His First Choice

Leaning over, she touched her finger to his lips. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

He looked like he was going to say more, but leaned over and kissed her instead. An intense, tongue-joining promise of a kiss. And then he walked her up to her front door, made small talk with her sister, collected his son so tenderly the boy didn’t stir in his sleep and was gone.

Lacey spent the night wondering how much of what she thought had happened really had or if she’d read too much into things, been clouded enough by the wine that she’d only felt as though she’d actually walked on cloud nine.

And knew that until she had a chance to talk to Jem again, she wasn’t going to say anything to anyone. Levi wasn’t going to be with his mother during the next twenty-four hours.

She had a little time to figure everything out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

JEM CALLED TRESSA Thursday on his way home from work. He’d learned a long time ago that it was best to be proactive with her.

He knew it was vulnerability behind her crazy words, her need to try to control those she cared about. Her own little piece of the world.

She’d been abused from the time she was a toddler. Her parents had withheld love anytime she didn’t meet their expectations. And worse. She’d been hit regularly, locked in the laundry room for a couple of days at a time, even burned with her father’s cigarette once. But the worst, for her, was the emotional starvation.

He figured that was partially what made her so prone to drama. She had too much stored up inside of her. A lifetime of emotion that had had no outlet.

And now that she was no longer held captive, now that she was free, she had a desperate need to do all she could to keep her world the way she thought it should be.

He also knew that if he called her, she’d calm down. And it was best for Levi, for his overall development, if the mother who loved him, and whom he loved, was calm.

“Are you going out with her again tonight?” That didn’t bode well.

“Do you want to talk or do you want me to hang up?” He left the control up to her, but his message was clear, too. He wasn’t going to go through a replay of the night before.

“I want to talk.”

In his truck, on his way to pick up Levi, he nodded.

“I’m sorry, Jem.” The apology was a bit fragmented through his Bluetooth, but he’d known it was coming, too. Maybe had even called to collect it.

“I know.”

“It’s just... I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.”

“You keep by our rules and you’ll never have to find out.”

“But what if—and I’m not saying this is even a remote possibility in your life right now—but what if you ever do meet someone and want to marry again. She’ll have a say then, and I’ll lose...”

“Any woman I would ever marry would know, before she accepted my proposal, that you are my son’s mother and will always be a part of our lives.”

The words left a heavy weight on his shoulders. One he didn’t want. But he’d promised her a lifetime. For better or worse.

His son needed his mother because he loved her, had bonded with her, and because she loved him in a way no one else ever could.

“And I spoke the truth,” she was saying now. “I don’t mean to be so harsh, but I did give up everything to help you get where you are.”

He understood that.

“And you are a lot looser than I am. Since our divorce I haven’t slept with anyone but you, while you’ve had at least two other lovers that I know of.”

He’d had one. But that number could change soon. And was none of her business.

“I understand,” he said, because he did. She wasn’t going to admit how awful she’d been or take accountability. In her world, people used your mistakes against you. But he also knew that she was sorry.

“I need you to honor our agreement and stay away from my house, Tressa.”