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CHAPTER

TWELVE

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I had no words when Reece came home after practice to tell me that the Copperheads were going to make sure kids like Benny got the help they needed. I burst out crying. He held me, kissing my head and laughing at my antics, but it meant so much to me. He meant so much to me.

As much as I loved hanging with Jaycee Bishop, as she’d become a very good friend, Reece was my best friend. I made sure he understood what his kind act meant to me that night. Well, several times that night.

That had to be over a month ago now. Today, we were heading to the library for Cookies with the Copperheads.

Char felt good enough to join us. Since Reece had to be there way before us, Claudia and I helped her into my car.

I hooked Benny into his car seat and then the four of us set off to meet up with Jaycee.

The line of parents and kids waiting to see the team stretched down the block and wrapped around the corner.

I’d never seen anything like it. Instead of joining the crowd, we slipped around the back of the library to a service entrance.

Jaycee knocked, and a young man I recognized as one of the library pages opened the door.

He was expecting us. Jaycee and LJ stepped in first. Claudia guided Benny inside, holding his hand.

I turned and backed Char’s wheelchair carefully over the threshold.

Once we were all in, the page closed the door behind us.

I shifted forward again, guiding Char through the employee hallway toward the main room.

It felt like when Dorothy first stepped out of the farmhouse into Oz.

All the bright, colorful Copperheads decorations hanging from the walls, and resting on top of the tables and bookshelves.

Then there were the treats that Jaycee and her staff had prepared for this event taking up several tables.

The tables with drinks sat along a different wall.

They’d put a lot of thought into the arrangement.

Each of the Copperhead players had a sitting room or a conference room to get as many children to hear their favorite player read to them as possible.

And yes, I said Jaycee’s staff . The badass woman was now a chain.

Since she spent half the year here in Charleston, she’d somehow found the time between keeping up the books for her first store, taking care of LJ and being the doting wife of Grant Bishop, to open a second location for her patisserie, Treat Yourself.

The flagship location was back in her hometown in Michigan.

I loved to cook, but I think I’d grow tired of it if I turned it into a career.

At go time, the men walked in a line to the front of the main room, standing behind the children’s librarian, who talked into a mic connected to a lectern.

“Welcome!” she said excitedly. “I’m so excited to see all of you here today.”

The kids started cheering as the parents clapped.

Grant Bishop, who’d become the unofficial face of the Copperheads, stepped up to the mic.

“First, I want to thank all the parents for bringing your kids here. Books unlock children’s imaginations and imagination leads to dreams. Children who dream become adults who change the world.

I believe in the potential for every single child here today.

So who’s ready to get our story time on? ”

Children’s shrieks filled the room. Thank goodness Claudia had Benny’s ears covered with his headphones so the volume didn’t hurt him. Once again, I was so lucky to have Claudia helping me out. Between having to aid Char and taking care of Benny, I’d have surely messed something up.

They lined twenty children for each Copperhead reading. LJ went in with his dad, but a total shock to me, Reece walked over to pick up Benny.

“Want to come with me, bud?” he asked.

My boy smiled, his eyes darting to the floor then to look at Reece’s nose, but it was clear he wanted to go with Reece, who bent down to kiss his mom on the cheek before heading back to his group of twenty.

“Everyone, say hi to Benny.”

The kids were all so cool, saying hi to my son, and then followed Reece into his storytime room. Parents were allowed to go. The door stayed open for any kids who needed to leave.

“Can I get you a drink?” I asked Char.

“That would be nice. Could we watch him read? Is that allowed?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I answered, then I turned to Claudia. “You want to come too?”

“I think I’ll stay with Jaycee.”

“Okay. We’ll be back, then.”

Before wheeling Char into the room with the kids, we stopped to get a cup of punch. We found a spot along the back wall with some of the other parents and Char sniffled. I bent down to her.

“You all right?”

“Look at him,” she said and I did. Reece sat in a chair at the front of the group with Benny standing next to him, holding on to Reece’s arm and leaning his head against Reece’s shoulder listening to the burly man read the story.

My eyes started to tear up too. My heart felt full, but then, a sort of panic started to take hold.

My son was getting far too attached to Reece and I could think of only one way to fix this problem.

We stayed for about an hour, or about three groups of children. The Copperheads had a long rest of the day ahead of them. Jaycee and LJ joined us. We stopped to pick up Happy Meals for the boys and then met up at the park. Both boys loved the sandbox.

LJ took such good care of Benny. He held Benny’s hand as they walked over to the sand, and when the boys walked back to us for a drink, LJ looked at his mom and said, “Benny no talk, but he my best friend.”

I threw my hand over my mouth to stifle my gasp. There were no words to explain how that felt.

“I can tell he loves playing with you, too,” Jaycee said back.

“I know,” LJ replied. “I his best friend too.”

The boys finished their drinks and left to play again.

“If Benny keeps playing with LJ, he’ll be talking in no time,” I told Jaycee. “His vocabulary is amazing for his age.”

She smiled. “I’m proud of him. I love how well the boys get along.

Benny is one of the sweetest boys I’ve ever met and it’s good for LJ to learn early that our friends can be different from us.

I always worry, given who his dad is, and the privilege Grant provides, that LJ could grow up with some undeserved sense of entitlement.

I’d lose my shit if I ever found out my son was a bully. ”

“I don’t see it happening. You two are great parents and he’s got too many good adults in his life to keep him in check.”

“I’ll hold you to that one,” she replied.

Once the boys were ready for naps, we said our goodbyes and Benny, Claudia, Char, and I headed home, where I got my boy in a bath and then down for a nap.

