Homecoming - Chapter 22
Thursday
Brooklyn
I pushed Jacob’s hair off his forehead. He was sleeping so peacefully. He’d made a new friend here. His first friend, really. Actually, he’d made several. We’d spent the rest of yesterday afternoon kicking the ball around with James, Rob, Penny, and Scarlett. All while I tried to ignore James’ piercing gaze.
I knew what I had to do if I was going to stay.
And yet…I didn’t know how.
Matt deserved to know the truth. Especially if a lot of my assumptions about him were dead wrong.
But every time I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, I kept picturing him laughing in the pool with James’ sister.James’ sister.What kind of friend did that, anyway?
I looked down at my sleeping son. He wanted to stay in New York. And that meant I had to. I had to put him first.
But the thought of staying twisted my stomach into knots. I didn’t know what staying entailed. Could I really just avoid my father in the city? He wanted me to take over his business. I had no desire to do that. I just…I didn’t know what I wanted from my future anymore. I’d had it all laid out in front of me. Clear as day. But my future had been ripped away. Lazy days with Miller on the back porch or out on the dock. Jacob playing with a youngersibling. Tears stung my eyes and I tried my best to blink them away. That future would never happen now.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Jacob.
He slowly opened his eyes. “Por qué?”
I laughed. “Jacob, I don’t know as much Spanish as you do.”
He just blinked at me. “Why are you sorry, Mommy?”
“For everything that was taken from you.”
“By Abuelo?”
I hadn’t told him about my father’s involvement in what had happened. But Mrs. Alcaraz talked to him almost exclusively in Spanish. And I had no idea what she’d been saying. “I’m going to figure that out, okay? I promise.” I still didn’t know what to believe. Poppy had corroborated my father’s story. But I didn’t trust either of them.
“Can I meet him?” Jacob asked. He sat up, suddenly full of energy.
I shook my head.
“But he’s my abuelo.”
“Do you know something I learned from your daddy?”
He shook his head.
“That real family isn’t about blood. It’s about looking out for each other. Loving each other unconditionally. You and your father are my family. Kennedy and Mrs. Alcaraz are our family.”James, Rob…I stopped my train of thought before it led to dangerous territory. I’d been about to think of Mason. Who had really been the brother I’d never had. I remembered playing video games with him. Seeing him laugh and smile when he rarely did that at school. And thinking about Mason would lead me to thinking about Matt.
“But he’s my abuelo,” Jacob said.
“I know he is in name, sweetie. But he was never a dad to me. And if he wasn’t a father to me, he’s not a grandfather to you. Do you understand that?”
He nodded. “But I can I meet him?”
“Sweet boy, why do you even want to?”
“I need to tell him something.”
“And what do you need to tell him?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
