Chapter 23
Shock clashed with fear as Ty heard the undeniable sound of Lucas’s voice. There was no possible way he was here at the park…
“Lucas, no. Come back here, man,” she heard Memphis say next.
But it was too late. There, on the other side of the log fence dividing the park from the boardwalk path, stood none other than Lucas, a surprised grin on his flush-cheeked face.
“I can’t believe you’re here too,” he crowed.
Memphis stepped through the brush behind him, dodging limbs overhead while navigating the shrubs on the ground. “Sorry,” he mumbled, eyes darting to Eric before landing back on her. “We were about to leave.”
Panic shuddered through Ty as he held her gaze, a million questions warred behind their blue depths. Ty glanced down, saw Lucas’s hand loop through his. Hopefully Memphis could get him out of here without an introduction. She’d fill him in on what was happening later, which was…well, a lot. After telling Eric that she’d recently gotten into a serious relationship with Memphis, Ty snatched a notebook from her purse and helped map out a plan for Eric to possibly ease his way into Lucas’s life.
Eric produced tears at this point and exclaimed mounds of gratitude that felt mostly genuine. But things weren’t set in stone. Ty still had a lot to consider, and she planned to encourage Eric to take some time as well. Once he stepped into Lucas’s life, there’d be no way out without deepening his wounds.
With that in mind, Ty turned to Lucas. “It’s fun to see you here, bud. Did you already cash in your root beer float card?”
“Not yet,” he cheered.
“We’re going to do that right now,” Memphis said, shifting his weight from one foot to the next. The discomfort was oozing off him, and Ty only wished she could relieve it somehow.
“Oh, good. Have fun, okay? I’ll see you at Holly and Margo’s later on.”
“Wait, wait.” Eric shot her a knowing look, one that said hewouldn’ttell Lucas who he was. Still, as he shifted on the bench to face him, Eric resembled him more than ever. Would Lucas think so too?
“I’m a friend of your mom’s,” Eric said. “She was just telling me what a great kid you are.”
“Mom, can I climb through this?” Lucas asked while patting the horizontal log fashioning the fence.
Ty wanted to say no, but he was already poking his little head through the large gap. Large enough for his whole body to climb through easily enough.
“C’mon, Memphis,” Lucas said after his feet hit the ground. He motioned for him to climb over next.
Memphis shook his head and darted a look at Eric. “I’m good right here, little man.”
Ty dragged her eyes off Memphis just as his gaze dropped to the notebook on the bench. A lined page with the words,visitation outline,marked a potential schedule of FaceTime calls and weekend visits.
She fixed her gaze on the interaction between Lucas and his dad, but inwardly, Ty was sick about what could be going through Memphis’s mind.
“This is my friend, Eric,” Ty said. She’d never told Lucas his father’s name before, so it wouldn’t give him any clues.
“Hi there, buddy!” Eric said.
Lucas lifted a hand up to give him a high five. “Hi, Eric!”
“No, no,” Eric said as he waved the lifted hand away. “Little boysdo high fives.Mendo handshakes.”
A rash of hot irritation crawled over her skin at Eric’slessonon handshakes and high fives. What kind of dumb thing was that? Lucaswasa little boy.
Her irritation only grew as Lucas moved in to shake his hand. “Okay,man,” he said in a deep voice.
“Yeah, that’s how it’s done,” Eric commended proudly.
“Hey, you have the same mark in your chin that I have,” Lucas said, pointing to Eric with one finger and touching the cleft in his chin with another.
Eric’s grin grew. “How about that?”
“Awesome! And that’s my mom’s boyfriend, Memphis.” Lucas spun to point his finger at Memphis now.