Reece texted when he was on his way home.

I put the meatballs I’d made while Benny napped into the oven and started the pasta.

Claudia made the salad while Char rested.

It’d been a good day and I wanted Reece happy when I sat him down to talk about what I had to talk about.

He looked a bit wiped and when he said hi , his voice sounded just a bit hoarse from reading books all day, but the twinkle in his eyes said it all.

“Good day?” I asked, giggling as he pulled me into a kiss.

“We’ll definitely do that again, but I think next year, we should hire sign language interpreters for each room. Make it inclusive for even more kids.”

“That’s a fantastic idea,” I said, giving his arm a squeeze. “Are you hungry?”

“Starved. What’s for dinner? I smell Italian.”

“Spaghetti and meatballs. C’mon. Claudia and your mom are eating in her room tonight. She’s a bit tired.”

“Something happen?”

“We went to the park after the library. Then when we got home, she wanted to go down to the water. It’s just been a long day.”

“I’ll pop in to see her before we eat. Where’s Benny?”

“He played hard today too. Even after his nap, he went down to the water with Claudia and your mom. He was so hungry, so I fed him and he crashed. I tucked him in bed already. You just have me for a dinner companion.”

“Movie while we eat?”

“Excellent.”

He backed me against the wall. “I’m thinking Baker Does Bree ,” he said in his low, gravelly voice.

I shook my head. “That movie hasn’t been made and I have it on good authority it never will be.”

“Don’t ever want to make a sex tape? It might be fun.”

“There’s a credo I live by. Do what you like, but never get it caught on video. And this is coming from a woman who stripped for a living. But that was a job. Something I did to take care of my kid.”

“Jesus, I’m a brilliant man,” he replied, and when I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion, he went on.

“For making this agreement with you. After the first couple times of fucking you, I knew you’d be perfect.

But hearing that I won’t ever have to worry about seeing some guy balls-deep in you spread over the internet—I’m ecstatic. ”

“You’re an idiot, but you’re my favorite idiot. Let’s get our food before you’re demoted back down to just an idiot.”

He threw his head back laughing and grabbed my hand to pull me into the kitchen.

Plates and drinks in hand, we walked to the den.

While I got comfortable, he turned on that Nosferatu movie.

I’d never seen it, but I loved vampires and using him as my shield during the scary parts didn’t exactly suck.

After cleaning up, he shut off the TV and we went upstairs to bed. He joined me in the shower and I began to question whether to have my talk with him, but no. I had to. I really cared about Reece, but Benny was my life. I had to protect him at all costs, right?

We settled into bed and I rolled over on my side to face him, propping my head up on my hand.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“There’s something I need to talk with you about. Today was such a good day, but?—”

“But? That sounds ominous.”

I sighed. “It hit me today, when I saw Benny leaning his head against your shoulder while you read to the kids. He’s getting attached to you.”

“And that’s bad?”

Okay, Bree, you can do this. “It is. When this thing ends, he won’t understand why he can’t see you any longer.”

Reece narrowed his eyes on me. “What are you saying? ”

“I’m going to gradually start pulling him back from spending time with you. This way he won’t notice as much when you’re no longer in his life.”

“What does that mean?”

“I think I need to take him back to our apartment a few nights a week. Then I’ll add another day, and another until we’re at our place full-time.”

His body went rigid, but his face looked stricken. He pushed up out of bed to begin pacing in a line in front of the bed. I sat up, watching him, not brave enough to speak. It went on that way for too long.

“Say something,” I demanded.

He rushed the bed. “You want me to say something, fine.” The man sounded so hurt and angry that I flinched when he dropped down to his knees next to me.

“You agreed to be my girlfriend and I’d pay for Benny’s therapies.

I could be a real dick about this—and to be honest, that was my first inclination, to hold our agreement over your head.

But I can’t do that to you and I won’t do it to Benny.

So I’m asking you, please don’t pull Benny back.

My mom adores him. And to be honest, I love hanging with the little guy.

You have my promise I won’t just disappear because you and me, we’re friends now.

What if he wants to skate someday? Somebody has to teach him. ”

“I don’t know that he’ll ever skate, Reece.”

“But you don’t know he won’t.”

“It’s easy to make those promises now and then totally forget about us when your life goes back to how it used to be.”

“Have I broken a promise to you yet?”

“No.”

“And I’m not going to start with this.”

“It’s early. We only have a few months under our belts.”

“Please, Bree, trust me. Give me this.”

For being a fake relationship, at times like these, it seemed awfully real. But I really liked his mom and Claudia seemed happy here. “You swear to me, Reece. You swear you won’t abandon Benny?”

“First. It’s Baker. This is far too serious to use last names. And I fucking swear I won’t abandon him. Just don’t go. I need you here. My mom needs you here.”

His voice came out choked at the end and I knew I couldn’t leave him. Too many men had let me down in my life, but Reece wasn’t my father and he wasn’t Dane. Truth be told, he’d already way surpassed Dane in the short time we’d pretended to be together.

It wasn’t fair to judge him on someone else’s mistakes.

“I’m holding you to that,” I said softly. Tears rolled down my cheeks. God, I’d never imagined that deciding to trust him would make me so emotional. Reece hugged me tightly, kissing my tears.

Agreeing to trust him. Reece couldn’t know how huge that was. Hurt me, whatever. But hurt my kid and I’d make him wish we’d never met.

Or I’d like to think I would.

I hoped this didn’t come back to bite me in the ass.