Hell no.
Dylan spoke before I could. “All Jamie wants from me is doing right by our son, Mr. Hartley. She’s determined we won’t have a relationship beyond Hunter. Beyond friendship.”
“Jamie?” My dad looked at me like I’d broken some cardinal rule. “You not going to give Dylan a second chance? Don’t you think your boy should have a real family?”
“Dad.” I sighed, tired and frustrated. “Dylan and I discussed this. Hunter needs two strong parents who love him. Us being together won’t make things better. It would make them worse.”
“James.” His tone grew stern.
Dylan cut him off. “Mr. Hartley, Jamie’s got a point. We don’t love each other. That’s no way to raise a kid. Trust me—that’s the home I grew up in, and it sucked.”
Dylan admitting he didn’t love me felt surprisingly good. I’d been afraid I’d damaged him beyond repair. Maybe something I’d said had finally sunk in.
“Besides,” he continued, “Jamie has a new man. I met him the other day. Seems like a good guy. But I’m still running a background check to make sure he’s safe around Hunter. I plan to be thorough.”
“New guy? How come I didn’t know about this?” Dad coughed, looking at Dylan accusingly. “And if he’s such a good guy, where is he?”
Shit. This was where lying got you.
How was I supposed to dig out of this without revealing my dishonesty?
I felt like the asshole now. I’d lied to everyone, including myself, and now I had to explain it all to my dying father.
What would Eric think if he were here right now? What would he do? What would he expect me to do? Honesty was best—I just needed the strength to say it.
“He’s—”
My phone rang, Hunter’s number lighting the screen.
I checked the time. Much later than his normal call. I’d been so caught up I’d missed that my son hadn’t checked in.
“Hunter?”
“Hi, Mom.” His voice was small and stressed.
“Hey bud, I was just talking about you. What’s up?”
“Mom, something’s happened and I need you to come get me.”
Panic invaded every molecule of my being. “What? Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“Jackson’s parents want to talk to you. They want me to leave, but I wanted to talk to you first. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s a misunderstanding. Trust me, okay?”
“Of course, bud. I always trust you. Put them on the phone. I’ll sort this out.”
Outrage and terror warred in my chest. What could my kid have possibly done to get kicked out? Were they sick of him? Had his smart mouth gotten him in trouble?
Jackson’s mother came on the line, and I went immediately defensive.
“Hello, Jamie. I’m so sorry about this.”
“It’s fine, Vanessa. Please tell me what’s going on.”
“Ron and I feel awful about this, truly. We realize it’s terrible timing. However, after discussing it with the boys, then privately, we’ve decided it would be best if Hunter didn’t stay with us any longer. We simply can’t tolerate this behavior.”
Her sickly-sweet voice and holier-than-thou attitude made me want to jump in my car and make the drive just to tell her off face-to-face. She’d always looked down on me, but I’d overlooked it because our kids were inseparable. Her fake empathy turned my stomach.
“Please tell me what happened.” Gritted teeth barely contained my rage.
