Page 148 of Holding You
I clear my throat because I’m dreading the next part, yet there’s no way to avoid it.
“Come on, Susie, we need to get on the road to catch our flight.”
That’s when the tears hit and my heart breaks.
“I don’t want to go,” she says quietly.
“I know, hunny. Neither do I.” I squat down to her level.
Max is standing next to her, and although he isn’t crying, the look on his face is about to break me even more.
“I don’t want you to leave either,” he admits and then wraps his arms around my neck. “And I know my mom doesn’t either, even if she’s not here.”
I pat his back, refusing to let them see me cry.
“I love you, you know that, right? And I will always love your mom.”
He nods. But when he and Susie hug, I have to look away.
Shay’s and Sadie’s tears make me feel even more like shit.
Susie puts her hand in mine and waves one more goodbye as we walk out the door.
“I wish it wasn’t on you alone to save your company, Dad. I wish you had someone who could do it for you so that we can stay.”
I pick her up and hold her close the rest of the way to my truck.
As soon as I pull away, I glance at my daughter in the rearview mirror. She’s staring at a picture in her hand.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“A picture of me and Max.”
“Can I see it?”
I reach back as she hands it to me.
But my eyes don’t go to the kids in the center—they go to the man in the back who is clearly photobombing the kids.
Colter fucking Davenport.
The way he does business is wild to me.
Colter’s words from that night on the patio ring through my mind. If he doesn’t like the way his dad does business, maybe he’d like to work with me instead.
There’s only one way to find out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
RUBY
The next Sunday breakfast comes around all too fast, and my mind is struggling to accept that just a little over a week ago Declan told me he was leaving, and by today, there isn’t anything left in this house to remember him.
“Hey, are you coming outside to eat?” Sadie asks, poking her head through the sliding door.
I shake my head, as if that can clear the thoughts. “Yes. Sorry.”
She smiles sweetly. “It’s okay.”
