Like admonished children, both Mike and Holly nod.
“I’ll leave you to it,” I say, but the officer shakes her head.
“I meant you, as well. You’re clearly a part of this family, and it seems Dylan looks up to you. I think you’re going to need to come up with a truce between all three of you, for Dylan’s sake.”
I glance over to Dylan’s parents. They’re both nodding.
“Okay,” I say. “Okay.”
The two officers leave, and Holly and Mike put an exhausted Dylan to bed, while I sit downstairs, awkwardly waiting for them to come back down again. When they do, they each take a seaton the couches, me and Holly sitting beside each other, and Mike sitting opposite.
Mike leans forward, his forearms resting on his knees. “I just want to say thank you again for finding him,” he says, addressing me. “We’d be out of our minds right now if you hadn’t.”
I nod. “No problem. I was happy to help.”
Holly reaches out and puts her hand on my knee, giving me a squeeze. “You’re going to have to accept Kane,” she tells her ex-husband. “We’re together now, and that’s not going to change any time soon.”
“Or ever,” I say, catching her eye.
She nods in agreement. “Or ever. So if you want to keep making our son miserable, then keep trying to get in between us, but I’m sorry, Dylan likes Kane. And that’s not a bad thing. The more people that little boy has to watch out for him the better.”
“I’m not going to pretend I like it,” Mike says, not looking at either of us, “but I don’t want Dylan to suffer either. And I definitely don’t want a repeat of this evening.”
Holly nods. “So truce?”
Mike puts out his hand to her. “Yeah, truce.”
17
HOLLY
Idon’t let Kane go home tonight.
I need his presence in my bed, that security of knowing there’s another adult in the house to help when the shit hits the fan. But that isn’t the only reason I don’t want him to leave. Seeing him pull Dylan out from under the slide at the park made me realise something else.
I’m deeply, madly, and utterly in love with this man.
However unsuitable he might have first appeared, he was there for me, and for Dylan, when it had mattered the most, and I don’t want him to leave. Not ever.
With Dylan safely asleep, we both undress and slip beneath the covers. It isn’t the wild, lust-filled desperation of wanting to see each other naked like when we’d first met, but it’s comfortable, and comforting, and just what I need in this moment.
Kane pulls me into his arms, and we kiss, but I have a lot of unspoken words inside my head, and think he’ll be the same. We have to talk before anything else.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into everything tonight,” I say, edging away from him a little so I’m able to look into his face.
I want to be able to see his reaction. Kane’s eyes were one of the first things I ever noticed about him, and I’m sure I’ll be able to tell if he’s only saying what he thinks I want to hear rather than the truth.
He shakes his head. “It’s not your fault. You don’t need to be sorry. I want to be here when things like that happen. I want to be the first person you think to call.”
I heave out a sigh. “I just feel like I’m always messing up. I can never do anything right, and a part of me feels like if I’d fallen for someone else then Mike wouldn’t have this huge problem with me seeing someone else, and we wouldn’t be fighting like that in front of Dylan.”
“You think I’m the problem?” he says, hurt crossing his features, and I instantly regret my choice of words.
“No, that came out wrong. You’re fantastic. Mike is the one with the problem. I’m just constantly questioning myself all the time, wondering if I’m doing things right.” I take a breath. “When I had Dylan, I gave up the right to get things wrong. I can’t mess up, because it’s not just me I’m messing up for. It’s him.”
He takes my hand, staring into my face. “What makes you think that this is messing up? That we are messing up? Maybe we’re just what you need.”
“But it’s not just me, Kane. Don’t you see that? I come as a package. Me and Dylan, and hell, I hate to say it, but if you’re signing up for me, then you’re going to have to have Mike in your life, too. He’s Dylan’s father, and as much as he’s an arsehole to me, I still want him to play his part.”
