By the time he pulled into the driveway, the sky was dark. He parked outside his house and sat there. Dex looked at him once,then got out without a word. Just a look that saidI’m here if you need me.
He was a father.
Had been for years and never knew it. And now that he did, he had no idea how to handle it.
Finn scrubbed his hand over his face. He’d deal with this tomorrow. But tonight, he just needed to sleep on it, knowing damn well he wouldn’t sleep much if at all. Hopefully, the night would cool the anger burning in his chest and he’d figure out how to deal with this mess.
Lainey watched the taillights fade,her stomach tied up in knots. She hadn’t meant for Finn to find out about Luke this way. Not tonight. And certainly not with Dex standing right there.
She let the curtain fall back into place and turned away from the window. She needed a drink, a long one. Something that would knock her out so when she woke, everything was as it was before. But that was a dream. The reality was that she had to deal with the fallout.
Finding her glass of iced water in the kitchen, she gulped it down, grimacing when it hit the roof of her mouth, causing instant brain freeze. She winced, pressed her fingers to her temple, then sat at the kitchen table to compose herself.
She always knew this moment would come, always wondered what it would feel like.
But nothing prepared her for the look in Finn’s eyes. Betrayal. Hurt. Fury.
Finn would never believe she had tried to reach out. Never believe she wanted him in their lives. Never trust her again.
She wasn’t worried about Finn walking away. He was an honorable man. But would he fight for custody?
Lainey stared at the framed photo of her and Luke at an amusement park. Her big grin. His even bigger as he hugged her with pink cotton candy on his cheeks.
Would Luke turn against her, knowing that his father was alive?
Oh God. Her stomach churned. What a hellish mess she’d made.
She got up to stand by the sliding glass doors to the patio. The sun was below the horizon; the sky was painted in shades of gray and lavender. What usually brought her peace only unsettled her now.
Her mind drifted to a memory she’d buried deep.
Luke had been five, just starting kindergarten, when he first noticed his family was different.
He’d been on the floor in his dinosaur pajamas, playing with his Lego. She was folding laundry when he looked up at her with his big brown eyes.
“Mommy,” he asked, “do I have a daddy?”
Lainey froze. She knew that question would come. She just hoped it would come later, not sooner.
She crossed the room and sat beside him. “Of course you do, sweetheart. Everyone has a daddy.”
“Where is he?”
Where is he?That was the question, wasn’t it? She’d thought they loved each other. Thought they could make their life choices work. But Finn had other ideas. He left her at that rundown motel without a goodbye. Never answered her letters. And she’d sent every letter to his mother’s address hoping they would reach him. She thought his mother liked her. Maybe she’d been wrong about that too. Or maybe he got the letters and didn’t care. Maybe she’d never really known him at all.
“He’s not here,” she told Luke softly. “But he loved me very much. And you are the best part of what we had.”
Luke blinked up at her. “Does he know about me?”
Her voice caught. “No, sweetheart, he doesn’t.”
Not as far as she knew. She’d written him again and again. But the silence had been deafening. Still a small part of her wondered if the letters ever reached him at all.
“Why not?” Luke’s little head tilted and frowned just like Finn used to.
She pulled him onto her lap and kissed the top of his head. “Because grown-up things get complicated. But I promise you that I have never regretted having you. You’re my bestest boy.”
Lainey hugged him tight, wishing love alone was enough to make things simple. Wishing she hadn’t spent so long hoping for a reply that never came.
