Page 61 of Love Me Boldly

Right then, she was terrified. I didn’t blame her, but man…even confused and shocked to my toes, I wanted those eyes on me. That rich gaze that could turn so angry she could set the world on fire.

She’d definitely done that to mine.

“Hi, Graham,” she muttered. “Thanks for taking care of him.”

“Your son.” I glanced at Jonah, who’d found a puck to take an interest in, and he was tossing it into the air. “You have a son.”

She snatched the bag from my hand. “Goodbye, Graham.”

I stood and stepped back.

She was stillhere. In the area of the state she once couldn’t wait to run from, and hell if I wasn’t prepared to go with her. Anywhere. I would have followed her to Alaska if she’d asked.

Something happened. Something changed everything, and there was no doubt in my mind that it was all due to Jonah. I was going to figure it out.

“Someday you’re going to end a conversation with me and those words won’t be the last thing you say.”

“Yeah, well, that day isn’t today.” There was a smirk on her face, though. Like she couldn’t resist the sarcastic banter we always had. “Come on, kiddo, Papa Paul’s waiting for us. I need to get back to work.”

Jonah grinned up at me. “Don’t worry, sir. I’ll tell him everything.”

I tipped my chin toward him. “Good job today, Jonah.”

He slipped his hand in Holly’s, and she headed off out of the arena without looking back, but Jonah did and waved.

I waved back.Paul.

Her aunt Caroline’s husband’s name was Paul.

At least this time, finding her would be easy.

Jackson glanced at the two walking away, brows pinched together and then faced me. “Is that who I thought it was?”

“Yep.” I rocked back on my heels.

“Well, I didn’t see that coming.”

I hadn’t either, but a smile broke out on my face. Of all the sports, all the games her kid could play, she’d put him in hockey.

She could act unaffected by me all she wanted, but that said enough. I wasn’t any farther from her mind in the last six plus years than she’d been on mine.

I glanced at him. “Think I’ll head to Deer Creek tonight after all.”

NINETEEN

HOLLY

How in the world? What in the world? Of all the places. At all the camps. How in the heck did I walk into that fiasco with Graham freaking Marchese smiling down at my kid?

After just running into Eli? The world was playing a sick, sick joke on me I couldn’t afford.

The day Jonah was tossed in my arms, my life changed in ways I never foresaw at the time. With only Caroline and Tracey to help out, Caroline needing to be at the restaurant at all hours and Tracey juggling her own last semester of classes, getting to school had been impossible. Fortunately, most of my classes were offered as online options, and due to extenuating circumstances, I was able to get all but one moved over. The one I couldn’t move meant I was only on campus on Tuesday nights for three hours.

That last semester had been horrific. Jonah cried all the time. I practically lived at the women’s center in town with Trina and a handful of other volunteers, helping me work through colic, infant classes, and preparing to have a toddler.

Eli had been right. I did vanish, but not in the way he assumed.

But I’d done it. Definitely not alone. The worst moment after that came when Tracey graduated and moved to Tampa to get her masters in software engineering. Saying goodbye to her had been the hardest goodbye I’d ever had to say.

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