Page 47 of Stand

“Good.” He began to turn, as though to buy plane tickets then and there.

“If it weren’t for Alyssa’s face just now,” she added.

“Oh God.” Ty stopped and pulled his hand through his hair. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Look,” she said, coming around to his line of sight. “If you and I have come to a new understanding, then maybe we can be… friends.” She swallowed as the memory of that last kiss filled her entire body.

“Friends,” he said. His swollen cheek flushed.

“Yes.” She pushed the kiss away. It had been a mistake and could not be repeated. “And asfriends, I want to help your kids get away from this situation. I have a car with plenty of room, a dog who’d love the company, and three days of travel to get through.”

He shook his head, but now Sam was picking up steam. “And in case you’re worried about the cost, I’ll cover the whole thing. Hotel rooms, food. Consider it a graduation gift for Alyssa.”

Ty looked at her almost with pity. “I can’t let you do that.”

She set her jaw, though inside she was screaming,What are you doing? Drive away from this man immediately!“What else are friends for?”

“Friends, huh?” He came toward her, and Sam swallowed again at the heat in his eyes. “Sam. What are we going to do about this?”

He took her hand from her side. The frisson that went up her arm made her shoulders shake. Then he brought his other hand to touch the pounding pulse in her neck. Sam closed her eyes and leaned into the touch before she could help herself.

But no. She was always in control. She hadn’t needed to keep herself away from a man before, but she could do it now. For Alyssa and Matt’s sake. For her own.

She stepped back and shook her head. “We’re not going to do anything about this. You’ll be with Matt, and I’ll be with Alyssa, and we’ll befriendsin between. Because that’s the best thing for both of us.”

Ty had dropped his hands when she stepped back, and hell if she couldn’t feel his very fingerprints on her skin. She lifted her chin and gave him her most determined stare.

“It is,” he said. “The best thing.”

“Right.”

“Because I live here. And you live in New Mexico.”

“Exactly.”

“And we want completely different things out of life.”

“True.”

He deflated the way he had when she’d ordered him to let her drive to the airport. As though he’d lost an argument he didn’t know he’d been having. “All right then. But only because I can’t think of a better way to get the kids out of here. And because of the look on Alyssa’s face.”

She smiled at that. In the end, what more did he want than to make his kids’ lives better? And what else could she do other than everything she could to help him in that?

Part II

Chapter 13

“I feel like a knockoff James Bond,” Ty whispered.

“Shh,” Sam said. “Let Len do his job.”

Ty and the kids had spent the afternoon at his house. They’d gone through the back door because there was still a car parked down the street. The unbroken line of townhouses with their shared backyard meant that the PIs—or whatever they were—couldn’t see them. They’d packed, then returned to the Fieldings. Ty had called his mother, who hadn’t understood any of his reasons for leaving and was now pissed that she wouldn’t see her grandchildren all summer; Noah, who cheered and said he was going to kill the fatted calf; and Lauren, who, to his surprise, agreed that he should go.

“Get away from here. They have the photos for the arraignment. You don’t have to be there. It’s an abuse case, so it won’t seem strange. And this bogus custody filing. Get them out of here while you still have full custody. Just keep in touch.”

“Thanks, Lauren. What would I do without you?”

Now it was pitch-dark outside. The lights on the first floor of Cat’s house were off. Upstairs, Jake was playing music through his open window. The house looked completely normal for eleven o’clock on a Thursday night. Apart from the four shadows huddled in the window or peeking out of the sidelights in the front door.

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