Page 32 of Rescued Hearts
“Why haven’t you told him all of this?” Anna asked, setting Hattie back in her carrier while we started gathering our stuff.
“He’s my lawyer. He can’t have romantic relationships with clients.” And I’d looked it up…multiple times just to be sure. “Everything I’ve read says it’s a breach of ethical conduct, and he could lose his license over it.”
Her face screwed up tightly with disbelief. “Really? That seems a little over the top.”
“You’re telling me,” I grumbled.
“Mama!” Henry ran up to Anna, shoving a paper in her hands. “That’s yours.” He bent over the carrier and shoved his face right in Hattie’s. “Hi, sissy.”
She made a spit bubble that made him laugh.
Luke wasn’t far behind, carrying another blue paper in his hands. His curls were damp, plastered to his forehead. “Hi, baby.” I grinned.
“Hi,” he replied, his voice more somber than Henry’s.
I frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“When is Daddy coming?” he asked, looking up at me with Jeremy’s same brown eyes.
My entire body went haywire, leaving me instantly lightheaded. Luke hadn’t asked about Jeremy once since we’d been here. I thought he hadn’t noticed, that he’d somehow forgotten him, that I’d gotten lucky and would never have to talk about him with Luke ever.
But I’d never been that lucky.
“W-What?”
Luke handed me the paper, and when I looked down at it, I thought I might puke. I blinked quickly, trying to focus my vision, but it wouldn’t cooperate. Reading the paper three times over didn’t seem to change what it said, no matter how much I wanted it to.
Dad’s Night.
A special night next month for the students to showcase what they had learned in class with their fathers.
And as if he had sensed my fear, like a shark scenting blood in the water, my phone started to ring. Jeremy’s name flashed on the screen. My body went numb, my skin clammy yet cold.
I just stared, unblinking, as the phone vibrated on the bench beside me. Only when the screen went black did I feel like I could draw breath again.
“Mommy?”
“What,Luke?” Guilt slammed into me for snapping at him, but I was fraying like worn rope, and I could only take so much before I unraveled completely and lost it inside this dojo with forty screaming toddlers running around and their parents.
“Can Daddy come?”
“No,” I said sharply. I shot up from the bleachers, struggling to stay upright, the walls caving in on me. Anna was down at the bottom, holding Henry’s hand with Hattie’s carrier in the crookof her elbow. She looked over her shoulder, her brows knitting together when her eyes met mine.
I grabbed Luke and hoisted him onto my hip, needing to get out of here. Fast.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked. I just shook my head and blew past her towards the exit.
My hands trembled as I buckled Luke into his car seat, my breathing erratic. “Why can’t Daddy come?” Luke asked, and I swallowed back a scream.
“Because he’s working,” I lied. How I managed to come up with it so fast, I had no clue.
“Tess. What the hell is going on?”
I winced, turning to face Anna. “The flyer,” I whispered, not wanting Luke to hear. “Luke’s asking about Jeremy.”
Confusion swept across her face until her eyes snapped wide. “Oh my God!”
I leaned against Claire’s truck. “I don’t know what to do,” I whimpered, running shaking hands through my hair. My arms didn’t even feel real. Nothing felt real. “I can’t tell him why he won’t be here.”
