“I’m not. It’s true you haven’t been around lately, but this whole fiasco was a spur of the moment decision. They didn’t plan it. They didn’t think it through. They just did it.”
She and Mike sat quietly for a few minutes, Jess listening to the buzzing of the fluorescent lights while she chewed on her bottom lip. Her palms were clammy, her feet hurt, and her heart ached. “Have you seen him yet?”
“Not yet. They’re still doing all the paperwork and figuring out what to charge them with. They said we can see them after that.”
Liam’s dad leaned over and said, “The longer the better. Let them sweat it out a while without having their parents come to the rescue.”
Liam’s mom pointed her finger in the air and shook it. “Let’s hope they’re in there crapping their pants so we never have to do this again.”
“Amen to that,” Mike said.
“Do you know if they did any damage to the house?” Jess asked, realizing that they’d be on the hook for it.
“Luckily the Pattersons have a security system. The police got there a few minutes after they broke in,” Liam’s mom said. “It sounds like they used a crowbar on the door though.”
“Could’ve been a lot worse,” Mike said. “If the party had actually happened.”
She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes for a second. “I don’t even want to think about that.”
A woman in uniform walked into the waiting room. “Okay, so both the boys are in tears. Snot and everything,” she said with a small smile. “We haven’t told them you’re here yet, so I say we take our time going over the paperwork. Maybe you should all go grab a coffee, then come back.”
Liam’s mom shook her head. “I have to be up at five for work. I just need to get this over with.”
She and her husband stood, and the officer took them back, leaving Mike and Jess alone. He turned to her. “Do you want to go for a drink? Make him sweat it out for a couple of hours?”
“Or say, until tomorrow morning?” Jessica said with a smile that quickly faded. She shook her head, reality setting in again. The shame that she and Mike would feel the next time they saw the Pattersons, or anyone in the neighborhood, for that matter. Everyone would know by tomorrow morning. They’d forever talk about Noah Halloway as ‘that kid who broke into the Pattersons’ place.’ This would follow him, and the thought of that made Jessica feel sick. Even ten years from now, people would say, ‘He sure gave his parents a rough time when he was a teenager.’ “I just want to go home.”
“Same.” Mike sighed. “Where did we go wrong with him?”
Jess narrowed her eyes as if she was really considering the question. “I think it was the part where we conceived him.”
Chuckling, Mike said, “Yup. That makes sense. Because we’ve pretty much made all the right moves parenting him since.”
“Oh definitely. Infallible, really.”
“Absolutely.”
They stared at each other for a second, and it felt so good to have this moment together—to be a team again, even if it was in nightmarish circumstances. After weeks of avoiding each other, here they were, trying to make each other laugh.
And suddenly, Jess knew she didn’t want to throw her marriage away. Had Mike hurt her? Yes, he had. She had also hurt him right back. Neither of them was perfect, but they had always been good together. Their relationship needed some major tweaks, but none of it was insurmountable. “I love you,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.
Mike stared at her, and for one awful moment, Jess thought he was going to say he no longer loved her. But he didn’t. Instead, he said, “Do you?”
Jess nodded and her eyes filled with tears. “I do. I think maybe I forgot for a little while, but I really do.”
Mike’s eyes glistened and he cleared his throat. “I’m glad you remembered.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about everything,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I said I didn’t know if I wanted to fix things. I didn’t mean it.”
“Are you sure you didn’t, because you really seemed to.” His nose turned red with emotion and Jess could see he was fighting tears. “And then you didn’t take it back. I thought you would, but every day, you just…didn’t.”
Jessica’s heart squeezed so hard, she thought it might burst. “That’s because I thought I meant it, but I was just being…so stupid. I was blaming you rather than realizing thatI’mthe one who gave up on me. I don’t know when it happened—years ago, I guess.” She shook her head and let out a big sigh. “I started to tell myself that my low opinion of myself was your fault and that if I let you back in, I’d go back to thinking that way. But the truth is, if I had believed in myself and wanted to go after a big career, I could have done it at any time.”
Sniffling, Jessica stared into Mike’s eyes—those same beautiful dark brown eyes she’d loved all her life.
He stared back at her, and for the first time in a long time, she felt seen. “You really could have. I know I probably didn’t send you that message, and I should have. At the very least, I should have noticed how miserable you were, instead of blaming everything on the kids. And I know I did a shit job of supporting you through all of this, and I’m sorry for that.”
“I understand why you didn’t. I just sprung this on you and expected you to be happy about it. It wasn’t fair to any of you.” Jess shook her head. “I’m really sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”
