I’d spent years making lists, planning contingencies, worrying about every possible disaster. I hadn’t expected anxiety to be the thing that took me down.
Crappy daughter. Horrible mother. Now I couldn’t even keep my own body under control.
I dragged in a shaky breath, forcing myself to focus on him.
“It’s alright. I’ve got you. Just keep breathing.” His hand stayed firm on my thigh, thumb moving slowly back and forth in a steady rhythm.
I latched onto it, using the consistent motion to help me focus. To center myself. I did what he told me and breathed.
In. Out. In.
“I’ve got you,” he repeated.
Gradually, the pressure in my chest eased. The tingling faded. The world stopped tilting.
When I looked at him, he was still driving, still calm. Simply unwavering.
“Thank you,” I whispered as the last tear slipped free.
He shot me a sideways glance. “No need. I can’t have you passing out on me again.”
Despite everything, a breathy laugh escaped me. “I didn’t pass out.”
“No. But you’re carrying too much. You need to let someone help you with it.” His hand squeezed my leg once for emphasis. “You don’t have to do everything alone.”
I stared out the windshield. “Maybe you’re right. I’ve just always felt like it was up to me. Like if I didn’t hold everything together, it would fall apart.”
“What about Dylan?”
“What about him?”
“Hasn’t he taken care of Hunter? Brought him here for visits? Been involved?”
I shook my head. “He visits us three or four times a year. That’s about it. He’s not exactly father of the year. But to be fair, I haven’t made it easy.”
“Bullshit.” His hand tightened on the wheel, knuckles going white. “If I had a kid, nothing would keep me away. Not distance. Not pride. Not a complicated relationship with his mother. You don’t check out on your kid because of inconvenience or hurt feelings.”
From the way Eric had dropped everything to be there for Caleb, I didn’t doubt him. Family wasn’t a talking point for him. It was action.
Hunter deserved that kind of devotion from someone other than me. He deserved a father who showed up without being chased.
“Dylan and I have had similar conversations. But I think it’s harder for him. His parents had a rough marriage—his dad left eventually, and his mom didn’t handle it well. She got remarried, but Dylan’s never been close to his stepdad. He never had the best role models?—”
“Don’t make excuses for him,” Eric cut in. “You didn’t have a perfect blueprint either. You still stepped up. You raised your kid. On your own. That’s not an accident.”
The conviction in his voice steadied me more than the earlier breathing exercise had.
“And wasn’t he part of the reason you ran?”
“Yeah.”
“Then stop protecting him from the consequences of that.”
How did he always manage to cut straight through the noise in my head? He didn’t coddle. He didn’t judge. He just…anchored. Being near him felt like stepping into something solid. Like my thoughts lined up better when he was around.
The panic had burned off. The sexual tension had quieted. But he was still there, under my skin in a different way now.
He eased the truck into the resort parking lot. “So, are you bringing Hunter here this weekend?”
