Page 51 of In this Moment

“But Lauren would understand,” he said. “I know it would hurt and it would be hard for her, but she would understand. She’s a very reasonable woman and she knows the best thing for a child is for his parents to be together.”

“But you don’t love me.” It was such a stupid thing to say, and what she should have said was something about Declan and her engagement, but she couldn’t bring herself to mention him, not now that she knew how he didn’t share the same feelings for her that she had forhim.

“Remember how much fun we used to have together?” Tony’s face lit up. “Maybe it wasn’t love back then, but it could be. And if we were together, for Jonah, it would grow. It makes sense, Evie.”

It didn’t. It didn’t make sense. Not atall.

A flash of movement caught her eye and she turned to see Jonah coming down the walk. “Jonah’s coming.” She moved to open the cardoor.

“Wait.”

She looked at Tony, pleading with her eyes for him not to make it weird in front of Jonah.

“Don’t answer me right now,” he said. “Think about it. I know it’s a big decision. But it wouldn’t be all bad. We could all be together. All the time. And we wouldn’t have to share—hey, buddy.” He changed tracks so smoothly when Jonah opened the car door that it took Evie a moment to catchup.

“What are you guys doing inhere?”

“Your mom and I were just talking about a few things,” Tony answered smoothly. “We thought we might as well sit down while we discussed.”

“In thecar?”

“It was closer than the couch.” Tony laughed, and soon Jonah did too. The resemblance between father and son, and the easygoing manner they both shared, was uncanny.

“How was your day, kiddo?” Evie opened the door a bit wider and stood, immediately pulling her son into a hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you this morning.”

“It’s okay. Declan said you were crazy tired.” Her heart squeezed a bit at the mention of his name. Only yesterday, it had done a little flip. She had to ignore the hurt. “And then Brandon’s mom said we could go to the beach.”

Evie gave him a hug. “I’m glad you had a fun day. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy working lately.”

“It’s okay, Mom.”

“We’ll spend some time together soon, okay?”

He nodded and slipped past her to get into the car with his dad. She waved as they drove away. Father and son. Together.

Evie’s stomach twisted. She hated watching him driveaway.

But she wouldn’t have to if she accepted Tony’s proposal.

No. It was crazy.

Or was it? Maybe he didn’t love her, but Declan didn’t either. And at least this way, she wouldn’t have to be apart from her son. And there were worse arrangements.

Like being in love with someone who didn’t love youback.

She looked to the house, where Declan was waiting for her to have a movie night. No matter what she thought about Tony’s proposal, she was going to have to end the charade with Declan. There was no point in continuing with it any longer.

The idea of not ever having his arms around her again or his lips on hers made her immeasurablysad.

One more night.

She’d pretend for one more night and in the morning, she’d tell him it wasover.

Yes. In the morning.

“Are you ready for popcorn?” Declan called from the kitchen to the living room where he’d already moved the couches around to create a theater type of atmosphere. He’d cued up the latest romantic comedy on Netflix, even though he would’ve preferred an action adventure. But more than watching the latest Tom Cruise film, he wanted to make Evie smile.

There was something going on with her. She definitely wasn’t her usual happy self, but that was probably understandable considering all the stress she’d been under for the last few weeks. It must be incredibly hard. Declan couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like. And if he could make her relax for a little bit and not think about any of the stress in her life, then he’d be happy. Because that’s exactly what he planned to do himself.

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