Page 91 of Until August

“I texted you.” I hadn’t read her response, but still, I’d texted to let her know. “We had a lot to talk about. I needed more time.”

“It’s a school night, and it’s already past his bedtime.”

The old Sasha never used to worry about adhering to a routine. Not to mention it was only eight o’clock, not midnight. But I didn’t argue with her. I had more pressing issues to discuss. “Since school will be out soon, I’d like to make a new schedule so I can spend more time with him.”

“This is what I wanted to talk to you about.” She paused and chewed on her lip before her words came out in a rush. “We’re leaving for Hawaii on Sunday. We’ll be gone for six weeks.”

I stared at her, trying to comprehend what she was telling me.

Six weeks? That was most of his summer vacation. “And you didn’t think to mention this sooner? What the fuck, Sasha? How could you just forget something like that?” Anger sharpened my tone.

She took a step back. “We planned to leave a week later, but our plans changed.”

Either way, she should have told me. “I’ve just gotten him back in my life. You can’t just take him away from me like that.”

She folded her hands over her chest on the defensive. “I’m sorry, August. But we made these plans before you came back.”

I took a deep breath through my nose and let it out, trying to calm down before I spoke. “Can’t you make it two weeks? Six weeks is a long time.”

“Travis needs to be there, and wherever he is, that’s where we need to be.”

But what about me? Hisfather.In a kid’s world, six weeks was an eternity. We’d finally made progress, and I was gaining his trust. And now she was taking him away from me?

“Look, August… I might as well get it all out now.” She wrung her hands together. Her brows were furrowed, and she wore that same worried expression she used to have whenever she was nervous about telling me something.

She usually prefaced it by saying, don’t be mad, but…

I rescued another dog. The vet bill is $800.

I told Damon he could move in with us.

I wrecked the car. I didn’t even see the guy turning.

I knew that whatever she was about to tell me wouldn’t be good. So I tried to mentally prepare myself for the next bomb she was about to drop. But I wasn’t the least bit prepared for her words. “We’ve been talking about moving there.”

I reared back like I’d been struck. “The fuck did you just say? Because it sounded like you said you were talking about moving toHawaii.”

“We haven’t made definite plans, but we’re seriously considering it. We’re planning to look at houses while we’re down there. We think it would be a great place to raise kids.”

I slammed my palm against the doorframe, making her jump. “No. Fuck no. Don’t do this, Sasha. I can’t… you can’t do this to me. You can’t take him away from me.”

But sadly, she could. She could do anything she damn well pleased. Sasha held all the power and made all the decisions forourson.

Sasha lifted her chin, finding her strength. “We’ll be back mid-July, and you can spend time with him then.” She made it sound as if she was doing me a big favor. “But if we find the right house and decide it’s the right move for us, we want to move before the school year starts and the baby comes.”

I could not fucking believe she was standing in front of me, calmly telling me there was a good chance they would be moving to Hawaii.

“Does Sage know about this? Because tonight he was talking about all the things we could do this summer. He never mentioned anything about Hawaii.”

“He must have forgotten, but we’ve discussed it with him before, and he loved the idea.”

Of course, he did. Because what kid wouldn’t love the idea of moving to Hawaii? “If you and surfer boy move to Hawaii, where the fuck does that leave me?”

“I don’t know, August. We weren’t exactly making plans with you in mind. I didn’t even know if you’d come back….”

Un-fucking-believable. She was acting like she didn’t know me at all. “That’s bullshit, and you know damn well know it. I’m not your father. I wouldneverwalk away from Sage.” She had the good grace to lower her eyes because she knew it was true.

“Why don’t you stand up to Travis and tell him this isn’t the right decision? Is he even thinking about what this would do to Sage? You can’t just uproot his life like that. Travis isn’t Sage’s father,” I reminded her in a desperate attempt to talk her out of this. “That role still belongs to me.”