Because she left you and Heath and decided you weren’t good enough.
Neither of us were.
“Good for you,” I quip before pointing to the parking lot. “Now get the hell out of here.”
She pinches her brows. “I’m not leaving here without seeing Heath.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Micah, I made mistakes, but I shouldn’t have to pay for them for the rest of my life.”
“You should’ve thought about that when you signed all your rights away,” I retort. “Now you’re fucked.”
“You can’t do this to me.” She takes a step closer and wrecks my resolve. Makes me want to go back to the life where it was just Heath and me, because it was easier than this. Than dealing with someone else and how it would affect Heath, who’s the most important person in this scenario right now.
“I can do whatever the hell I want. You’re done. We’re over. I make the rules. And you’re not going to fuck up his life as you did mine. Heath doesn’t ask about you; he doesn’t wish for a mom. He doesn’t fuckingcare. As far as he’s concerned, it’s him and me. You’re an inconvenience at this point and just another person to know because youcouldn’t do this. You don’t get to play a mother. You gave up that right.”
“I wasn’t ready?—”
“I wasn’t either, Laura,” I snap. “Who the fuck is? But you man up, and you deal with it. You don’t abandon your child.”
“So, what, you fuckin’ his teacher now?” I snap my brows together. My skin tingling with dread because it’s me. It’s the way I vibe when I’m around Sienna, and she’s probably not the only person who saw it, or she just has that female intuition going on. “That’s being a real role model, Micah.”
“I am,” I bite back. “Because I stuck around. I raised him and put a roof over his head. You bailed.” A wave of nausea hits me, and I need to grab Heath and get home. “We’re done here.”
I round her body, careful to keep enough space between us so she can’t reach out for me. So she can’t touch me.
“This isn’t over, Micah.”
And I know it’s not a threat, it’s a promise.
Laura ruined everything again.
Now, Sienna and I have to pay for it.
Now, she’s going to fight me like hell for my son.
Now…she’s going to drag me back to the dark place I spent forever trying to get out of.
12
SIENNA
“It’s beenover five years, Maebelle.Five. And that little tramp strutted her stuff into church like she ain’t got no sense.”
“Church would be the perfect place for her then. She needs to atone for all the sins she inflicted on that boy.”
“Might be karma. Why Micah dated my niece for three months and left her high and dry with heartbreak. That boy was passin’ it around like he was the last drumstick at Thanksgiving dinner.”
Maebelle scoffs as my stomach drops at the mere mention of the man who hasn’t spoken to me in over four days. “That was ages ago, Agnes. And your niece ain’t got the best track record of holdin’ a man down.”
“That’s what you do when you’re young. Ya live and learn.”
“Sleeping with the whole town?”
I hear a spoon clatter, and Maebelle chuckles lightly from behind me at one of the booths alongside the windows of the diner.
They’ve been going at it for well over thirty minutes, and I’ve listened to every second as I sipped my coffee and tried to eat my breakfast.
