Hunt blinked and looked away. “I’m sorry. That must be hard on you and Noah.”
“It is. Though Noah doesn’t remember his father. He died when Noah was a year old. A rock-climbing accident.” It had been life-shattering at the time. She hadn’t known how to survive without Trevor. Four years later, she knew how she’d survive: by scraping and clawing her way through life and praying she’d keep it all together.
She missed Trevor, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel a tinge of resentment that he’d dragged things out and not married her as soon as she told him she was pregnant. “We’ll get married after the baby is born,” Trevor had said when she was four months along. “That way you won’t have to worry about wedding planning while you’re pregnant.”
Months passed and Trevor never brought it up again. When Abby mentioned setting a date for the wedding six months after Noah’s birth, Trevor had told her he had to figure out the financials with his parents. He wanted her to sign a prenup, and she’d been fine with it. But Trevor never got around to setting anything up. He died soon after that conversation, leaving her and their son destitute.
Trevor’s passing was an accident. But he’d always liked a good adrenaline rush, and rock climbing without a harness or safety lines had been the ultimate rush. Now he was gone, and his son had paid the price. The last thing Trevor’s parents would do was help Abby out. They wanted her to crash and burn so they could gain custody of their only son’s child.
Hunt rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
“We’re okay.” Abby was so used to chanting it mentally that the words came out automatically.
Hunt looked up. “I wouldn’t want that for any child—to lose a parent so young.”
She nodded, holding back more emotion from leaking out. She’d been stressed this week. That had to explain the tear that had escaped without her permission.
Noah burst into the lobby, followed by Brin, a big smile on his face. “Mom!” He ran over and flung himself across her lap, his legs going up dramatically in a crash landing.
Abby held on to her son, ducking from long limbs precariously close to her head. “How was the root beer float?”
“Best ever!” he said. He twisted his head toward Hunt. “Did you convince my mom to let me stay?”
“Noah,” she said warningly.
“I’m working on it,” Hunt said, and winked at him.
Working on it? She’d made it clear this would never work. Hunt was a stubborn man. If he wasn’t so good with her son, she might be annoyed.
She glanced at the time. It was late and she still needed to make dinner. “We’d better get going.” She stood and grabbed Noah’s backpack.
Brin hugged Noah goodbye, and he squeezed her in return.
He is loved here.If things weren’t so bad, she’d give Club Tahoe another chance.
Hunt rose from the chair. “Will you consider my offer? We’d love to continue having Noah in the program. Give me a day or two, and I’ll send you paperwork so that the financial aspect is off the table. You can make your decision from there.”
She sent him a half-smile, but there was nothing to think about.
Abby walked out the door with Noah at her side.
Chapter 7
She was crying?
When Hunt had pressed Abby for the reason she wanted to pull Noah from the Club Kids program, he never imagined she would break down.
Hunt couldn’t handle it when women cried. It went against his philosophy of making them happy, and made him want to turn into a giant green man and bash brick walls to protect them.
Few women had shed tears in Hunt’s presence, unless they were tears of joy. But Abby was miserable. He could see it in her stiff shoulders and the look of fear in her golden eyes with traces of shadows beneath. Something orsomeonehad frightened her, and damn if it didn’t piss him off. Which was probably why he’d offered to set her up on the club’s nonexistent scaled payment plan. And then offered to let Noah participate for free.
Levi would have his balls for that one.
Whatever. Hunt would deal with Levi later.
Noah was special to the program. He’d been here long enough to be a part of the huge expansion Club Kids had gone through over the last year or so. As far as Hunt was concerned, the club owed it to Noah to support him and his mother.
But there was more. He needed to see Noah safe. His mother as well. Which was baffling as hell.
