“You’ve done a great job raising him. You should be very proud,” I commend, my heart breaking for him.
I thought he had taken my heart with him when he left. I guess he brought it back because ever since he showed up out of the blue at Ruby’s the other day, it’s been beating wild and strong whenever he’s near.
“I can’t say that it’s been easy. Not even the nights I had to stay up when he was sick and throwing up all over me every five seconds. Milk vomit is very nasty stuff.” Our dual chuckles break the melancholic mood. “Thank you for spending time with him. He’s clearly taken with you.”
“I don’t mind.”
I’ve always loved being around kids. Helping kids in need, kids like me, is one of the reasons I do what I do. Give them a place to escape to. A safe place where they can be themselves. No child should have to grow up too fast like I was forced to. There should be a little Peter Pan in everyone’s life.
“Rory, can you and JD get the dock lines?” Austin calls over to us. He’s showing Connor how to tie a square knot.
I instruct JD on what to do and we get the boat unmoored.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow night,” he says.
I hesitate, and it’s painful, because I so really want to say yes. “JD, I can’t. I’m not ready.”
He steps closer and I forget how to breathe again. Damn him.
“I want to tell you everything if you’ll let me. If nothing else, I’d like for us to be friends again.”
His voice is smooth as silk as he delivers his bald-face lie. I know better than anyone how JD’s offer of friendship goes. It ends with us naked and me underneath him. When he first offered his friendship to me that night in the parking lot of Ruby’s Diner, it took only scant days before we were making out, and less than two weeks later before I lost my virginity to him. Nothing between me and JD was ever slow.
“I can’t promise anything, other than I’m willing to listen to what you have to say.”
“Good enough for me,” he replies and walks over to his son who is more than happy to show off his new rope tying skills.
Austin takes over and finishes what needs to be done so we can be off. I have to admit, today wound up being a better day than I expected after waking up in the hotel room. We stay out on the lake for a few hours before Connor’s almost-endless supply of energy depletes, and he conks out fast asleep on JD’s lap. I’ll never admit to anyone how many pictures I take of them today. I know I’ll be staring at them tonight when I go to bed.
Chapter 43
“Where the fuck have you been and what the hell are you wearing?”
Of course, Knox would be home now. And because I feel more than justified acting like a bitch to him after catching him with another woman, I snidely reply, “I’ve been with Austin, and these are his clothes.”
That shuts him up. I storm up the stairs and into my room, thankful Fallon and Trevor are nowhere in sight.
I’m expecting Knox to lose it and go off on me, but he doesn’t. He follows me into my bedroom and sits down on the edge of the bed, looking dejected.
“I’m sorry for the way I behaved.”
“I am too,” I admit because as the old saying goes, it takes two to tango. Knox and I were both in the wrong, but he did something I may not be able to forgive him for. Instead of shying away from it, I meet it head on. “Why did you cheat on me?”
His head snaps up. “What are you talking about?”
“The redhead at the bar. The one hanging all over you who you shoved in an Uber and drove off with.” Those green eyes I adore so much, shadow over. “I was there, Knox. Me, Shelby, and Austin got quite an eyeful.”
“Nothing happened.”
I scoff, grab some sleep clothes from the dresser drawer, and go into the bathroom, locking the door. I need a shower. I love sailing but I hate the fishy smell that tends to stick to your skin and clothes after a day out on the water. My face is also sunburned, and I don’t look forward to it peeling. Once I’m scrubbed clean, dressed, and hair piled high in a wet topknot, I unlock the door to see Knox exactly where I left him. I cross my arms and lean back against the bathroom doorframe.
“I swear nothing happened, Aurora.”
“Says every cheating man.”
He shoves off the bed. “I didn’t cheat on you! I never would do that!”
“What am I supposed to think, Knox? Please enlighten me. I see you with another woman and you both have your hands all over each other. And you lied to me! I texted you after you left with her, and you said you were with Devon!”
