Where I Belong

Angie glances down at Mia’s hand, refusing to take it. She turns her attention back to me instead. “Do you really think it’s wise to confuse our son by introducing him to your flavor of the month? And I thought we were trying to work things out between us, Ben.” She drops her hands then and wipes the irritation from her face, replacing it with a false hurt. “It really is what’s best for Nolan.”

“Maybe I should just go wait in the truck,” Mia says softly, dropping her hand.

I shake my head at her. “No. You belong where I am.”

“Oh, give me a f*cking break,” Angie barks out in irritation.

I look past her and see Nolan at the kitchen table with a box of crayons. Dropping Mia’s hand, I step closer to Angie and she tenses up. “You’re lucky he didn’t hear that. And don’t ever take your bitterness out on Mia. She never did anything to you and she’s amazing with Nolan.”

“I’m his mother. And you should be more concerned with fixing our family than who your dick wants to play with.”

“Ben, can I please have the keys to the truck?” Mia asks, holding her hand out to me palm up. Even though she states it as a question, she isn’t asking me. But I don’t want her to leave. F*ck Angie. Mia has every right to be where I am. Unfortunately, I know now that Angie will never calm down as long as Mia is in front of her. I reluctantly pull my keys out of my pocket and hand them to her. “Thank you.” She turns her head toward Angie and offers her a smile. “I hope you realize how lucky you are to have Nolan.”

Angie grimaces at her comment. I wait until Mia is out of earshot before I tear into the woman who makes my life a living hell. “Don’t ever talk to Mia like that again. She doesn’t deserve to be disrespected by you.”

“What the hell do I care if I hurt your fling’s feelings?”

I step closer to her. “She is not a fling. That woman is it for me. Do you get that? She’s not going anywhere, so it would be in your best interest to accept her. Our son sure as hell has.”

She inhales sharply. “What does that mean?”

“He told her he loved her today. Does he tell you that?”

Her bottom lip begins to tremble, prompting her to pull at it with her fingers. “I just don’t understand why you can’t at least try to make this work.”

I am over this conversation. If she doesn’t understand that the two of us will never work by now, she’ll never understand it. I push past her and walk over to Nolan, kissing the top of his head. “I love you, buddy. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Wove you, Daddy. Look what I dwawed for you.” He holds up the paper he’s been working on. It’s three people, all looking like circles with stick limbs coming out of them. Two of them are larger than the third. He’s even labeled us in his chicken scratch handwriting. “Dats you, dats Pwincess Mia, and dats me.” He hands it to me with a smile before he runs his finger down my nose.

I repeat the gesture and hold the picture against my chest. “Thanks, buddy.” I rustle his hair before I walk toward the doorway. Angie avoids my eyes, looking down at her feet instead. I don’t have anything else to say to her so I walk out of her apartment and close the door behind me. I had a feeling she wouldn’t take meeting Mia very well. Angie still held on to the idea that we were going to wind up together. And considering that I’ve never introduced her to anyone before, I’m sure that only added to her delusion. But pining after me didn’t excuse her behavior toward Mia. And I’ll never let her treat my girl like that again.

I climb into my truck after folding up Nolan’s drawing and slipping it into my back pocket. “I’m sorry about that. She won’t talk to you like that again. I promise.” I reach for her hand and she places it in mine with a smile. She seems completely unaffected by the hate she just had directed at her.

“It’s okay, I get it.” She links her fingers through mine as I pull out of the apartment complex. “She loves you and she’s hurt that the two of you aren’t together. I’m sure it isn’t easy for her.”

Jesus. She doesn’t even have a negative thing to say about Angie after that bitchy encounter. She actually feels sorry for her. “I don’t think Angie loves me. I think she’s just desperate for attention. We had one night together and neither one of us remembers any of it.”

She shakes her head in disagreement. “She definitely loves you. I can tell.” Her head rests back on the seat and she turns it toward me. Our eyes meet briefly before I have to put them back on the road. “Did you ever try to make it work with her?”

“Yeah, after Nolan was born. I knew Angie wanted us to be a family and I owed it to Nolan to at least try. They moved in with me after the two of them were released from the hospital. But it only lasted two weeks.” Her hand tightens in mine. “We fought constantly about everything and I was f*cking miserable all the time. Having a baby at twenty-three was stressful enough and then throw in the fact that I couldn’t stand my son’s mother. It wasn’t good. When I told her it wasn’t going to work she freaked out, threatening to keep Nolan away from me. I took her to court to make sure I’d at least get my time with him and that only pissed her off even more.” I park the truck in my usual spot at my parents’ house. I help Mia out on her side, keeping her hand in mine as we walk toward the pool. “Sometimes I wish I would’ve never slept with her that night, but then I wouldn’t have Nolan. And I can’t imagine not having that little maniac.”

She laughs softly against my shoulder as we round the pool. “I can’t imagine you not having him either.” I slide the door open, placing my hand on her back and moving her ahead of me into the house. Tessa is sitting on the couch, her lap completely covered in used tissues and her face in her hands. “Tessa? What’s wrong?” Mia goes straight to my sister, sitting down next to her.

“Are you alright?” I ask, moving in front of her. I haven’t seen Tessa cry since we were younger, and back then, I was usually the cause of it. The older she gets, the less she lets things get to her. If she had balls, they’d be made of steel.

She looks up at me and then back to Mia. “Oh my God. Are you guys together now?” Mia nods and Tessa begins to cry harder. Not the reaction I had been expecting. Tessa was my biggest supporter when it came to winning over Mia. “That makes me so happy. You have no idea.” She sobs, prompting Mia to wrap her arms around her.

“Do you need a girls’ night?” Mia asks, giving me a knowing look over Tessa’s shoulder.

I pick up on the message loud and clear. The two of them don’t need me here for this. Nor do I really want to be here for whatever the f*ck happens at a girls’ night. I lean down and kiss Mia’s forehead. “I’m gonna head out. I’ll see you after work tomorrow.” She winks at me and nods against Tessa. I place my hand on my sister’s shoulder. “If you say this is because of Luke, I’ll go find him right now and beat his ass.” She whimpers against Mia, and I would’ve taken that as a yes until she begins shaking her head. F*cking women and their mixed signals. A simple yes or no would’ve been nice. I exhale loudly in annoyance. “Just call me if you need me.” I smile once more at Mia and get the hell out of there before I get any more cryptic responses.