Page 26 of Saving You

‘Well, I stayed there for six years. Neither one of my parents wanted me back after they split,’ Ridge said. He glanced away for a beat and swallowed hard. ‘My aunts weren’t much better than my mom and dad, but at least I had a place to crash. I went back to visit my mom one summer, and she’d moved into a one-bedroom apartment and told me to sleep in the dining room. She put an air mattress under the table.’

A rush of bile headed up Oz’s throat. He’d had no idea. Ridge had always seemed kind of silver-spoon spoiled with the way he cared for people. Too kind. Too accommodating. Most people like Ridge learned it from growing up in homes that offered deep love and constant comfort.

‘When I was eighteen,’ he went on, ‘my friend and I dropped out of high school and moved south to Mexicali. We worked under the table at this beachfront taco shop, and I learned what was good and what wasn’t.’ He winked. ‘These are good. Not as good as my shop used to make, but close.’

Oz had no idea what to say. At all. Everything he thought he’d known about Ridge felt turned upside down.

He picked up the first taco and polished the rest off in four bites, which made Ridge grin happily. His ears turned slightly pink as he set his plate down and then settled back with a pleased expression, arms folded over his chest.

Nothing could erase the ugly, heaving feeling sitting on Oz’s chest or the guilt he felt for dragging Ridge into something he hadn’t asked to be part of, but seeing him even a little self-satisfied took some of the sting out. And for the first time in a long, long time—an arm’s length away from Ridge—Oz actually felt like he had a soft place to land.

CHAPTER SEVEN

RIDGE

They were parkedat the entrance to the street, the lights a soft yellow glow that illuminated the houses, but his car was in the shadows. Ridge could see far enough down to make out the outline of Oz’s car, which was still there.

Right before dinnertime, Oz started to panic that his parents were going to retaliate by having Oz’s car towed, so Ridge promised he’d fix it if that happened. He knew the owners of the two tow companies in town very well, and both of them owed him enough favors that he could comfortably make that promise.

Luckily, he didn’t need to.

“Okay,” Oz said aloud. He’d put his CIs back on an hour before they left, once Ridge got the okay from Ina that she was cool having a sleepover with Rex. Oz had gotten on a FaceTime with Frey and promised to tell him everything the next time they met up, and after that, everything calmed down.

Except Ridge could see that Oz’s hands were shaking, and he had a feeling that’s why he opted to put his processors back on. He’d spent the afternoon trying to hide how shaken up he was, and there was still a faint tremble in his fingers whenever he lifted them to sign.

“You want me to walk you?” Ridge asked, his fingers tight on the steering wheel.

Oz bit his lip, then shook his head. “What if they’re watching? I don’t want you stuck in the middle if my mom comes out to make another scene.”

At that, Ridge turned off the car and twisted to face Oz. “Yeah, no. I don’t give a fuck what your mom says to me. You’re not doing this alone. Let’s go.”

“Wait!” Oz said as Ridge started reaching for his door handle. “I already dragged you into this deep enough. Seriously, it’s fine. I can handle it.”

Ridge laughed softly. “I know you can, but I’m your boyfriend now, remember? What kind of boyfriend lets his partner face that kind of bullshit on his own?”

Oz’s ears reddened. “I really am sorry about that. I’m going to tell them the truth tonight.”

“Why?” Ridge asked, wide-eyed. “That’s not going to help this situation, Oz. They wereliterallytrying to force you into an engagement with someone you broke up with…how long ago?”

‘Four years,’ Oz signed, his lips in a tight, thin line.

Ridge shook his head. “Four years. Christ. I’ve seen some bullshit in my day—and I mean somebullshit—but what happened today comes only second to having a baby abandoned at my station a couple weeks later that I had helped deliver a few weeks before.”

“Oh my God,” Oz whispered. “People really abandon babies at fire stations?”

“I mean, it’s better than the alternative. I’ve been lucky enough not to get one of the dumpster calls,” Ridge said, his voice going tight at the thought, “but they happen.”

“Dumpst—oh. Oh myGod.” Oz looked horrified.

“And bathroom garbage cans. Public toilets. So yeah, the SafeHaven is better. But God, the feeling in my chest when I sawher in that little cot? I haven’t felt anything that heavy until this afternoon. Different reasons, obviously.”

Oz bowed head. “You ever figure out what happened to that baby?”

Ridge couldn’t help a small laugh, and he shrugged. “Actually, yeah. She’s four and a half, she loves Disney movies—especially the nature documentary ones. She can’t get enough of dinosaur chicken nuggets, and she has the coolest Deaf mentor I’ve ever met.”

Oz stared at him for a long beat. “You…I… that was her?Inawas that baby?”

Ridge shrugged and glanced away. The story was both wonderful and painful all at the same time. The big picture, it was the best thing that ever happened to him, but all the details in between had been hard, and he knew his daughter was going to be dealing with the trauma of her own abandonment for the rest of her life.

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