“Wait. Why do you have to leave?”
“I have other matters to take care of while I’m here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The smile left her face, and she didn’t clap again. I really didn’t give a shit. I’d talk to Doc, let him know she was leaving against my advice, and that would be that.
29
Sloane
“What about your place in Newton?” my mom asked when I told her and my dad that I wanted to move into Boston.
“The commute is getting harder on me. Besides, it’s month to month.”
My father hadn’t said much, which was never a good sign. What he did say, confirmed my dread.
“It’s time you told us the real reason, Sloane.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You aren’t going to like this, and after I tell you, remember that I am an adult capable of making my own decisions.”
My mother looked between my father and me. “You’re worrying me, mija.”
“Tackle is the baby’s father.”
My mother’s face turned so pale I thought she might pass out. “Oh Dios mío,” she muttered, crossing herself. I wanted to ask her the last time she went to church, but that wasn’t what this conversation was about.
I met my father’s eyes and saw no surprise in them, although he was trained not to react. Maybe what I said next would tip him over the edge. “I have reason to believe I’m not the only woman pregnant with his child.”
“No!” gasped my mother.
My dad nodded, but otherwise, had no visible reaction other than to brush his lips with his finger.
“Why do you think this, Sloane?” my mother asked.
“Because the other woman showed up at my house.”
“You’re certain that this woman’s child is his?”
“Certain? No, but I have reason to believe she wasn’t lying.”
“Have you asked him, mija?”
I looked at my father, wishing he would jump in on this conversation, but evidently, he’d gone mute.
“What are you thinking?” I asked him.
“I’m not certain yet.” He cleared his throat. “Does your brother know?”
I shook my head, and my eyes filled with tears. My mother reached over and pulled me into an embrace. “It will be okay, Sloane. Shh, everything will be okay.”
“I can’t talk to Tackle,” I said through my tears.
“You don’t have to, mija,” she said, stroking my hair.
“What do you want to do?” my father asked.
“I want to stay in the city for a few days until I figure things out.”
He raised a brow.
“I’m not running away. I just need time to think.”
“Where’s Tackle now?”
“That’s the thing, Dad. He’s on the other side of the country, with her.”
He nodded. “A few days to think things through, peanut. If this baby is his, you can’t avoid him forever.”
“There’s more you should know.”
“Go ahead.”
I told both my parents about the house Tackle and his father had bought in Chestnut Hill and about how he was renovating it for us to live in. I also told them about how, as soon as he learned I was pregnant, he’d immediately wanted to get married. My mother’s eyes perked up.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Mom. I’m not marrying him. Not that he asked. He just told me we’d get married.”
My dad smiled. “Sounds like him.”
“Don’t you go soft on him. Evidently, he decided after almost dying in a plane crash to impregnate women all over the country.”
“Like your mother said, everything will be okay, peanut.”
“Oh, and his mother knows.”
My mother’s eyes opened wide. “What?”
“He told her without asking me first.”
With my assurance that I wouldn’t avoid Tackle indefinitely, my father got me a furnished apartment in the North End.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with us?” my mother asked.
“No, Mom. I need to be where he can’t force me to talk to him until I’m ready.”
“Ben, do you think this is a good idea?”
My father put his arm around my mother’s shoulders. “Yes, sweetheart, or I wouldn’t have made arrangements for the apartment.”
The way he looked at her tore at my heart. Even when they were arguing, the love he had for her was so obvious. For the last couple of weeks, I’d let myself believe that maybe one day, Tackle would feel that way about me. How could I have been so stupid?
30
Tackle
By the time the flight landed, I was filled with dread. Cowboy assured me he’d confirmed Sloane spent the afternoon and evening with her parents. However, when they returned home, she wasn’t with them. He’d checked the duplex in Newton and the house in Chestnut Hill, and she wasn’t at either.
Finally, I gave him the address of Sloane’s friend’s apartment and asked him to check there. Her friend was home but insisted she hadn’t seen Sloane since before Thanksgiving.
I knew she’d be furious with me if I went to either Halo or her parents, but I was reaching the point where I had to. Given her mom and dad were the last to see her, according to Cowboy, I decided to pay them a visit rather than call Knox.
“I wish you all the best,” I said to Nick when we got off the plane.
“What do you mean? You’re not just leaving me here?”
“You have all your friends and family that you’re so anxious to get back to. You should’ve planned for someone to pick you up.”
“I just assumed you’d make sure I got home okay.”
I took Nick by the arm and led her off to the side of the terminal area. “I told you before we left California that if you made this decision, you’d be on your own. I meant it. I did everything I could to get you out of an abusive situation and relocated to a place your ex-husband couldn’t find you. You decided that wasn’t good enough, so I’m done.”
“But—”
“No, Nick. I’m done.” I stalked away without looking back and hopped on the shuttle that would take me to the private lot where I’d left my car. I tried Sloane’s number again from the shuttle and before I got
