hand down hard on the hood of his truck.
“Leo, don’t,” I gasped, reaching for his hand.
The minute I was close enough for him to grab, his hand was fisted in the front of my sweatshirt and he was dragging me against the front of his body.
“How the fuck did I get here?” he asked, his forehead dropping to rest against mine. “How the fuck did I get here, Dandelion?”
His body shook with a silent sob, and I reached for his face, framing it with my hands. It was no longer about me and him. It was no longer about our history or past hurts. No. Now it was about us, the us that we’d always been before. The two people that could let their guards down for one another. And Leo’s guard was down. All of his “Alrights” and “Doing fines” over the past week had led to that moment in the deserted parking lot in the pouring down rain, and I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to do for him what he’d done for me all those years.