Page 39 of Love Me Again

Micah shuffled a little closer, then broke the cookie in his hand in half and handed it to Boone. It was a damn sweet gesture that was this close to making Boone emotional. So he took the piece of cookie and shoved it into his mouth.

“You don’t have to take me, you know. To the basketball game.”

Boone straightened, made sure the grimace of pain didn’t show up on his face. “Why wouldn’t I take you?”

Micah chewed on the collar of his sweatshirt. A clear sign he was anxious about something, and Boone didn’t think it was all him being in pain or the trip to Denver.

“You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine. You don’t worry about me. You worry about the fact I’m kicking your ass in fantasy basketball right now.”

His mouth turned up at one side, but the joke and the swearing clearly didn’t ease his worries any. With a lot of people, Boone would have eased away, but Micah had always pulled something different out of him.

The desire to help.

“What’s really on your mind, kid?”

“Mom might have the baby while we’re gone.” Micah shuffled closer. Then took a ginger seat next to Boone on the bench.

“Far as I know, babies don’t just shoot out of a lady. If she goes into labor, we’ll come home and I’ll buy tickets for some other game.”

Micah nodded, but they clearly had not gotten to the source of things, since he was still chewing.

“Mom might not want me there.”

“Maybe not while she’s pushing the baby out.” Good God. How was this conversation his life? “But I’m sure she wants you to meet your little brother right away.”

Micah shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it should just be the three of them.” He looked straight ahead, not at Boone, chewing away on that collar. “At first, you know?”

The source was slowly becoming clear, and Boone couldn’t say he felt up to the task of easing this kid’s worries, but the kid needed it, so Boone had to try.

“I don’t know,” he told Micah firmly. “Because it’s about to be the four of you. Not the three of them.”

Micah shrugged jerkily. “Maybe because she loves Shane, she’ll love the baby more than me. Because the baby is Shane’s and I’m not…”

“She won’t,” Boone said before Micah found the end of that sentence. Boone had never met Micah’s dad, which was for the best since Boone knew the bastard had beaten Cora, tried to hurt Micah. It was no secret Micah was still working through some of the issues his biological dad had created, but Boone also knew Micah didn’t often confess them. And he wouldn’t confess this one to Shane or Cora because it was about the baby.

So Boone had to be the stable adult here and try to impart some wisdom and reassurances. Jesus. “For starters, you are Shane’s too.” Boone slung his arm around the kid’s shoulders, getting broader at an alarming rate, like one of these days he’d turn into a man overnight. “And I know you know that. But sometimes it helps to hear someone else say the things you already know. But most importantly, your mom will never love you less, no matter what happens, how many other kids she has, or what you do. Because she’s the best.”

Micah shrugged jerkily. “She’s all right.”

“She’s the best,” Boone insisted. “Tied with my mom who’s never loved me less, even though she had every right.”

Micah chewed a little harder on the shirt collar, but then he let it go as he peered up at Boone. “You did all sorts of bad shit.”

“Yeah, I did.” He didn’t scold for the swear word like Shane or Cora would. “And I regret most of it.”

“Most?”

Boone didn’t fidget, though he wanted to. He knew part of his appeal to Micah was that bad shit. Because Shane was such a goody-two-shoes and Cora wanted Micah to be. Boone was mostly the forbidden fruit.

But there was also a kernel of a messed-up kid in the both of them, who recognized it in each other. And the other part of Boone’s appeal was that Micah could be honest with him, without hurting the feelings of the two people he loved most—his mom and Shane.

So he gave Micah the truth, the best he could. “Some of it… Well, I learned some lessons I can’t regret learning. Trust me, though, learning lessons the hard way isn’t any better. But you still learn.”

Micah sighed heavily. Silence stretched out, but he didn’t make a move to leave, so Boone didn’t either, even though the bench was damn uncomfortable.

“It’s going to cry.”