“Come on,” Rafe ushered them into the hallway and back upstairs, then he tucked them into bed and hugged them both.
“Rafe,” Addison whispered, just as he stood from her bed. He crouched back down.
“Yeah, kiddo.”
“I’m sorry Daddy was mean to you.”
“You know what, I appreciate you saying that ’cause that shows me you care about me. And that means a lot to me because I care about you too. But you don’t have to apologize for him, okay? None of this is your fault.”
“Okay.”
Back downstairs, Rafe thought maybe sleep wouldn’t be so impossible this time. But first, he grabbed a cookie.
Life doesn’t stop for ex-husband related bullshit, so the next morning, things had to go as planned. Sloan had two surgeries scheduled, the girls would be giving the Girls Scouts a try later in the week, Gracie was cheering at her first Varsity Football game on Friday night, and Addison and Avery had to put in an appearance at Seth Rosenthal’s birthday party on Saturday. None of that could be put on hold just because Drew decided to lose his fucking mind. Rafe packed up the girls and two dozen snickerdoodles, and carted them off to school.
When he dropped the girls at Mrs. Brown’s classroom, their teacher pulled him aside for a quick conversation, confirming the contents of the email she’d received from Sloan. The main office had been put on notice about Drew. Rafe had a feeling that Drew wouldn’t show up back in L.A. unannounced at this point, but anything was possible. On his way out, Xeni waved him across the hall. He sidestepped a cluster of small children and made his way over.
“My girl okay?”
“Little rattled still, but I think she’ll be okay.”
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Thank you for having her back.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“And don’t worry about Drew. I put a hex on him.”
“Oh really?” Rafe laughed.
Xeni just nodded, her expression solemn. For some reason, he had a feeling her homegrown witchcraft might do the trick.
The rest of the day was a fucking slog. He hit the gym with about twenty-five percent of his usual effort. His attempt at a short nap before he made himself some lunch was a complete fail. While he was getting an easy after-school craft project for the girls together, Sloan’s lawyer called.
By the time they were done talking, he had to go get Addison and Avery from school. There was an argument over the tablet after dinner, but the rest of the day had gone pretty smoothly. He tried to wait up for Sloan, who was operating into the night, but when he woke up on the couch at three a.m. with a throw blanket draped over him, he knew he’d missed her.
Wednesday was another busy day. Sloan was home in time for dinner, but she was so exhausted she threw in the towel right after she put the girls to bed.
“Are we okay?” Rafe asked as they stood in the hallway.
“Yeah. Between work and waiting to hear back from my lawyer I’m just—I don’t feel like myself. I put Drew’s number on Do Not Disturb, but he keeps calling and texting me.”
“Did you you share that with your lawyer too?”
“I did.”
“Good.”
“His mom called me today too and left me this long, rambling voicemail asking me to forgive him, but I didn’t call her back. Maybe I’ll call her this weekend. Listen, I’d love to—”
“No, I get it. Get some sleep.”
“Thanks. I want to talk some more, but I’m just wrecked and I have a valve replacement first thing in the morning.”
“Get some sleep, Dr. Copeland.” Sloan offered him a tight smile and a light kiss, then went to her bedroom.
