Beautiful Broken Promises(32)

Maybe this was just me worrying about how the situation would affect Kate. When I saw Lane and Kate together, I had really hoped that they would be able to spend plenty of one-on-one time together so they could properly bond. It might be harder for Kate to adjust to another baby or a... stepmom. I hated that idea instantly.

With my spine stiffened, I walked back into the room and joined Lane. He was now seated at the table, trying to work a fork with his left hand. He was obviously right-handed, but that hand was currently secured in a sling against his body.

“This sucks,” he grumbled while practically glaring at his left hand, willing it to do as he demanded.

I sat down across from him and frowned, not knowing exactly how I should approach the matter. I was never the type to silently hold my problems inside. Why let something fester when you could just get it off your chest? He looked up at me and immediately realized my mood.

“I... I...” he stuttered. “I’m sorry?” he asked with complete confusion in his tone. I wanted to laugh at his ridiculous deer-in-the-headlights look. Typical male, jumping to an apology that he obviously had no idea what it was for.

“So, how is this going to work? I don’t know why I didn’t think about it before, but I just don’t know how well Kate will adjust. She needs you. Just you. Not a step-mom or a baby. I know that sounds awfully selfish, but I know her... and I know she’s going to need time. Too many people all at once—”

“Whoa, hold on,” he interrupted my ramblings, which were quickly becoming incoherent. I was thankful for his disruption because I didn’t know what else I could add to prove my point. “I’m confused...what... what the hell are we talking about here? Stepmom? Baby? You lost me.”

“Oh, are you going to ask Kate to call her ‘mom’?” I shrank back in my seat with that last word. I was mom.

“What is going on?!” he whisper-shouted, leaning toward me over the table.

I pointed across the room toward the phone. “The girl... that person you were talking to. Doll?” I cringed. “Sorry, I overheard.” I wrung my hands together under the table and felt guilty for eavesdropping.

“Ohhh,” he laughed. “Audrey is not my wife or girlfriend or anything like that, and her baby is definitely not mine. More like a niece.”

“So, Audrey is your sister?” I asked, feeling a bit of relief. For Kate, of course.

“By blood, no. By what matters, yes.”

“But you call her doll?”

“It’s a nickname.” He shrugged and sat back in his seat.

“It’s a pet name,” I informed him.

“Yeah, Jace says the same thing.” When I opened up my mouth to ask who Jace was, he answered my silent question. “Jace is her husband.”

“She has a husband and he lets you call his wife doll?” My mouth must have been wide in shock.

“She was mine first!” he responded defensively.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Right... and you don’t see how that would make people question it?”

“Outside of Jace, it’s never really been a problem. Look, I met Audrey right after I fled to San Diego to look for Kate. She was just this sad little helpless girl who also happened to be the strongest damn person I had ever met, but she just needed someone to tell her and show her. I, on the other hand, was in so much pain that I couldn’t even remember how to breathe. We helped each other. She’s my best friend.”

I took a deep breath in and out. “That’s actually really nice. I had a best friend like that.”

“Had?” he asked while shoving a spinach omelet into his mouth, practically whole.

“Well, I haven’t exactly seen her in a few years...”

“Shit... I’m an *.”

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t just… that. Braden’s dad kind of got most of our friends in the break-up.”

“Your friends went with the loser that ditched you with a kid?” He looked at me with extreme confusion.

“I guess I didn’t have the best kind of friends after all.”

“I’d say so,” he mumbled.

“So, you moved to San Diego?” I asked, hoping to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“Yeah, almost immediately after I saw that tape and figured out who Flores was. Ash hated me for not keeping our daughter safe. Hell, I hated me. It hurt to be around one another, and almost a month after you guys disappeared, we knew it was over between us. I think Kate was really the only thing keeping us together anyway. Once she was gone... what was the point?”