Page 59 of Delicate Storm

Isaac nods but stays curled into my chest.

“Fun eating pretzels?”

“Yep. They’re delicious.” Macy laughs, and it pisses me off that she doesn’t even show an ounce of regret. She probably did it on purpose, knowing it would wind him up before bedtime.

“Okay. Well, are you ready to go up?” I move on, needing to get away from the woman that has the ability to drain the energy from my body—good and bad—with a simple look. I’ll tell you who has regrets. I do. I should have sought full custody the second she told me she didn’t want to be a mom instead of hoping she’d change her mind. I’m an idiot, but I can’t dwell on that now. “Nana’s waiting for you,” I add, a warmth spreading through me when Isaac’s eyes widen in happiness.

“Nana! Yes.” He spins around to face Macy and waves. “Bye, Mommy.”

I know I shouldn’t, but I take satisfaction in the fact that he seems more excited about my mom than he does about his own. Something she brought on all by herself.

I turn to walk away without acknowledging her any further, but she calls out to stop me. “I’m not sure when I’m visiting next, but I’ll call again in a week.”

Yay.How nice of you to keep your son hanging on when you truly couldn’t give a shit about him.“Thanks. Isaac will love that.”

Maybe I should have asked Mom to come down with me so she could have watched Isaac while I took a moment to set some ground rules with Macy. Like I’d originally planned. But I forgot when she was late. Now, I still have no idea what her angle is and—Shit.

“I need my card back.”

“What?”

“My credit card.”

“Oh. Yes. Of course.” She reaches into her designer purse and reluctantly hands it over as though I’d gifted it to her and had suddenly changed my mind. But I’ve got news, Macy. That’s not how this works. Isaac gets my money, while you get fuck all if I can help it.

“Thanks.” She grins.

Without another word, I walk away again, holding my breath until we’re in the elevator, and it’s only then the stress finally eases.

“Are you tired?” I ask Isaac when he yawns.

“Nope.” He yawns again, making me smile.

“Okay, and you had a good day, right?”

“Itoldyou,” he complains but he didn’t really—he only mentioned the pretzels—but as desperate as I am to know, I let it slide.

“I’m glad you had fun, but it’s good to have you back. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

We definitely go longer without seeing each other when I’m at away games, but this felt different and I’m not sure why.

“What do you say, you have a quick book with Nana and then it’s time for bed?”

“Two books?”

I stare at him deadpan and he laughs, knowing that’s my thing. “Fine. Two books. But they have to be short ones.”

“Okay, Daddy.” He curls into me again, resting his head on my shoulder, and I bask in the warmth until the negativity seeps into my mind.How the hell am I going to give this kid the life he deserves when I’m already failing? And what do I do about Macy?

Mom’s on the couch watching the TV in silence when I walk out of Isaac’s room. I’ve barely made a sound when she looks up. “How’d you do?”

“He’s asleep.Finally. And it sounds like he had a good day.” I drop down onto the couch beside her and lie back, closing my eyes. After initially only talking about the food he ate, he finally opened up about the rest of his time. Macy took him to the zoo as planned, and they saw all his favorite animals. And mine. His little smile never left his face while he was talking. And while that should have made me happy, it broke my heart. Because how long does he have to wait until he sees her again? And does he make her as happy as she’s making him? He’s still bathing her in unconditional love, but is she giving it back?

“You make it sound like that’s a bad thing,” Mom says, and I internally groan before opening my eyes to look at her, contemplating my response. I’ve just formulated a lie when she calls me out.

“Don’t even bother.”

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