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If she was there, it ive a damn

And that was not on his agenda for the evening

Or any evening

He knew before he got to the door that it was Tressa He saw her car parked behind his truck in the driveway Her way of blocking hi him captive to her

Hurrying to the door, before she gothis house to see what he was doing with their son there, he hoped to God his lips didn’t look kissed as he pulled open the door

“What’s wrong?” he asked the second he saw her

“Nothing I justwanted to see Levi”

“He’s in bed, already asleep”

“So, I can peek in on him”

“No, Tressa You know our agree to let her drama into his world

“I just want to see hiets his cast off soon and I just I feel horrible that it happened, and”

Her tears softened the steel around his heart Tressa really did care She loved Levi And he kne s eat her up inside

“You’ll wake him up, and since he knows he only sees Mommy at her house, he’ll be confused Hasn’t he already been through enough?” He hated to use her own tactics against her, feeling dirty, like he was beco her, but since he obviously couldn’t do as she wanted—mostly because Levi wasn’t in his room—she left him no choice

A chair scraped against a paver outside He realized, too late, that he’d left the sliding glass door open in his haste to prevent a Tressa meltdown

Turning her sharp gaze from behind him, to Jem, she said, “You have someone here”