Page 31 of Rescued
“No need to thank me.”
We sit in silence for a while, with me petting Lila and Theo picking at a piece of hay.
Finally, he breaks the silence. “How does this play into things with Jasper?”
“I’m in love with him.”
If I thought that would shock Theo, it doesn’t. “And does he feel the same way about you?”
I shrug. “Says he does. But how can I be sure when he doesn’t know anything about me?”
Theo hums. “I think he probably knows a lot about you.”
“He doesn’t want kids,” I interject.
“Did he tell you that?”
“I asked if he wanted kids, and he said he never saw that for his life.”
“Ah.” Theo is silent for a while before he sighs. “Can I ask something?” I nod. “Does he know about the kids?”
I shake my head. “No. I was gonna tell him, but then I asked if he wanted kids, and he said no. There’s no point in telling him. Things wouldn’t have worked out anyway. No point in dragging it out.”
“Don’t you think you should give him the chance to make that decision for himself?”
I laugh. Didn’t he hear what I just said? “I did that.”
“I don’t think you did, though,” Theo says cautiously, and I glance up at him. “You gave him a hypothetical situation. I don’t want kids either, but if Hunter came with two, I’d wantthem.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense.”
Theo gives me a small smile. It’s not mocking or mean. It’s patient. Kind, almost. “Sure it does.”
I frown. “Either you want kids or you don’t. It’s pretty simple.”
“There’s a difference in not wanting abstract kids and not wanting the kids of the man you love.” He shrugs. “Loving someone changes things.”
“I don’t want to trap him.”
Theo cocks his head. “Do you think you’d be trapping him?”
“Yes.” The word comes out too fast and sharper than I mean for it to. “If I tell him now? After he alreadytold mehe never saw kids in his future? That’s unfair.”
“Or,” Theo counters, “it’s giving him the full picture and letting him choose for himself.”
“What are you saying?”
Smiling again, Theo reaches over, scratching Lila’s back. “I’m saying I think you need to have this talk with him.”
“And what if he just proves me right and tells me he doesn’t want kids? Then what?”
God, that would break my fucking heart. Which is stupid since I already fuckingknow.
“Then you know for sure. Is it a hard talk? Yeah. Is what you’re going through right now hard? Is missing him hard? Isloving him and not feeling like you can share so much of yourself hard?”
I nod, tears burning my eyes. “So fucking hard.” Theo raises his eyebrows. “Are you about to tell me to choose my hard?”
Holding his hands out in the air, Theo grins. “I mean…”
