Page 68 of The Path To Us

“I got it.”

“Good. Now, here’s your mother. She’s finally stopped crying tears of joy that her son got over his shit and stopped being an idiot.”

“You know, I’m going to start getting a complex if you keep calling me an idiot.”

He chuckles and then I hear Mom’s soft voice. “Your dad said almost everything that needed to be said but I want to say, also, that I love you. I love Addy. And Christopher would have been over the moon to see you two together. There’s no one else he would trust to step in and be a dad to Zoey than you.”

“I don’t want to take his place.”

“Son, in a lot of ways, you already have.”

To that I have no response. She’s right, but she isn’t. I get her meaning, even if it’s only partly true.

“I haven’t.”

“You have, and that’s okay. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s what Chris would have wanted. Let go of the guilt and enjoy the future you have set in front of you with Zoey and Addy. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” she repeats.

“It’s not that easy,” I admit.

“Nothing worth anything is ever easy, Beau.”

This is true.

She’s definitely right about that.

And I hope she’s also right about everything else.

“We’re taking Zoey to the pool this afternoon.”

“Oh, good.” She laughs and I can picture her eyes light up while she shakes her head. “Then the town will have something to gossip about seeing as I know you’ll be staring at Addy and everyone will talk.”

“Exactly what I’m afraid of,” I murmur.

“Don’t be. Who cares what they think? Only you and Addy know the truth and that’s what matters. I imagine most of the gossiping will be because you’re back in town and all the single women are probably hoping for a chance at my handsome son.”

I make a disgusted sound in my throat. “Can we please not talk about that?”

“I’ve noticed. Pretty impossible not to. When you’d visit and we’d go to eat or anywhere in town, really, it was as if they had GPS tracking on you and they’d find you.”

“Please, God, can we stop talking about this?”

“The men, they’d do the same with Addy.”

I growl. “Mom.”

“Just saying. You two will be breaking a lot of hopeful hearts. But that’s okay because they don’t realize that they never had a shot.”

I smile even though the conversation kind of makes me want to throw up. Mainly because it’s my mom and while I noticed women staring at me, I really don’t like that she noticed as well.

“We’ll drop Zoey off after the pool.”

Luckily, she doesn’t go back to talking about anything we talked about in the last ten minutes. “Okay. What are you doing today then?”

“Surprising Zoey with showing her my new house. Richard has some kittens in one of the barns and I think she’ll love playing with them.”

“She will. Have fun and we can’t wait to see it, too.”

“Soon,” I promise her.

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