Page 32 of One Final Breath

Chapter 15

Faye

Hush my heart!I repeat to myself as I watch Thane rolling around on my living room floor, playing with the boys. Braxley’s laugh fills the room, and it’s got to be the best sound in the entire world. All I want is for him to be happy and not hurt the way he did at the cemetery or when we lost Ben. I promise to make it my life’s mission to keep him happy. Both he and Jack keep climbing on Thane, and I watch, washing the dishes with a smile from ear to ear.

“Help me, Faye!” Thane exclaims flat on the floor as Jack counts, “One, two, three!”

Then the boys hoot and holler celebrating their victory, and Thane, well…he looks pretty exhausted. “You okay over there?” I ask him and dry my hands, before pouring us two glasses of wine.

“Yup, never better,” he roars and hops up chasing the boys away. They scream so loud, like little girls, and I take a seat on the couch, watching the three of them disappear upstairs. Sipping on my crisp, white wine, I find my mind thinking of Thane and not the pain of the past. That’s what Thane does for me, like when we made out in the kitchen earlier.

I’m not sure what it is, but for some reason since we met, he’s consumed my thoughts. He takes the pain away—he makes me feel sane—he makes me feel like there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel I’ve been living in for so long.

“Man, they’re tough,” Thane says, pulling me out of my daydream, and I smile as he sits down next to me, his strong hand running through his messy hair.

“You’re good with them,” I tell him, and he grabs his wine, clinking our glasses together before taking a sip.

“Ahh, it was nothing, anyone could do that.”

“No, they couldn’t, not the way you are with them, so funny and patient. You’re a really good dad.”

“And you’re a really good mom,” he tells me, and I smile taking another sip of my wine, loving the way it tastes and loving how open Thane makes me feel.

His phone rings and he pulls it from his pocket but ignores it. On the screen, I can see it’s Char. “Why is she calling me?” he grumbles.

“Maybe to talk to Jack?”

“No, she never calls. She’ll text me every once in a while and ask me to have him call her or to tell him hello or goodnight, but she doesn’t call unless she needs something or something’s wrong.”

“Shouldn’t you call her back then?”

“No, fuck her.”

I get that he’s closed off when it comes to her, she’s made some bad decisions, and recently put Jack in a bad situation. But we all have messed up one time or another, and I believe everyone deserves a second chance.

“How did things go when she had him?”

“Good, at least from what he says. But I know Charlene, and I know it won’t last. We’ve been down this path many times, and until she can admit she has a problem, nothing can get any better.”

“Are you still going to ask for full custody?”

“I don’t think I have another choice, Faye.”

I totally get where he is coming from, wanting to keep Jack safe, but I also know what that’ll do to Jack. “Has she gotten any help yet?”

“Probably not.”

“Have you asked her, silly?” I ask him, and he shakes his head. “Then you need to.”

“Okay, I will. But can we please stop talking about my ex?”

“Sure.” And the second I say the word, he takes my almost empty glass of wine from me and sets it down on the table along with his. His eyes are eating me alive, and I know what he wants--I want it too--but the boys are right upstairs.

“I want you, Faye.”

I swallow, processing his words, and my mind becomes clouded with the vision of Ben dying in our bed. Reminding me I can never, ever, do anything with him there.

“Can we go to your house?” I ask.

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