Page 137 of Guarding Over You
“Blaze wouldn’t have. I’ll let Billy know tonight,” she said, her voice quieter than she meant it to be. The thought of that conversation twisted in her stomach knowing it wouldn’t be pleasant. It might even cause more problems between them. But avoiding it would only make things worse.
“Why not just let it go?” her mother asked softly. “Let things settle down.”
She shook her head, a muscle ticking in her jaw. “I can’t. Not this time. Billy deserves to know what’s really going on. He’s been accused in everyone’s minds, mine included. He has a right to know it’s over. Not just for me, but for Gracie too.”
Her mother sighed, rubbing her arms as if she could smooth away the tension, but nothing was going to until she set it free herself. “He might fight you for custody after that.”
She swallowed hard. That thought had crossed her mind too... more than once. “Maybe. I hope he doesn’t. But lying or pretending nothing has happened isn’t going to help my case either. Billy and I… we’ve both made mistakes. He’s trying now, and the least I can do is meet him halfway. That means letting go of holding on too long. Letting go of the hate, the hurt, and everything that’s poisoned us.”
Her mother’s eyes softened. “After what he did to you…”
She looked away and blinked hard. “I know. But it’s in the past, Mom. I have to leave it there. So does Billy. Because when I realized how close I came to losing everything that matters”—her voice cracked, and she took a shaky breath—“I knew I couldn’t live like this anymore. Always afraid. Always angry. I have to move forward. Even if it scares me.”
“Because you’re stubborn,” her father stated, though his eyes were teary, his voice not as harsh as it’d been in the past. “But we’ll be there right by you for it.”
“Thanks, Dad. I know you will be. And I’ve got Blaze too.”
“Rest now,” her mother said. “We aren’t going anywhere.”
She nodded her head and shut her eyes.
“Mommy,” Gracie shouted when she came running in forty minutes later. “Are you better? I missed you.”
“I missed you too, sweetie. Mommy is feeling so much better.”
“Blaze said he’d make you better. Is he?”
“He is. And he did.” She reached her hand out for Blaze’s, then pulled him onto the bed next to her and Gracie, where her daughter had climbed up.
“Your mother is tough,” he said.
“But much tougher when you’re by my side.”
42
COME TOGETHER
“You owe me an apology,” Billy said on Saturday the minute she and Blaze sat in the restaurant's booth.
Her ex’s girlfriend slapped his arm. “Don’t you dare start in on Arden after everything she’s been through. Cut it out.” Tina lifted her hand and put a genuinely warm smile on her face. “I’m so happy to finally meet you. Ignore Billy. I’m sure you know that when he’s stressed he gets grouchy and says things he doesn’t mean.”
She wasn’t so sure that Billy hadn’t meant what he said, but if Tina wanted to believe that, it was between them.
Agreeing to have lunch with the four of them was the right thing to do.
She’d called Billy on Wednesday night after Gracie left with her parents. Blaze still wouldn’t leave her side and slept in an extra bed next to her in a private room at the hospital. She thought it was foolish but wasn’t going to argue.
“That’s Billy for you,” she said, plastering a half grin on her face. As much as she hadn’t wanted to have this meeting, she knew it had to happen soon. “And this is Blaze Ridgeway. Blaze,Billy, who you briefly met months ago outside my home, and his girlfriend, Tina.”
The two men shook hands, Blaze’s eyes almost drilling a hole into her ex. Billy was much smaller and, for as vocal as he could be, he said nothing to her boyfriend.
“I just want to say,” Tina started, “that if I were in your shoes, I would have done most of what you did. Billy didn’t want to hear that, but I told him it’s too bad. Whatever happened between you two is that exactly. Am I nervous or worried about past behavior? I am. But I have a brother going through addiction issues and I know or see the triggers and also the different person he is in bad times.”
She softened hearing that. Relieved that maybe Billy found the person for him. One who understood him more than she could. Who could have more patience and give him what he needed.
“I’m glad it’s working out. I really am. Not just for both of you, but for Gracie’s sake too. This situation we’ve got, it’s never what I wanted when we divorced. I’m sure he told you it wasn’t always like this.”
“I did,” Billy said. “I also told her that what happened was how I am when I’m using. I’m not now. I’m staying away. Even from alcohol right now. I don’t know if I’ll drink again. That wasn’t really my problem. Not so much the addiction.”
