His First Choice

Yet she cared about Jem and wanted to soothe him if she could. He was a good father. The best. Doing a job solo that usually took two people. And doing it better than most, in her admittedly prejudiced opinion.

“I’m still bothered, though,” she had to add. “Tressa’s story about the swimming incident. One grab to haul Levi out of the water wouldn’t have caused bruising all along his torso.”

“No, but the fact that she’d held on to him for dear life every second he was putting his head underwater, then picking it up and learning to move his arms and kick his feet, would certainly do so.”

What healthy parent held their kid so tightly they were bruising him for that length of time?

“Do you think it’s possible she was pissed at him for his noncompliance, and forcing his head underwater over and over?”

The scenario fit exactly what Levi had described.

“I don’t,” Jem said. “There are just some things Tressa wouldn’t do. Purposely hurting Levi is one of them.”

“You sound so sure.”

“I am sure.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Because my ex-wife thinks she needs me. And she knows that if she ever...ever...does one thing to hurt my boy she will never see either one of us again.”

He believed what he was saying beyond the shadow of a doubt. Lacey was convinced of that much.

She wanted to believe him, too.

But she drove home with a heavy heart.

Sometimes people couldn’t see what was right under their noses.

Was it possible that Levi wasn’t the only Bridges male that Tressa had been manipulating? Was Jem a victim, too?

She told herself she was being ridiculous, that Tressa’s drama was wearing off on her. But once the idea had been planted, she couldn’t seem to escape it.

CHAPTER TWENTY

JEM DIDN’T TALK to Lacey on Tuesday. There’d been no real reason to. While he could have made an excuse to call, he purposely chose not to do so. He didn’t want to tempt her, in any way, to call off their date. Or tempt fate, either.

He talked to Tressa, though. She called him Tuesday right after work. And Wednesday, too. Seemingly to check on Levi, to ask how his arm was doing—a few weeks late on that one. They were due to have the cast off in another week or two.

Amelia was still out of the picture and he had to wonder if she’d finally had enough. He’d seen the pattern with Tressa often enough not to be surprised by it. She had her way of seeing the world. Knew what she needed. What she thought was right. And if someone didn’t meet her expectations, she didn’t go easy on them.

In their early days, that had been a good thing for him. She’d encouraged him to work all the hours in the day. To certify in all of the fields in his profession. He’d been planning to do so. Wanting to do so. She’d paved the way with evenings spent helping him study. Quizzing him. Learning his trades with him so that he could focus almost exclusively.

And she’d made some good investments with the money he was making. He got his contractor’s license and she’d encouraged him to seek out a small job, on the side, separate and apart from the electrician he was currently working for. He was a certified framer. And plumber, too.

He wasn’t sure when he’d quit pleasing her. Lord knew he’d tried his damnedest to keep her happy. A failed marriage didn’t sit well with him. Because a marriage took two—to succeed or fail.

He was about to fail her again, he knew, as he pulled up to Lacey’s little house Wednesday just before six.

“We’re here!” Levi called from the back. Jem had planned to feed him before bringing him over to play with Kacey until bedtime. Kacey had insisted that dinner was part of their date.

Tempted to tell his son not to mention this outing to his mother—ever—Jem refrained. He wasn’t going to start down that slippery path, no matter how justified he might feel in doing so.

He knew why Tressa was calling so much all of a sudden—besides the fact that Amelia wasn’t in her life at the moment. She was afraid that Jem was interested in another woman.

Because of the conversation they’d had Sunday night. He should never have told her he was doing the job as a favor. Or that the client’s sister was babysitting their son.

She’d always been afraid that Jem would fall for someone else. Every day of their marriage, she’d doubted his fidelity. It didn’t matter that he’d never, not once, given her any cause to doubt him.