Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Changing the subject, he said, “I’m assuming your mother-in-law doesn’t see her own part in all of this.”
I laughed. “You mean her part as the long-suffering perfect mother who’s never done anything wrong, ever? The mother who remembers begging me to get him in rehab while I was shoving pills down his throat, but conveniently forgets that she’s the one who got him so many of those pills? According to her, I might as well have shot him.”
“So why do you seem scared? Hurt, I can see. She was your mother-in-law. She enabled your husband’s addiction and then blamed you for her actions. But why are you scared?”
I drew in a breath. I hated being scared. I’d rather be angry. But Finn was right. I was scared.
“Don’t tell me you aren’t scared, Savannah. I can see it all over you.” He leaned in, his eyes intent on mine. “You let her make you cry. No one makes you cry.”
His words sent strength flooding through me, restoring everything Lydia’s text had drained away. I was a badass bitch, goddammit. And wasn’t it funny that Finn sounded like he liked that about me?
“I don’t know exactly why I’m scared,” I admitted. “Maybe it’s that she’s been out of the picture for so long, and now she’s popping up out of nowhere and demanding to see Nicky.”
“Are you going to let her?” Finn asked.
Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t know. I should. She’s his grandmother. But the idea makes me nervous, and I don’t know why.”
Finn gave me a skeptical look. “I don’t buy that. I think you’re trying to logic yourself out of something your gut already knows. Why don’t you trust her?”
I let out a huff of air. He was right. I did know. “She tried to take Nicky from me once, before Oliver died. After Oliver was recovering from the second accident, she suggested I quit my job and be Oliver’s full-time caretaker and Nicky could live with her. I—”
I cut off, not sure I could bring myself to say what I was thinking. I’d never put it into words before, not even to my mother.
Finn waited until the words tumbled out.
“I always wondered if she already knew we’d lost Oliver and was hedging her bets with Nicky.”
“You think she wanted Nicky to be her do-over baby,” Finn said.
“I do.” As soon as I put it into words, I knew I’d been right. “Oliver had a younger brother, but Lydia was never fixated on him the way she was on Oliver. Sometimes I wondered if she remembered she had another son. Everything was always about Oliver, and then Nicky.”
“How did you stop her?”
“I—” Another confession was ready to tumble from my lips. Why was I telling Finn all of this? Why him and not my mother? Or Hope? Or anyone else on the planet other than Finn Sawyer?
Maybe I just needed to get it out, because the words were there before I could stop myself. “I was going to divorce him. I found a lawyer, and we were working on a custody proposal. She helped me make it clear to Lydia that she wasn’t getting Nicky.”
Finn’s mossy green eyes sharpened, and his fingers tightened on his coffee mug.
“Lydia doubled down on caring for Oliver, which was fine with me at that point. I had my hands full with a toddler and my job. I couldn’t handle a husband who refused to get better, who seemed determined to float through life until those pills got the better of him.”
Finn picked up his empty mug and stood. He loomed over me, and I braced, raw and vulnerable, not sure if he was going to kiss me or say something snotty. He did neither.
Leaning in, his breath warm on my cheek, he squeezed my shoulder and said, “You need to talk to a lawyer.”
I watched him go, stuck where I was, my head spinning. Why didn’t he ever do what I expected? And why was I starting to like it?
Chapter Ten
FINN
“Nicky, stop. You can’t go to school today.” Savannah sounded exasperated and apologetic at the same time. The odd mix of tones made sense when I heard Nicky.
“Mom, it’s not fair.” I almost didn’t recognize Nicky’s voice. He sounded older, his words low, gravelly, and somehow thick. Goopy. A bone-shaking sneeze, followed by a prolonged, choking cough. Ugh. That explained the goopy sound. Until I came home to Heartstone Manor, I’d never realized how many germs the little monsters carried around. So much snot when they got sick.
Another sneeze and a cough from Nicky.
“Mom, please,” he begged. “I’m okay. I promise I’m okay. Please let me go.” His scratchy voice hurt to hear, getting louder as he made his way down the hall to the kitchen.
“Oh, honey.” Savannah’s voice was heavy with apology, lagging behind him. “You can’t go. It’s cold and damp, and you’re running a fever.”