Wide Open Spaces (Shooting Stars #2) - Aurora Rose Reynolds Page 0,16
didn’t want to be with her, but knowing how badly I fucked up in the past, I was determined to try. A month before the kids were born, Tina moved in with me, and two months after their birth, we got married. I can honestly say I tried to make it work with her, but after seven years of listening to her bitch about everything under the sun and fighting nonstop, I knew it was better for my kids to grow up in a broken home rather than having them grow up broken. So, I told her I wanted a divorce.
It took two very long years to get shit settled, but in the end, I gained full-custody of the kids and Tina got weekends. The arrangement worked for her until recently, when she started needing more money, and somehow convinced herself that going for full-custody of the kids was the way to get it.
“Dad.”
“Yeah?” I come out of my head and look at Steven, who is standing with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans off the edge of the driveway, looking worried.
“Um… Mom said she’s coming over to talk,” he says quietly, and I can tell he doesn’t want to be the one to tell me the news, but Aubrey is probably ignoring her mother’s calls after what happened. Steven, who Tina lets get away with every-fucking-thing, will never not answer a call from his mom.
“Fuck.” I shove the last tackle box onto one of the high shelves then step back, lock the door on the shed, and shove the key in my pocket.
“I told her not to come.”
“I’ll deal with it, Steven,” I mutter, walking past him toward the front of the house.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, bud?” I stop to look at him when I hear the tone of his voice.
“I’m sorry about what Mom did. I didn’t know she would flip out like that. If I did, I wouldn’t have told her where we were.”
Well, that answers the question of how Tina knew where I was and who I was with. Not that she couldn’t have found out that information on her own. The town isn’t big, and over the years, Tina has gathered a posse of bitches who, like her, hate the world and have nothing better to do with their time than fuck with people’s lives. They’re the main reason I’ve kept the very limited number of relationships I’ve had a secret from everyone, including my kids.
“It’s all right, bud. But from now on, if we have plans, keep them to yourself unless I tell you it’s okay to tell your mom.”
“Sure, Dad. And…” He nods then pauses, looking next door. “Are they okay?”
“They’ll be all right. It was a lot to handle, and your mom didn’t help matters.”
“Mom was really pissed,” he whispers, pulling his lips between his teeth. Most days, it’s hard to remember he’s still a kid and that he has a soft spot, since he’s always covering it up, trying to act like the big man when he’s around his friends, or like the typical teenager when he’s home.
“She was, but that’s not something you or your sister need to worry about. That’s something between your mom and me.” When I told the kids about Samuel, I left out the depth of my feelings for Shelby, because I didn’t want to hurt them. They knew their mom and I weren’t in love, and as they got older, that became more and more obvious to them, but I never want them to feel like they were a mistake.
“I don’t want to live with her. I mean, sometimes I do, but I like being here with you and Aubrey too,” he confides, studying me. I cut the space between us and get close, resting my hand around the side of his neck.
“I get that your mom is more lenient with you than I am. I get that she’s your friend and that you like hanging with her. I understand why you’d think it’s cool to live with her instead of me. I won’t ever be your friend, Steven. I’m not saying we can’t have fun together, that I don’t like spending time with you, that I don’t love you.”
“I know that,” he grumbles, looking at his feet.
Giving his neck a squeeze, I wait until his eyes meet mine, then continue quietly, “You can’t manipulate the situation to get your way. That’s not fair to me, your sister, or your mom.”