Page 59 of Complicated Past

“I overslept and grabbed the first thing I found so I wouldn’t be late.” That was mostly true.

“You? Late?” she scoffed.

“I’ve had a stressful few days worrying about you,” he deflected. He wouldn’t tell Bri he spent the night with Kendra—especially with how things ended. Pressure in his chest expanded. After what he’d overheard between Clara and Kendra about having kids at Malloy’s house, he wanted to be upfrontthat his future didn’t include marriage and kids, but when she’d invited him to spend the night, his honorable intentions got kicked to the curb. He couldn’t wrap his head around her viewing him as both husband and father material when she knew everything about his background and family.

“I still can’t believe you came.” Bri’s voice cracked.

“I would have come to Mexico if I’d known where to find you.”

“I did envision you kicking in the door to save me. But, after they showed me the picture of Jalen on the playground at school, all I could think about was keeping him safe. Jalen said that and he and you and Kendra stayed at your friend Dev’s house?”

“Seemed like the safest option. Tawnya’s people knew where you lived. And she knew about me, and they could have found out where I lived. Malloy staked out the preschool. He even tailed Kendra after she picked Jalen up. We couldn’t risk them tracking her down because she would know where Jalen was.”

“Considering they kidnapped Grams, they probably would have gone after a child. Would they have really hurt them?”

“These people have no qualms about hurting others to make money. You mean nothing to them. That’s why authorities wanted whoever Tawnya worked for. You should be safe now.” He set a plate of food in front of Jalen.

“Tawnya suckered me in. I thought she wanted a friend. I should have known she had an ulterior motive since the nearly free trip was too good to be true.”

“Quit beating yourself up. They worked you.”

“I was an easy target. I thought after all I’ve been through, I deserved something good to happen.”

“You do deserve good things. You’ve stayed clean, and you’re doing a fantastic job with Jalen. She’s the best mom ever. Right, J-man?”

“Uh-huh,” he agreed with his mouth full of food.

“I don’t know about that, but I’m doing the best I can. I owe him that.” She ran a hand over the back of her son’s head. “I know I give you a hard time when you try to help, but I do appreciate it. I couldn’t do this on my own.”

Linc sat at the table and extended a hand to Bri. “You don’t have to do it on your own. I wasn’t there when we were kids, but I’m here now. Anytime.”

“Youneed to letthatgo.” She squeezed his hand. “It wasn’t your fault. I never blamed you. And it would have happened again if you hadn’t stuck to me afterward like we were conjoined twins.”

Linc shrugged. It’d been the only way he’d known to protect her. They sat there while Jalen finished eating.

“Go brush your teeth. Uncle Linc will take you to school, but I’ll pick you up.” Bri lifted Jalen off her lap and watched him disappear into the bathroom. “I wouldn’t trade him for anything, but I don’t want to do it on my own forever. Do you think I’ll ever find someone to love me enough to marry me and be a father to Jalen?”

“If that’s what you want, you just need to find the right guy. But you know he’ll have to pass muster with me.” Linc grinned at her.

“You’ve got single friends. Maybe you should set me up with someone that would ‘pass muster’ so I don’t waste my time finding someone just to have you scare him off.”

He raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t take the bait. There were too many ways that could go wrong.

She huffed. “I went out with a customer at the dealership a few times. He was getting used to the idea I was a single mom, but when he learned I’d used drugs, that was too much baggage for him. He said his sister had dated someloserwho did drugs.”

“Ouch.”

“He tried to recover, saying he wasn’t implying thatIwas a loser.” She rolled her eyes and picked at her fingernail. “His family went through a lot with his sister’s ex. I understood that he worked in the family business and didn’t want to jeopardize his role there if his parents disapproved. But, despite me being clean for nearly five years, he ended things.”

Linc immediately thought of Kendra’s family and her not wanting to risk their disapproval by dating a man in the military. But she’d agreed and even been thinking beyond the short term—until he killed that possibility an hour ago.

“I get that a lot of men aren’t able to get past my background, but I think the fact I don’t get child support may have been a factor too. Outside of marriage, some men don’t want to support their kids, much less someone else’s.”

“If they think that way, that’s not the caliber of man you want, and they don’t deserve you.”

“I know better than to settle like Mom did, but I want more kids. Jalen needs a brother or sister or two. And cousins.” She leaned forward as she said it and gave him a challenging grin.

“Then your husband better have siblings who have kids.”

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