His First Choice

So Tressa was the one who’d had it right? All of this...uncertainty...stemmed from Lacey’s first visit?

But Levi had said she was nice. So... “Who told you that?”

“I can’t...” Levi looked at him. Covering his son’s hand with his own, wanting instead to pull the little guy onto his lap and shield him from every bogeyman ever, Jem took a sip of his coffee.

And then, keeping a hold on the fingers sticking out of the little cast, he nodded toward Levi, who took a sip of milk.

Okay. Normality.

“Tell me what you remember about the night of the dream, buddy.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.” He held on to those fingers. Not coddling. But loving. And doing everything he could to let Levi know that while he had to man up, his dad had his back.

“I waked up with Mommy shaking me. She was mad.”

He held on to those fingers. Maybe for himself now.

“Why was she mad?”

“I hit her in the face.” Levi started to cry again. “I’m bad and now do I gotta go away?”

What the hell?

“You hit your mother?”

He shrugged.

“Levi.”

“She said so.”

Everything in him stilled. “You don’t remember hitting her?”

“I remember sleeping.”

He was getting the picture, more clearly than ever. And felt bile in the back of his throat.

Tressa had called because Levi was having a nightmare and she couldn’t wake him. He’d been flailing his cast in the air and she’d said that she was afraid he was going to hurt himself.

That grain of truth. The goddamn grain of truth that led one down the wrong path. She wasn’t afraid he was going to hurt himself. At least not at that point. She’d been afraid because he’d hit her and she’d overreacted.

“You aren’t in trouble,” he said softly, floundering as he tried to corral his thoughts, determine how bad things were and figure out what to do. But one thing was a given: taking care of the little boy that he loved more than life. “You aren’t bad. What happened wasn’t your fault because you were asleep, and we can’t help what happens when we’re asleep, can we?”

Levi shook his head, his little cheeks still wet with tears.

“So do you remember anything else about the dream night?”

“I throwed up.”

Lacey had had that one right, which didn’t surprise him as much as it should have.

“And that’s all?”

Levi nodded, but he didn’t meet his gaze.

Jem racked his brain for more words. What came next? Where did he go with this?