His blue eyes beat against mine. “Unless you were just another asshole with a cold heart who was looking for an excuse to drop some chick and not look like a bastard doing it.”
Spears.
Straight through the goddamned heart.
“You know that isn’t it.”
“You sure about that?” he provoked. “Because I bet that’s exactly what that girl is thinking. Hell, she’s probably over there thinking you used her up and then tossed her aside. On to the next.”
A growl rumbled in my chest.
Rejection.
Anger.
“Fuck you, man, I love her.”
I love her.
The heated words were out before I could think through the impact.
A motherfucking bomb that exploded in the air. Decimating me.
Ollie rocked back in his chair. Satisfaction on his face. “That’s what I thought.”
Unable to breathe, I dropped my face into my hands. Crushed anew. Or maybe I’d been right there all along. Like they thought.
They’d been waiting for me to break.
I guessed they’d gotten their fucking show.
Because I was.
I was fucking broken.
I could feel Ollie leaning in closer, his voice dropping. “You can be pissed at us, man. I get it. Kick my ass if you need to. But I’m willing to take on your wrath if it’ll get you to admit the truth.”
Bitterness soured on my tongue. “Yeah, and what’s that?”
“That you’re fucking scared, man. Scared to love again. To fail someone when you’re the first asshole to run in and save them.”
I opened my eyes to find Frankie Leigh had appeared at my side. She cocked her head in question. “Yous scared, Uncle Kale? ’Cause Cap’in ’merica is never scared.”
She tapped her little finger to her chin like she’d just been struck with an epiphany. “Wait a minute . . . maybe he is scared, and he saves all the people anyway.”
She looked to Rynna who was standing just off to the side. “Right, Mommy? That’s what brave is, being scared and doing what’s right anyway because you love someone so, so much?”
Rynna ran her fingers through Frankie’s wild, wild hair. “That’s right, Sweet Pea. Being brave is being afraid and doing what is right anyway. Just like when your daddy ran into the fire to save us . . . he was scared, but he knew he would do whatever it took to save us. He came right when we needed him most.”
Rynna looked over at me. “Just like your uncle Kale rushed in to save Evan right when he needed him most. I just don’t think your uncle knows how very brave he really is.”
Frankie started hopping across the wooden planks, singing, “Daddys and doctors are so, so brave! They come to save the day! Superhero, superhero, superhero. And I’m Wonder Woman and I’m brave, too!”
She threw her arms in the air with her silly song that to most would mean nothing, when it felt like it just might mean everything. She turned back to me with the biggest grin stretched across her face. “See, Uncle, you don’t needs to be sad any more. You are so brave and you did all the right things. Even if you’re scared, you are still Evan’s bestest team.”
My heart thrashed and my spirit soared.
Because, no, I hadn’t done all the right things.
But I knew exactly what I needed to do.
34
Hope
I rushed out from A Drop of Hope’s kitchen, my heels clicking on the floors, my knees feeling a little shaky.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever been so nervous in all my life.
Sensing the movement, Evan spun around where he was standing by the inside of the cupcake display case. When he saw me, he smiled a smile so powerful it penetrated right through the center of me.
Moving forward, I grabbed him by either side of his precious face, my thumb swiping across his cheek to clean off the smudge of frosting. “Someone’s been sneaking into the display case again.”
He nodded in my hold, that smile somehow growing stronger, my little man all dressed up in a suit, and his normally messy hair tamed with product.
Just looking at him sent my bottom lip trembling. “You look so handsome.”
His little hands flew between us.
YOU ARE THE PRETTIEST MOM IN THE WHOLE WORLD.
“You think so, huh?” I asked, trying to settle the jittery nerves that scattered through my insides, twisting up my tummy in pride and apprehension.
Jenna popped her head in through the front swinging door. “Are you two ready yet? We’re gonna be late if we don’t get out of here.”
ARE YOU READY? I signed.
YUP!
LET’S DO THIS.
I took his hand and wound us around the front counter and toward the entrance. I clicked off the last light in the shop before we stepped out into the evening, the air still full of humidity and warmth.
Still, a chill skated my skin.
Sucking in a deep breath, I moved for Jenna’s car, which was idling at the curb, and helped Evan into the back before I climbed into the front passenger seat.