“Why don’t we all go inside and talk about this?” Autumn inserts, stealing her bat back and swinging it around with a crazed look in her eyes.
Though a small part of me wants to encourage that crazed look.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Arlo reasons, his voice even, but there’s a volatile thread underneath. His eyes give nothing away, and a slight flare of worry trickles up my spine—worry that this might just break us apart, and I don’t want that.
I chose him this weekend, and nothing in this world will change that for me. I can only hope that he feels the same, despite Lark’s father showing up out of nowhere.
“You have no say in this, man, so back off.” Christian’s face flushes with irritation, his fists balled at his sides.
We’ve hit the nail on the head.
“You have ten minutes to explain why you are truly here, or I’ll call the local sheriff.” Arlo crosses his arms, staring down his nose at Christian. He truly dwarfs the other man, but Arlo doesn’t wear his size as a shield.
Christian scoffs, then Autumn cackles, making him stop.
Yeah, if the crazy one cackles, everyone should stop and listen. Even the very first time I met Autumn, I knew that if she cackled, it was a terrible sign.
“Fine.” Christian shivers a little, and though it is freezing, not one of us moves away, including the Larson girls, whom Christian eyes warily. “You’re right—my father cut me off because I never mended the relationship with you and Lark.” He sighs in defeat.
“They told me to?—”
He slashes his hand through the air. “I know what they said, I know what I said then, and nothing in this world will make up for it.” He runs his hands through his hair, pulling out strands here and there.
“Why not just lead with the genuine reason you showed up instead of a smoke screen?” Arlo still doesn’t budge, but those brows of his draw closer.
“Because Wren never would have listened. She’s stubborn like that.”
“I’m still not really listening, but do go on.” I roll my hands like a princess.
“My father told me to mend the relationship and introduce his granddaughter to him, and then Lark will receive her trust fund.” Christian groans. “And he will start my allowance again.”
I stumble backwards, pushing away from the car to stalk to the porch steps, where I slump.
This is not what I expected.
“How much?” Arlo asks Christian, but his eyes burn through me as he watches me.
“Lark’s trust?” He blows out a breath. “A million, easy.”
I bury my head in my hands, refusing to look at any of them. For me, the answer is simple. No, never. I wouldn’t bring Lark to the ones who told me to give her up so it wouldn’t look bad on his record, n ot in a million years.
Then everything hits me. “They’re funding a case for custody.” Fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt in all of my life practically strikes me down.
“I’m sorry, Wren.” For the first time since he showed up, Christian sounds utterly defeated and genuinely apologetic.
Now I’m not just fighting against Christian, who I could easily work with, I’m fighting against old money for my kid.
CHAPTER 26
Some days hurt morethan others. Most of the time, I can put the pain of my past behind me. I can stuff the agony down so deep that I can’t feel it and it almost becomes a passing thought, an occurrence that happened to someone else and not me. It’s as though I’m not the one living those moments, but just an observer in this life.
Disassociation.
Other days, it is the only way to function no matter how unhealthy it is, because if I sat for too long and dissected what I felt in that very moment where the world opened up and the forces of hell—aka my ex—swallowed me whole…well, I don’t think I’d be much more than the human equivalent of a potato.
That’s me. I am a potato now.
I feel myself almost rising out of my body as I sit on that step, the cold seeping through my clothing as my head pounds out a tune that makes little sense. I watch as Arlo’s sisters practically throw my ex in his car and direct him out of town to the nearest hotel, telling him they’d have a chat tomorrow.
