Page 41 of Falling for Autumn
“I’ve been doing it just fine until now.”
“Yeah, well, things changed. I’m going to be in the shows, racing, and everything. You may as well forgive me and move on.”
“Move on, I can do. Bye, TJ.”
“O, wait. Please,” she pleaded, running to catch up with me.
I kept walking, and she walked beside me.
“She’s happy and healthy. She wants to see you.”
I stopped and mugged her. “You haven’t told her the truth?”
“I have. She still wants to see you though. You were there in the earlier years. She’s heard nothing but good things about you. She’s extremely smart, and she looks like you.” She sighed when I didn’t respond. “I wish that I could turn back the hands of time, you know. She would have been better off with you than him.”
“You’re still with him. Don’t seem like you’re having problems to me.”
“We’re trying to work things out. He’s gotten much better. He went to rehab, and we both went to counseling together. He wants to do better and be a better man. But what he wants most is you back in his life. He wants to work things out and find healing for the two of you.”
I chuckled and shook my head as I shoved my hands into the pockets of my joggers. “It’s always about what he wants, isn’t it? That was always your problem. You were more concerned with him than you were with me.”
“That’s not true, O.”
“Naw, TJ. It’s very true.”
She grabbed my arm and looped hers through it as we stopped in front of her pink Jeep. “I have never said that I’m sorry to you. I apologize for hurting you, for taking you for granted, for playing you, and for lying to you.”
“Get the fuck outta here, Trish,” I growled and jerked my arm from hers.
She stood in front of me and looked up into my eyes.
“I’m sorry for tearing your family apart and for taking away your freedom.”
“October,” Autumn called out to me as she walked in my direction, pushing Auburn’s stroller. I turned away from Trish and removed her hands from my chest.
“Hey, baby,” I greeted, stepping away from Trish. I kissed Autumn and wrapped an arm around her.
“Who’s this?” Autumn asked with a smile as she waved at Trish.
Turning back to Trish, I introduced the two.
“Autumn, this is TJ. TJ, this is my woman, Autumn, and our daughter, Auburn.”
I didn’t miss the look of hurt and offense in Trish’s eyes, and I didn’t give a damn. Her lips formed an “O.”
“Nobody told me that you had a kid. When were you gonna tell me, O?”
I saw the look of hurt and confusion on Autumn’s face, and I knew that she was probably getting the wrong idea.
“I don’t recall needing anyone’s permission to move on with my life, TJ. Enjoy yours. I’m definitely enjoying mine,” I replied.
I grabbed the stroller, turned it in the opposite direction, and steered Autumn along with me.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“No one who matters anymore,” I replied softly.
Chapter 15
