Chapter Fifty-Eight
Brian
I’d watched the clip enough times to know every frame—Sylvia’s hand on my arm, my mouth set, saying nothing.
I told myself keeping quiet would protect Jade. Keep her out of the gossip, off the rumor pages. But that’s not what happened. It left her standing there alone.
Adam told me what I should’ve done the minute we got back: claim her and the relationship. Make it clear she was mine and let people talk. Instead, I’d tried to control the narrative.
She didn’t need that. She just needed me to show up and mean it.
I blew out a breath and dragged a hand down my face. Seven years of proving I could handle anything, and I still managed to screw up the one thing that actually mattered.
Time to own it.
I grabbed my phone and headed next door.
~~~~
I was nervous as I knocked on Adam and Lainey's back door. Lainey answered holding Conor, and fortunately, she didn't slam the door in my face. Instead, she stepped aside to let me in.
“Hey, stranger. You hungry?”
“I’m good.”
My stomach picked that moment to growl loud enough to make her laugh.
“Uh-huh. Sit. I’ll make you something.”
Before I could argue, she was already heading toward the kitchen.
“Coffee?”
“Please.”
She went to put Conor in his bouncy seat, but I reached for him, and she handed him off without hesitation.
“Hey, buddy. How’s my godson?” I cooed as I settled him in my lap so he faced me.
He looked up at me with a toothless grin that punched something deep in my chest.
“He’s a happy baby.”
Lainey poured coffee into a mug and set it in front of me with a smile. “He is.”
“I know you made a conscious effort to stay upbeat while you were pregnant. It must have worked.”
“I hope so.”
It would’ve been easy for her to fold after Shawn was killed, never knowing he had a baby on the way. Instead, she dug in, determined to make a life for her and their child.
I respected the hell out of her for that.
Conor held on to my fingers, and I commented, “He’s got a strong grip. He must get that from his godfather.”
She rolled her eyes with a grin as she cracked an egg in a bowl.
I smiled back, bounced him a little, and tried to sound casual. “Have you seen your sister lately?”
“Yesterday,” she said, not looking at me as she started whisking. “She’s not great.”
My chest tightened. “Oh?”
“She hadn’t gotten out of bed for two days before I went over there. I finally talked her into a shower.” Lainey cored a red pepper, then glanced at me. “So, what’s your plan?”
I looked up. “Plan?”
“Yeah. You’ve already done the damage. Now what are you going to do to fix it?”
I stared down at Conor, who was gnawing on my finger like it was a teething ring. “Honestly? I don’t know yet.”
“Well, you’d better figure it out,” she said as she diced the vegetable. “She’s humiliated. Everyone’s talking, and she thinks you let them.”
“I didn’t mean to. I just…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “She’s been through enough. I didn’t want her dragged through more gossip because of me.”
Lainey shot me a look as she scraped the peppers from the cutting board into the bowl. “She’s a big girl, Brian. She’s handled worse.”
I hung my head. “Yeah, I know,” I said quietly.
Lainey’s voice softened when she poured the mixture into the pan. “She didn’t need you to protect her, she needed you to stand next to her.”
“I see that now.”
“You should probably tell her that.”
I took another sip of coffee, then lifted the mug high, out of Conor’s reach as he grabbed for it. “I figured she was mad at me.”
“She is. But she didn’t crawl under the covers for two days because she hates you.”
That twisted something in my gut. It shouldn’t have made me feel better, but it did.
Still, I was a dumb guy. I needed her to spell it out. “So why did she?”
She set a plate in front of me then took the baby in her arms. “Why do you think?”
“Because of me?”
She rolled her eyes. “There’s a reason you’re a sergeant and not a detective. Yes—because of you.”
I stared at the plate in front of me, appetite gone. “So how do I fix it?”
Lainey sat down and bounced Conor gently on her knee. “Start by saying what you should’ve said on that sidewalk.”
I nodded once. “Guess I’ve got something to take care of.”
Lainey smiled faintly. “Ya think?”