A beat of silence.
"Mommy never sees me. I don't think she likes me much."
That breaks my damn heart. No kid should feel like that. Ever. Something twists deep in my chest, and I have to swallow hard before I speak.
"I'm sorry, Wyatt," I tell him.
I truly don't know what else to say. There are no right words for a six-year-old boy who thinks his mother doesn't love him. "Adults are strange sometimes, buddy. They do things no one understands. But it looks like you have a lot of people who really love you here. Hey?"
He nods, placing the present down, and this time he really looks at me. Wide eyes. Curious. Like he's deciding whether ornot I'm safe. "My daddy is the best. Like. The best. He even got me a pet goat, and he hates it."
I can't help but laugh. "Is the goat naughty?" I ask.
"Yep. Not with me, but to my dad. Headbutts him and everything," he tells me with a proud grin.
Ah. Now the goat birthday cake I saw being carried in makes sense. "What's his name?"
"Gary," he says with a big grin.
My heart melts. "Cool name. Gary the goat. Very good choice."
"Would you like to come and meet him?" he asks, jumping to his feet.
I open my mouth. Shit. Violet needs the mop.
"I'd love to. But can you first show me where I can find a mop? I'm helping my friend with the food for your party, and there's been a spillage."
He giggles. "Oh no. Did you do it?"
"Not me. I'm just cleaning up the mess," I joke, standing back up.
"It's okay. Dad won't shout at you."
That makes me pause. Something cold prickles at the back of my neck. A thought I should have had the second I walked through the front door of this house.
"What is your daddy's name?" I ask him.
And the blood drains from my body when a man clears his throat behind me at the door.
I freeze.
It's him. I know it's him. Because my body is on fire before I even turn around. The same way it was at the bar. The same way it was in that truck. The same way it's been every single night since, when I'm lying in the dark and can still feel his hands on me.
My stomach is fluttering. My heart is racing. Every nerve ending I have is screaming his name.
"Hey! You get to meet my dad and Gary now," Wyatt tells me excitedly.
I know exactly who Wyatt’s daddy is. He’s the same man I’ve been daydreaming about all week. Wyatt’s daddy is the cowboy that called me a good girl and I never recovered from that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
HUNTER
Song- God Needs The Devil,Jonah Kagen
My son doesn't open up to strangers. In fact, most adults outside of my family struggle to get a single word out of him. Yet here is my red-haired firefly, in my house, sitting cross-legged on the playroom floor, helping my little boy get through his feelings like she was put on this earth to do it.
I lean against the doorframe, and I listen.