Holding You Close (Ex-Con Duet 4)

“Thanks for telling me. And thank you for taking the time to speak to me. I was going crazy after you stopped answering my calls.”

“I better go and pick up Owen before my mom starts to worry,” I tell her, reaching for my keys.

“Alright, dear. Drive safe. Give him a hug and kiss from me, okay?”

I flash her a small smile. “Will do.”

Loretta walks back to her car, and then I get into mine. My heart races, and my brain buzzes. I can’t believe that conversation just happened, but I’m relieved as hell. It’s believable that she’d pay Brittany to get out of town to protect Gabe. Image is everything to the Reids, especially when it comes to their only son. The question now remains: where the hell is Brittany and who is she conspiring with?

As soon as I get to my parents', I wrap Owen in a big hug.

“Mom!” He wiggles. “You’re suffocating me!”

I giggle, then kiss his cheeks. “I missed you!”

My mom chuckles. “He got hungry, so I fed him some mac ’n cheese.”

“Thanks. Guess that means you’ll have extra time to take a bath,” I muse, ruffling his greasy hair. “Because you definitely need it.”

“Mom!” He groans, rolling his eyes, then walks away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I call out as we head out the door.

On the way home, Owen tells me all about his day.

“Speaking of school, have you seen Anthony in class lately?”

“No, the teacher said he’s sick. He’s been out all week.”

Hmm…well, that confirms my suspicions then. She might’ve taken him out of school so people thought she left, but I’m not convinced this is over. And the thought scares me to death.

Since Belinda fired her, who knows where she could be now.

“You go wash up, then put on some clean jammies,” I tell him when we go into the house. “Clean underwear too.”

“I know!” he bellows.

“Excuse me? Wanna lose that attitude?”

“I don’t have an attitude,” he snaps.

“Sounds like one to me,” I counter.

When he’s finally in the bathroom, I call Noah.

“Hey, baby. I was wonderin’ where you were,” he says, which reminds me I never read his text message from earlier.

“Sorry, Loretta ambushed me after work.”

“What?”

“Yep, she was waiting for me at my car,” I tell him, then continue to explain what we discussed.

“Do you believe her?” he asks when I’m done.

“Yeah,” I say honestly. “She loves Owen too much to jeopardize their relationship. She knows she’d lose the only person connected to her son if she tried to harm you.”

“So she knows about us then?”

“She does,” I confirm. “She wasn’t that shocked, though. It was actually a good conversation and one we needed to have, but I told her I wasn’t ready to leave Owen with her yet.”

“How’d she take it?”

“Uhh…she understood but was still upset.”

“Well, I guess it’s nice to know she’s not trying to kill me, but it’s still worrisome that Brittany’s MIA.”

“Anthony hasn’t been in school either, so something is definitely up. I still think she’s planning something.”

“It’d have to be something really good with Eric around.”

“Hopefully, she’ll give up and just go away,” I say, but it’s wishful thinking.

“So besides that, how was your day?”

Noah has me smiling and laughing in seconds as usual. We talk about work and what we hope to do this weekend at the house.

“Mom!” Owen calls.

“Oh shoot, I better go. Owen’s yelling for me.”

“Alright, baby. I love you. Text me before bed so I can say good night, okay?”

“I will. Love you too.”

Once we hang up, I walk to the bathroom and peek inside. “What is it?”

“I forgot a towel.”

I chuckle. “Hold on.”

After Owen is dried and in his pajamas, we curl up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and watch one of his favorite cartoons. As he’s sucked into the screen, I decide to group text Gemma and Everleigh to give them an update.

Everleigh: She WHAT?

Gemma: OMG…the audacity!

Katie: Put down your pitchforks…let me explain.

After several long messages, I finally get out the whole story about Loretta and what happened with Brittany and Gabe. It feels like Deja vu as I’ve now repeated this twice in just a few hours.

Everleigh: I’m just gonna say it. The rat bastard is lucky he’s dead for not only cheating on you but for knocking up another woman and promising to leave you.

Gemma: Everleigh!!!!

Everleigh: What? You’re thinking it too!

Katie: Trust me, I know…but I could’ve left too. We were young and stupid.

Everleigh: Don’t you dare make excuses for him!

Katie: I’m not, but it takes two people to break up a marriage.

Everleigh: Yeah, Gabe and his whore.

Gemma: ANYWAY…so we know Loretta isn’t trying to get Noah killed, but we still don’t trust her.

Katie: I do, but I’m just not ready to fully let her back into our lives, at least not until Brittany is taken care of. If she sees Loretta with Owen, it might make him a target. I don’t know, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.