I couldn’t really stop now, could I?“It’s not that.”I sighed.“Erik has been coming to Arne’s games, taking us out to dinner, inviting us to watch him work… He’s been more involved with Arne than he has been since he went to LA.But he got pissed that Arne wasn’t more impressed with his acting work.Arne mostly talks about going skating and playing hockey, and suddenly Erik is all ‘I’m his father and I should be involved in these decisions’ even though he hasn’t been around to be consulted.”I paused, hands in fists.
Justin raised his brows.“He’s that upset about the skating?”
“The skating, but also you.Sure, Erik finally has a big part, but it’s in a project for adults so Arne won’t be able to see it for years.As a kid, a hockey player is more impressive.”
“Erik’s jealous?”Justin was watching me closely.
“He always has been.”Oops, shouldn’t have shared that part.
He blinked.“Jealous?Of…me?”
Might as well spill everything.“Yeah.I told him we used to go out, of course.Part of the whole ‘here’s my life story.’You’re the local celebrity, playing in the NHL.Best player to come out of PoCo.Whenever your team is in town, there’s a big thing about it.He’s always compared himself to you, so when he found out you were skating with Arne, he blew up.He’s off this weekend and wanted to have time with Arne, and I was okay with that.Arne should know his dad.But he didn’t tell me he was taking him to see his parents till after they were already in Manitoba.”
Justin pushed to his feet.“Fucking… Can he do that?Is it legal?”
I shrugged.“He’s Arne’s dad.We don’t have a formal custody agreement.After Erik left for LA, I filed for divorce, but we agreed verbally that I’d have Arne and he’d pay what he could to help out.”
Justin’s brows were down and his mouth frowning.“He just left?”
“Not his finest hour, and the reason I filed for divorce.But we were living at Mom’s house, and to be fair, it was pretty stressful with Bruce and the kids and the baby.”
Justin’s mouth twisted.“Wasn’t it stressful for you too?But you didn’t leave.”
“I’m the one who insisted we had to stay.How many guys would want to live in those conditions in that house?”Justin knew what it had been like.It was worse in many ways now.
“Then why did you get married?”
“I was pregnant, and he insisted he wanted to be a family and do everything the right way.”
I’d been…well, in a stew of pregnancy hormones, and Erik wanting to get married had won me over.But there was no money and Mom needed help, so we moved into the basement of the house.It hadn’t been a shock when he decided it was too much, but it had hurt.
Just maybe not as much as when Justin and I split.
“Are you worried about Arne?I get it, but he seems like a pretty resilient kid.”
I swallowed.“He is.But Erik was so mad.What if he decides not to come back?”I covered my mouth with my hands.That was the big fear.I wasn’t sure what I’d do without my son.
Justin took a couple of jerky steps.“You have legal grounds to get him back, you must have.”
“But that takes time and money.I don’t have that.And Erik is getting paid for this role?—”
Justin squatted in front of me.“Mia.”
I drew in a shaky breath.
“Mia, I’ve got time and money.I’ll make sure you get Arne back.”His voice was quiet and level, but I could hear the determination in it.
I might not have a lot of tools to use in a legal battle, but he did.I opened my mouth to argue.I couldn’t ask him to do that— But he put his finger on my mouth.I shivered.
“You’re not asking.I’m offering.I can’t do anything about your mom or Bruce or the kids, but I can do this.”
I blinked back tears.“But why would you?”
“You know why.”
That was it.He’d ripped open the polite fiction we’d been trying to maintain, exposing emotions that had been there all the time.Pretending we were over each other, instead of reigniting long-buried feelings.Finding all the ways we worked together, even if we kept physical distance.Maintaining the fiction that if we didn’t touch each other, we weren’t together.
I didn’t know if he reached for me or I reached for him, but our mouths met and nothing else existed.It was familiar and strange, flashing heat and chills through me.His lips were firm, more confident than in my memories, the bristles of his beard tickling the skin around my lips.One hand slid against my jaw, holding me in place as he deepened the kiss.I opened my mouth with a whimper and his tongue slipped in.