Page 37 of Kiss Me Forever

“No, they aren’t. They’re yours. I don’t know them. I want my mom.” And with that, she burst into tears.

I moved forward, and even as she tried to shove me away, I ignored her and pulled her into my arms. “You can cry it out, Bella. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. I want my mom.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Just get me my mom. You’re not my dad.” She screamed the words into my chest, and I took each blow, knowing she was in pain. I ignored the actual words, knowing she was just lashing out.

She refused to call me Dad, and that was fine. We weren’t there yet. Every time she said Reece instead of Dad, I took it in stride. Because she hadn’t known who I was until recently, just like I had no idea who she was. How were we supposed to find our place when we were still so new to all of this? But still, I knew she was hurting, and I had no words. I couldn’t make it better. I couldn’t make it go away.

“Talk to me. Do you want to talk about your mom?”

“Not with you.”

The words lashed out, and I struggled for any sense of control.

“Do you want to call your friend? Your grandparents?”

“Not them. They don’t care either.”

I froze, my shirt soaked with her tears, and put that information to the side. We needed to dive deep into her situation, I knew it, but in this moment, me pressing for information about her grandparents wasn’t going to help anyone.

“What can I do, Bella?” I asked, my voice soft.

“There’s nothing you can do. She’s gone. And she left me here. And I don’t even know you.”

I rubbed her back, slid my hands through her hair, and kept her close as she cried into my arms.

The fact that she could even break down close to me had to mean we’d made some progress, right?

A thought occurred to me. One so idiotic that it was going to be a step in the wrong direction, but in this moment, it was all I could grasp.

“Do you want me to call Brooklyn?”

I wanted her to say no. I wanted her to say yes.

She stiffened for a moment, then she nodded against my chest.

I held back a curse, before tugging Bella close and letting her cry it out. Then I picked her up, cradled her to my chest, and carried her to the living room.

“You stay here, let me call her.”

Bella didn’t say anything as she continued to cry softly into her hands. I wrapped her in a blanket, kept my gaze on her, and pulled out my phone.

My finger hovered over her name, and I told myself this was a mistake.

But I pressed call anyway.

“Reece? Tonight was your family dinner, right? How are you?”

“Do you mind coming over here?”

Bella could still hear me, and I tried to sound calm, only I was anything but.

Brooklyn was silent for a moment, and I was afraid she was going to say no. But what if she said yes?

“Let me grab my things. I’ll be ten minutes. Max.”