Page 21 of The Path To Us

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. It just goes against all logic, you know?”

Beau rubs a hand up and down my arm before wiping away some tears that escaped and are trailing down my cheek. With his palm cradling my face, he says in a heartbreakingly sad voice, “I know.” He blows a breath out and I feel the warmth hit my skin. “I know.”

“It hurts.”

“Like a son of a bitch,” he agrees.

For a few minutes we sit together, holding tight. I suddenly understand my daughter’s fear of having someone she loves out of her sight. Out of reach. Because that’s exactly the kind of fear I feel right now.

“And Lizzy’s a bitch. There, I said it.”

He chuckles at that and kisses the top of my head. “She is. But she also doesn’t matter. She’s just a woman who’s here to get attention and she’s looking in the wrong place for it. Lizzy’s selfish, remember that. She might have had the wool pulled over our eyes when we were younger but we’re smarter now.”

“Are we?”

“We are.”

I can tell by the look on his face that he knew my question wasn’t about me at all but he’s enough of a gentleman not to call me out.

Once I’m back in the passenger seat, we head to his parents’ house and spend the next several hours reminiscing by looking at pictures and old home movies while eating pizza we had delivered.

The entire time Zoey sits next to Beau. Or on his lap. And all I keep thinking is that it’s going to kill her when he goes back home.

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