Page 66 of Single Mom's Guide to Love

Kat and I stare at each other for a few seconds as I silently beg her to understand what I’m feeling now. She’s never seen melike this, so I can understand her confusion. But that also means she should realize if I’m acting like this, it’s for a reason.

“She’s in Brentwood,” Kat says. “Head to the highway. I’ll text you the address.”

I give her a kiss on her cheek before sprinting out of my office.

Twenty minutes later I’m pounding on Maeve’s door, yelling for her to open up. I can’t see if her SUV is in the garage, but there are enough lights on to tell me she’s home.

So why isn’t she answering?

“Maeve!” I yell again, my fist pounding into the wood of her door. “Open up!”

Seconds later and mid pound, I feel the door start to open. I catch my hand and pull it back as Maeve slowly opens it, peeking out around the opening just enough that I can see that she’s crying.

“Logan? What are you doing here?”

I slowly push the door open, needing to get inside. Luckily, Maeve doesn’t fight me, and I quickly shut the door behind me.

“What happened? Who did this to you?”

I don’t see any physical markings on her, but it’s clear she’s has been crying for hours. Her eyes are bloodshot and puffy, her face is pale and tear-streaked, and her hair is a wreck, part of it sticking to her face.

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what’s it like?” I ask as I cup her face in my hands. “I need to know who’s making you cry like this so I know who to end.”

Maeve’s eyes go wide when she realizes I’m bloody serious.

“Who, Maeve? What’s happening? Please, Love. I’m worried…”

She starts to say something—I think she says Jayce’s name—before she breaks down again, collapsing into my body.

“Hey, I got you,” I say, picking her up and walking her over to the sofa. I sit down with her on my lap, and I know Maeve has to be distraught, because instead of fighting me like I half expected, she does the opposite—she clings to me like she needs me to breathe.

“Shh…I’m here. Do what you need to do. Find the calm.”

Maeve’s tears continue for minutes on end. I don’t hear anything else in the house, so that means Jayce isn’t here. But I swear she tried to say his name before this wave of tears came out. Is he okay? I’d have to guess he is or she’d be wherever he is. Is he with his dad? At school?

Fuck, I want to help her. I want to fix this. But I don’t know what to do. So I do the only thing I can think of—I just hold her. I stroke her hair, hold her tight, and let her use my shirt as a handkerchief, anything possible to give her any sort of comfort until she’s able to tell me what’s wrong.

“He wants to take Jayce.”

“What?” I wasn’t expecting words from Maeve yet, let alone those ones. “Who?”

She settles her breathing and slowly sits up from me. “Josh. My ex.”

I don’t push her as she fights like hell to block the tears from starting again. Instead I just take her hand and hold it, so she knows I’m here.

That I’m not going anywhere.

“He told me that he and his new wife think that Jayce would be better if he had a ‘real family.’ They want to be his primary household.”

“Bloody hell!”

“Exactly. He said that I’m traveling too much, even though it’s work. And that it’s not right that I have to take him with me to work sometimes. And that Jayce would be better off with them since they’re now a united family.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. As someone who grew up with shit parents, I can speak firsthand as to how good of a mum Maeve is to Jayce.

“Forgive me if I’m missing something, but didn’t they just get marriedlast week?”

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