“Why do you sound out of breath?” Jacob’s voice is annoyed andis he in the car?
“I left my phone in the kitchen when I went to change the laundry over.”
He snorts. “Typical.”
Annoyance and a slight bit of panic have my words coming out harsher than I intended. “Did youneedsomething?”
“Sheila has an event early tomorrow that we can’t miss.”
My eyelids flutter shut because how many times had hereventstrumped spending time with his kids?
“When are you bringing them home?” I say cooly, even as my blood boils in my veins.
“We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
My heart drops to my shoes as my eyelids fly open and my gaze locks on Mason’s.
“Someday you’ll regret all this time you didn’t spend with them.”
I don’t bother waiting for him to respond before hanging up and tossing my phone on the couch as I scrub my hands over my face.
A spicy, woodsy scent envelops me at the same time his arms do, Mason’s strong hold anchoring me to this moment and giving me a reprieve from what I have to do.
“Mason.”
“I know,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to my hair, “they come first.”
“How are you just so understanding? So inherently good when the man I married and divorced is singlehandedly destroying his relationship with his kids.”
Mason’s smile is sad as he lifts my chin with the side of his finger. “Because I was the kid who never had anyone give a damn, and you, Lana, love your kids harder because your ex isn’t being what they need—what they deserve. I willneverstand in the way of that.”
Tears well in my eyes as we stand there, sincerity radiating from him as I let his words give me the strength to battle the emotions that await me when Holland and Beck come through the door.
Pressing the softest kiss to my lips, Mason sighs. “Thank you for dinner.”
“Thank you for being here.”
“Anytime, Dream Girl, anytime.”
15
LANA
“Ma, have you seen my sneakers?”
Don’t yell. Don’t yell. Don’t yell.
“They’re by the front door,” I say, keeping my tone even and forcing a smile because they’re not hidden.
They’re by the front door…where he took them off.
They’re exactly where he kicked them off Saturday night before storming into the kitchen and finding Mason’s forgotten hat on the counter. He’d been upset, spouting off something about how they’d interrupted my date and that meant he hadtwoparents that didn’t want them.
He’d said the words out of anger, frustration, and hurt. I’d given him a while to cool off before knocking on his bedroom door and having an honest conversation with the kid who wasn’t quite a boy but certainly not a man.
Holland had been upset too, her emotions more directed at her father than at me, and after some convincing, I settled us all in my bed—after changing the bedding at warp speed—with snacks and a movie.
We’d all fallen asleep, Beck kissing my forehead sometime in the middle of the night to tell me he was going back to his own room.
