Protecting Her(54)

“Your father stopped by,” I say, as Pearce takes his suit jacket off.

“Why was my father here?” He puts his jacket on the hanger.

“To tell me to convince you to go back to working all the time.”

“He should not have done that. I’ll have a talk with him on Monday.” He hangs his pants up and puts some jeans on.

“He was really angry. He blamed me for why you’re cutting back on your hours.”

“Just ignore him.” Pearce undoes his tie and takes his dress shirt off. “He expects me to be just like him, ignoring my family and spending all my time at work. When I told him I don’t want that, he didn’t believe me, which is why he blames you. I made it clear to him that it was my decision. He just chooses not to accept that.” He takes a polo shirt from the closet and puts it on.

Garret wriggles in my arms, wanting to get down. I set him on the floor and he toddles over to Pearce. He’s lost all interest in me now that his dad’s home.

“Holton also told me that he signed Garret up for private school.”

Pearce picks Garret up. “Which one?”

“Which one? That’s all you have to say? Aren’t you mad about this? He didn’t even talk to us about it.”

“Yes, I agree he should have talked to us first. But we do need to get Garret on a waiting list. It takes years to get into those schools. We should’ve signed him up months ago.”

“So we’re sending him to private school? That school is almost a half hour away. There’s a public school here in town.”

“Rachel, we have more than enough money to send him to a private school.”

“It’s not about the money. Maybe I don’t want him being around snobby rich kids who go around flaunting their wealth.”

“Garret will get a far better education at a private school. And I’m sure not every child there is snobby or flaunting his or her wealth. Why don’t we just go look at the school and then we’ll decide?”

I sigh. “Fine.”

I’m sure we’ll end up sending him there. I read the brochure and it sounds like an excellent school. I want Garret to have the best education possible. I just didn’t want Holton thinking he’d won. But I can’t let my feelings for him be a detriment to my son’s education.

“Let’s play some football before dinner,” Pearce says to Garret as he hoists him over his shoulder and walks out of the room.

I follow him down the stairs. “I thought I’d order a pizza for dinner.”

“Sounds good.” On the way to the kitchen, he stops and pulls me in for a kiss. “I didn’t get a proper hello.”

I smile. He’s in a much better mood now than he was just a few days ago. He’s more relaxed, more like the Pearce I knew before his father got sick.

“I love you,” he says, kissing me again.

I smile. “I love you too.”

“I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

“What about?”

He leans down and talks in my ear. “About what I’m going to do to you later tonight after we put our son to bed.”

I close my eyes as he kisses my neck. “I can’t wait.”

“Dada.” Garret points to the football that’s on the floor. Pearce is still holding him and Garret is squirming to get down to get his ball.

“Yes. We’re going to play.” He picks up the ball and takes off with Garret.

I call the pizza order in, and when I’m done, I go in the family room and smile as I watch my two guys playing with the mini football. Garret tries to throw it, but it just lands right in front of him.

“Oh, Pearce, I forgot to tell you. Garret was swimming all by himself today. I let him go, and he paddled all the way to the edge of the pool.”

“That’s great,” Pearce says as Garret tries to tackle him. Pearce pretends to fall on his back. “Did you like swimming, Garret?”

Garret climbs on Pearce’s chest and collapses on top of him. It’s too cute watching him with his dad.

“I think I’m going to start giving swimming lessons at the gym,” I tell him. “I met a woman at the pool and she suggested it. Then I talked to the manager and got an application. It would just be a few hours a week and Garret could stay in the gym’s day care center while I’m teaching.”

Pearce sits up, setting Garret on his lap. “I don’t want him there.”