Page 98 of Hit the Ground
Shelby sucked in a ragged gasp. “I’m not mad, baby. Never. You don’t have to leave—”
I gave Jesse a gentle push. “Go, bud. I’ll take care of this.”
He hurried to the truck, where Alice was standing beside the open door. She tried to give him the front seat, but he shook his head and threw himself into the back.Good boy. He remembered his manners, even stressed and exhausted. We’d done a whole lot right with him, tonight notwithstanding.
“Who’s that?”
I swiveled back to face Shelby, my chest cracking from the pressure of holding in a nuclear explosion.
“My girlfriend.” I lifted my chin, daring her to say something about Alice.
“Isn’t that the librarian?” She took a step, like she was heading to the truck to check, but I shook my head, stopping her in her tracks. “I need to know if you’re bringing Jesse around someone.”
I let out a dry laugh. “Okay, Shel. We’re not going to talk about Alice. When you take care of what’s going on inside your own house, we can have a conversation.” I jabbed my finger toward the open door. “You need to handle that. I know you care about our son, but you’re not doing a good job of showing it. Getting a call like that from my boy is unacceptable.”
“I told you…” she whispered, clutching her hands to her chest, “I wanted to move so Kent could find work, but you wouldn’t allow it. He stayed for us, because he loves us. But he’s gotten himself into a bind—”
“Nope.” I took a retreating step, fed up. “I’m not interested in Kent. He’s a done deal. Jesse will not be in that man’s presence again.”
“You can’t decide that.” She reached for me. I gave her outstretched hand a scathing look, and she dropped it to her side. “You’re going against our custody agreement. I’ll let you take Jesse tonight, but you don’t get to decide when he comes back or who he sees when I have him.”
I cocked my head. “Don’t I? Is that loser in your kitchen worth losing your son over? If you fight me on this, I will take you to court. You’ll break Jesse’s heart, but I will handle that if I have to.”
“Caleb.” A wet sob shook her shoulders. “This isn’t fair. You can’t do this. I love Jesse. You know I do. But I deserve to have a life, and Kent—”
“Kent is dog shit,” I bit out. “What kind of trouble is he mixed up in that he comes home with a broken finger and two black eyes? And from the way he was moving, I suspect a few broken ribs too. Who’d he borrow money from? Are you even asking him those questions? Do you care?”
She collapsed into herself like she’d been shot, her arms banding around her middle. “I don’t know,” she rasped.
“You don’t need to know. Get him out of this house—and your life. Jesse’s not safe around him, and neither are you. Don’t make my boy lose his mother. Don’t do that to him, Shel.”
I left her with that. What else was there to say?
I had to hope this would be the wake-up call Shelby needed. I didn’t want to keep Jesse from her, but I would do what I had to do to protect him.
Even if it was from his own mother.
Jesse was barely awake by the time we got home. Once he hit his room, he crawled into his bed like a mindless zombie. When I went to sit down, though, he scooted over, giving me plenty of room.
I put my hand on top of his head, the same way I’d done since he was born. And he blinked at me with guileless eyes that never failed to make me feel like I had to mold the world into a better place for him.
“You doing all right?”
“Tired.” He rubbed his eye, then let his hand fall heavily onto his comforter. “Do you think Alice is okay? In the truck, when we were waiting for you, she told me she was, but I’m kind of embarrassed she had to see all that. She’s going to think Mom isn’t a good mom, and yeah, I get that, but I don’t want her to think that because it isn’t true.”
I clenched my hand into a fist, biting back my anger. This wasn’t something Jesse should have been concerned about, but at the same time, I was proud of him for thinking beyond himself and caring for Alice.
“I’ll talk to her, but you know Alice.” I took my hand from the top of his head to nudge his chin with my knuckle. “She’s one of the smartest, kindest people I know. I can’t think of anyone smarter or more kind, can you?”
He solemnly shook his head. “No. I don’t think so.”
“I’m sure she’s worried about you, bud, but she’s not judging your mom. Everyone makes mistakes.” The words tasted bitter coming out, but he needed me to say them. As furious as I waswith Shelby for putting all of us in this position, my kid loved his mom, and there was no way I was going to come between that. Not unless I absolutely had to.
Jesse licked his lips, his eyes drifting to the dim light of his lamp. “What if I’m judging? I mean, a little bit. What if I’m thinking Mom really screwed up?”
“You can think what you want. Tonight was a pretty big shit show, huh?”
He whipped his head back toward me, his eyes bugging. “Yeah. It was a massive shit show.”
