Walker hung up his coat on a hook with one hand and caught Noah in a hug with the other. “I’d love to see it. Why don’t you show me while Tuck talks to your mom about some stuff, and then you can show us both.”
Noah’s little brows pulled together as if he were unsure, but then he nodded. “We can practice a demonstration for Mom and Tuck.”
“Sounds like a plan, little man.”
Tuck ruffled Noah’s hair as he ran past, and soon Tuck and I were alone. “Hey, Wilder.” He crossed to me, reaching up to give my neck a few gentle squeezes.
I stepped back out of his grasp, picking up a towel from the counter, and drying a dish.
Tuck edged closer. “What’s wrong?”
I rubbed an invisible spot on the plate. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe my douchebag ex showing up out of the blue, and me being terrified that he’s going to try and take my kid away from me?”
Tuck was silent for a moment as I put the dish in a cabinet. “J, it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.” He reached out, trying to pull me to him, but I stepped out of his hold again. “What the hell, Wilder?”
Tears burned the backs of my eyes. “I can’t.”
That muscle in Tuck’s cheek ticked. “Want to tell me why not?”
My eyes began to fill. “I don’t trust myself.”
Tuck’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve only ever made horrible decisions when it comes to men. What if you’re just one more in a line of bad choices?”
Tuck’s expression gentled. “I probably am.”
“Are you serious?”
He eased forward, slowly reaching out and giving me all the time in the world to stop him, but I didn’t. Tuck wrapped his arms around me. “We might end up regretting this. It might be thewrongchoice, whatever that means. But if we stop taking risks, we stop living. I don’t want that for you. And I sure as hell don’t want that for myself.”
My body seemed to deflate at his words. “I hate this. I feel like my mind is playing tricks on me, and I don’t know how to stop it.”
Tuck brushed his lips against my hair. “It’s just going to take time. You’ll start to hear that voice inside again, but you’re the only one who can take the steps needed to act on whatever it’s telling you.”
I started to nod, but a peal of laughter from the living room had us jumping apart. Walker and Noah were just fifteen feet away. Tuck and I had to be more careful.
Tuck gave me a sheepish smile. “You got any coffee? We can sit while we talk.”
I nodded and poured him a cup while I made a chamomile tea for myself. We sat, and Tuck stirred his coffee. I let out an exasperated sigh. “Just tell me already. You sitting there in silence is just making things worse.”
Tuck stopped stirring. “There’s not a ton to tell just yet. What we do know is that Cody won’t be paying child support anytime soon. He’s leveraged up to his eyeballs.”
The hand on my teacup tightened. “I wouldn’t take his money even if he offered it.”
Tuck took a sip of his coffee. “You should ask your lawyer what the best course of action is if he offers. I think the fact that he’s never paid a dime over the last nine years of Noah’s life will play in your favor if this ends up in court.”
My hand began to shake, rattling the teacup on its saucer. I set it down on the table. “Maybe I’ll get lucky, and he’ll get bored and leave. Or meet some bimbo tourist and follow her out of town.”
Tuck reached under the table and gave my thigh a squeeze. “I’ll hope for that, but in the meantime, I want you to be cautious.”
I nodded. “I already planned to fill in Noah’s school tomorrow just in case. And I had Walker tell my parents and Grams.”
A small grin tipped Tuck’s lips. “And how’d ol’ Irma take things?”
I let out a snort of laughter. “She called me up and asked when we were going huntin’ for assholes. Said she’s got a spot on her wall picked for his head. And I got the impression she was talking about the head down south.”
Tuck spewed coffee across the table. I handed him napkins and rose for paper towels. Tuck mopped up the mess. “Hell, remind me not to cross that woman.”
