I wipe my hands on a towel and glance toward the front windows.
Headlights sweep across the driveway.
My pulse kicks.
There they are.
Kelly’s truck.
I straighten my shoulders.
Because this isn’t about flexing.
It’s about proving.
For Kelly.
For Evan.
And Maddox, too, even though he’s grown.
It’s about showing that little boy that I’m not just the guy who held his mother’s hand in the stark light of day and made big promises.
I’m the man who shows up.The one who builds.
And right now, I’m building something that lasts.
Mike Stevens can threaten court all he wants.
He can talk all he wants about parental rights and fitness, about location and money, and how he’s entitled to alimony—can you fucking believe that?
But he doesn’t get to scare that boy.
He doesn’t get to threaten Kelly or to shake her confidence.
Not anymore.
The front door opens.
And I’m ready.
Chapter23
Kelly
Ifeel like I’m living in some sort of haze.
Like I stepped into a romantic snow globe, and someone shook it too hard—and now everything is sparkling and suspended and too beautiful to be entirely real.
Dinner at J.T.’s house is amazing.
Not just the food—though that alone would’ve done it.
Maddox and his girlfriend, Amelia, are warm and easy.
Amelia laughs at my jokes.
Maddox teases his dad just enough to prove they’re close without crossing lines.
