Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Jesus, Lewis.” He sat in the chair beside his ex-husband, face in his hands, leg bouncing up and down. He wanted so much to be angry at Lewis, but how could he be when he just wanted what August had with their son?
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you. I just miss him. I love him.”
“I know,” August replied, the words sticky in his throat. “But what happens when there’s another Zachary? Or when you want to travel for work but he’s playing sports or needs a ride—”
“He’ll get a license in less than a year, and another man would be the same as you having Clint.”
No, because August didn’t put Reese second to Clint. “If you do this…if you ask him this question, you have to be a hundred percent sure it’s what you want…because if you change your mind, if you take him and decide it’s too much pressure or responsibility, you will devastate our son. He adores you, Lewis, and it will crush him. I’ll never forgive you if you hurt him that way.”
“I won’t. I wouldn’t do that. I know what I’m doing, Auggie. I just want more time with him. But he still has the choice. If he decides this is where he wants to be, I would never try to talk him into leaving.”
August couldn’t stop shaking. He couldn’t slow down his rapid breaths. He wanted to fight Lewis on this. He wanted to tell him no, but he knew he couldn’t. A judge would say Reese was old enough to make his own decision, and all he would do was make his son hate him if he fought this. He had to let Reese choose…and he had to acknowledge the fact that his son might leave him. August didn’t know if he could handle that.
He’d always worried that Reese loved Lewis more, that he was more fun. He’d always worried that Reese would rather be with Lewis. And while August would never try to change Reese’s mind either, would never want him to feel guilty, he wasn’t sure he could stay in Harmony without him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Clint
Clint couldn’t sleep.
He’d been lying in bed for hours, looking at the ceiling, rest playing hide-and-seek with his mind. Every time he thought he found it, he’d realize he was wrong and his eyes would pop open again. That was the only reason he saw the soft glow of his phone when the text came through. It was never a good sign when someone called in the middle of the night, so Clint immediately rolled over and plucked his cell from the nightstand.
August: I hope I don’t wake you. Shit, it’s ridiculous that I’m even texting. This isn’t your problem, but Lewis and I talked. He wants to give Reese the choice of moving back to Orlando with him. I know it’s unfair of me to be upset. He’s Lewis’s son too, but…hell, I don’t know. What am I going to do if I lose my son, Clint? Sorry…I don’t know what I expect you to do about it. I just needed some fresh air, and then I just…I missed you. Call me when you wake up.
Fresh air. Clint didn’t have to sit and wonder where August had gone, so he got out of bed, threw some clothes on, grabbed his things, and headed out.
When they were kids, they would sometimes sneak out and go to the creek. They didn’t do anything there, not really. Once they experimented with cigarettes before coughing their lungs out and realizing smoking wasn’t for them. But mostly they just talked, never running out of things to say, but also comfortable in those quiet moments.
This would be killing August. He was the best father Clint had ever seen. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Reese, even let him go and live with Lewis if that was what he wanted.
How long would that last, though? If they gave Reese the choice and he decided to go back to Orlando, how long would August stay, if he stayed at all? He had nothing tying him to Briar County. His family was in Florida, he rented his house and only worked a part-time job.
And the thing was, Clint couldn’t blame him.
It didn’t take him long to make the drive to the spot where he parked his truck. He grabbed the bag he’d packed and a flashlight and headed for the overgrown trail he knew by heart. When he came into the clearing, he saw August there, sitting in the water, jeans on, a lantern beside him, legs hanging over the rocks.
“I knew you’d come,” he said softly. “As soon as I texted, I knew you’d come. You’ve always been there for me when I needed you, even when I didn’t know I needed you. I don’t understand it—what you see in me. What you’ve always seen.”