“Not quite.”
“Then please finish what you had to say so I can pack up and leave for the day. If you have it under control, I don’t see why we’d need to extend this meeting any further.”
“I told you I loved you, and you looked at me like I was a damn idiot.”
Oh, geezus, not this again.
“Because you are, Mr. Wolfe.”
“Micah when we’re talking about us.”
“This meeting wasn’t for us. It was for Heath.”
“And Heath has everything to do with us.”
I’m going to throw a damn stapler at his head.
“What would you like me to do, Mr. Wolfe? Jump back into a secretive relationship with you to make you happy?”
“Well, it just so happens that’s exactly what I want, Miss Vesper. I think it’ll make all of us happy.”
I lift my chin, the hard question settling heavy on my chest. “And the ex?”
That seems to knock the wind out of Micah’s sails, and I see his body tense a little. It’s a sore subject, I can understand, but if he’s going to be in a decade-long custody battle, I don’t know if I can deal with a petty ex that wants to drag me every chance she gets.
I have a reputation in this town of being a decent teacher, and I don’t like being the center of attention. It’s like being a celebrity almost, you need to watch what you do or say, or it’ll be front page gossip the next day. It’s not something I want to freely jump into without knowing exactly what I’m jumping in.
“I have, hopefully, my last court date on Thursday.”
In three days.
I bob my head in acknowledgement. “I hope it works out for you.”
“I won’t stop until it does. She’s ruined my happiness for years. She won’t do it to me again.”
My stomach clenches at his admission to what’s already been done and how he’s trying to move on with his life.
A life…that could’ve had me in it.
“Make sure you take care of yourself, Micah.”
I didn’t mean to call him by his first name, because it gives him all the permission he needs to close more of the distance between us.
To suck me into his orbit.
One I’vereallywanted to stay in.
“I’m open to you taking care of me, Miss Vesper.” He stops when one more step could have our chests brushing against each other’s. “However, you’ve been stubborn.”
God.
What he did to me hurt. However, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again—his son comes first.
He has to come first.
And I understand that.
However, it doesn’t make the weeks of roaming around town like a zombie with my heart dragging behind any more less.
