never thought would come out of her mouth when talking about her and Rex. They loved each other. They swore they’d be together forever. They promised that nothing would ever come between them.
“I’m telling you that if something doesn’t change now, it’s not looking good for us.”
She stood stunned, listening to the dead line.
He’d hung up on her.
What the . . .
How did this all become her fault?
She glanced at the color-coded calendar.
Green for sports.
Blue for art class.
Orange for music class.
Red for birthday parties. The bold color to help her remember to pick up a gift.
Purple items for the things she volunteered to do: working in the kids’ classrooms, school and community events.
She had a rainbow collage of events listed that should have made her life feel full and satisfying. So why did she feel like a bedraggled athlete coming in last at the end of a triathlon every day? She made it through, but she didn’t feel like a winner. She didn’t feel like she’d enjoyed it.
“Aunt Amy, I’m hungry.” Danny stared up at her, his finger in his mouth.
“Don’t put your fingers in your mouth. They’re dirty.”
Danny pulled his finger free and showed her the long paper cut that welled with blood and dripped down to his palm. “It hurts.”
Yeah, every accusation Rex lashed her with tonight felt like a stinging paper cut, throbbing in her mind. But when he insinuated they were headed for a divorce and it was all her fault, she felt the dagger to the heart.
Amy fought back tears, her anger and frustration, along with the fear and uncertainty about the future.
She wanted to fix this, but also felt paralyzed, because it all overwhelmed her.
She’d been dealing with those feelings for months. Because she liked everything perfect and organized, trying to untangle her life only made it seem that much harder to do, so she didn’t do anything but get through the next marathon day.
Right now, she needed to feed four kids and get them settled for the night.
As always, the kids came first and she came last.
She got that’s what happened when you had kids. Most days, she didn’t mind. But right now, she’d like a few hours to herself to think about everything going on in her life instead of what fruit or vegetable she’d serve with the pizza and how many bedtime stories it would take to get the kids to go to sleep.
“Can I call my mom?” Danny asked.
Sierra was probably having the night of her life out with Mason at a fancy restaurant that probably didn’t even serve chicken nuggets and had linen napkins and fancy cocktails.
Amy desperately needed an adult beverage right now.
“Let’s fix that cut. You can call her after dinner.” She held her hand out to her nephew and walked with him to the bathroom, leaving the other three loud children tossing paper airplanes trying to outdo one another with the distance they got on their throws.
She didn’t feel like she was getting anywhere but older in her life.
Chapter Eighteen
Mason kicked the front door closed, tugged Sierra’s hand to get her to turn to him, then took her mouth in a searing kiss that made his heart slam into his ribs, then beat double time. She tasted like wine and honey. Sweet on his tongue. A fire in his arms. She gave back everything he poured into showing her how much he wanted her.
He’d waited so long to have her all to himself and in his arms like this.
He didn’t want to waste a second of it. And yet, he had all night to take his time.
She hooked her leg around his thigh, her arms locked around his neck. He grabbed her ass and pulled her in close. About to pick her up and carry her to his bedroom, she jolted and pushed away when her phone rang.
She sucked in a much needed breath and smiled up at him. “Sorry. It’s probably the kids calling to say good night.”
Reluctantly and with a lot of effort, he let her loose.
She swiped the screen to accept the video call and held up the phone so the boys could see her. “Hey, you guys. Are you having fun?”
“Aunt Amy set the house on fire,” Oliver announced.
“What?” Sierra gasped. “Are you all okay?”
“Everyone is fine,” Amy yelled. “I burned a pizza, not the house.”
Sierra’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Sounds like you had some excitement. What else did you do today?”
“All kinds of stuff. I won the airplane-flying contest and ate