“A skillet!” She continued, her voice rising in distress. “She cracked his skull. He was in the hospital for three days. They called it blunt force trauma. They think he has brain trauma. The police even arrested her little pregnant ass. He’s not thinking straight right now. He loves you, Bailey. You up and leaving without telling him isn’t helping matters.”
“Mrs. Eckhart, I’m trying so hard to keep it respectful with you, because that’s how I was raised. I know you love your son. You should. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s fuck your son. On one of the worst days of my life, instead of holding me, supporting me, or just being there for me, he told me that he wanted a divorce. Told me that he had a new family that he needed to concentrate on. Told me his new woman was having ahealthybaby for him. He said he wanted a divorce, because he couldn’t do it anymore. I gave him exactly what he asked for. I’m not giving him nothing else. He thinks that he can stopthe divorce by not signing the papers. He can’t. The divorce is proceeding. If he wants the details, he can call me.”
She sucked her teeth. “I never shoulda encouraged him to marry you.”
“Agreed.” I ended the call as thoughts of my relationship with Xander floated through my mind.
What his mother said was confirmation for me that he never really loved me. He thought I was pretty, and he probably liked me enough, but he never made me safe or secure in his love.
I shot Perkins a text.
Me:I’m taking your truck.
I hadno idea where I was going, but I wasn’t surprised that I ended up at Bright’s house. He met me on the porch with a shocked expression on his face.
“I’m sorry. I just?—”
“You’re good.” He took me by the hand. “You’re good. Come inside.”
“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “You look like you were about to head out.” I motioned up and down his body indicating the fact that he had on his shoes and a hoodie.
“That ain’t nothin’. You seem upset.”
I was upset, but my discomfort wasn’t his problem. I wasn’t his girl. “No,” I told him again, but he didn’t listen to me. Instead, he led me into his house.
“I was just headed out to Brewer’s to watch the NBA playoffs. There’s another game the day after tomorrow.”
His care and concern caused tears to form in my eyes.
He eyed me thoughtfully before saying softly, “Big, bad Bailey is shedding tears? I damn sure ain’t leaving you to go watch no game. Let’s go.” He pulled me by the hand.
“I need the bathroom,” I cried.
He let my hand go and watched me as I made a beeline for the powder room. I peed, washed my hands, splashed some cold water on my face and dabbed at my eyes. When I felt as pulled together as I knew it was going to get, I met him in the hallway. He was holding a throw pillow and blanket, which he handed to me while he grabbed a bag of chips, a bottle of wine, and a glass.
On his back deck, he arranged the blanket and pillow in the egg chair, making it look like a cozy nest. He sat the chips, wine, and wine glass on the small table next to the chair. I watched him flip the switch to light the fire pit, then use the remote to cue up the movieFriday.
“Let’s chill.” He dropped into the over-sized egg chair and patted the space next to him. “Let’s go, Bae-Bae.”
I sat down next to him, so close that our thighs touched. I rested my head on his shoulder.
“You’ve been through too much this year, ma. You’ve taken too many losses.”
Just the fact that somebody acknowledged the hell I was going through meant everything to me. When he made moves to pull me into his lap, I went without hesitation or pushback. I cried into his shoulder, my body wracking with the overwhelming feelings of defeat. Defeat about not being able to have my baby. Defeat about losing my marriage. Defeat about not knowing how I was going to face going back to my mother’s house or my job. Defeat about not knowing if I was going to survive, let alone thrive.
“You’ve been through the ringer. You don’t have to carry all this bullshit alone. My back is strong as hell. Shit, my last name is Strong. You can lean on me. You can give me some of your load. I own a construction company, Bae-Bae. You ever wanna fling a hammer at a wall, or pound the fuck outta some nails, I got you. You wanna go shooting, I got plenty of guns. We can do whatever you think’s gonna make you feel better. Anythingexcept fucking. You’re a married woman, Bae-Bae. I don’t mess around with married chicks.”
I chuckled. “How do you know the lodge guests that you sleep with aren’t married?”
It was his turn to chuckle. “You gotta point. Let me amend that to, I don’t knowingly sleep with married women.”
“You would know if you asked them.”
“Shut up and watch this movie.”
I actually laughed.
Chapter
