Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Hadley

I turned and saw Lilly glaring at us. Her eyes were incredibly focused and very, very angry as she noticed Eli in Elijah’s arms.

I only felt guilty for a fraction of a second before I realized I had no reason to be. Elijah was my boyfriend. He was great with my kids—Lilly’s grandkids. What Scott didn’t do and all the times he never sought to see them, Elijah made up for.

“Lucy, Meme Lilly is here.” Understanding flashed in Elijah’s gaze as I spoke, but he made no move to hand Eli over to me nor did I to try to take him.

Lucy was in a good mood and it showed. She didn’t seem upset when she saw her granny. It didn’t even seem like she was thinking about the last time she cried with her. For that, I was grateful.

“Meme Lilly,” Lucy said and stepped over to her with a smile.

It was a reluctant one since she was still glaring at us, but she gave a brief one as she looked down at Lucy. “You were supposed to come see Daddy this weekend. What happened?”

Um, what?

Lucy tilted her head. “We went to Elijah’s tattoo shop!”

Oh, fudge. I knew things were going to get bad by the way Lilly’s entire face crinkled with furious lines as she skimmed over me. “You what? You never answered Scott’s calls or texts when he called to see them this weekend. And you took them to a tattoo shop instead?”

I frowned. “Scott never called or texted—”

“Don’t lie! He told me he did!” She screeched, face turning blood red.

My face was equally hot. I glimpsed around as people strode by. I couldn’t believe she’d act this way in public. Nor could I believe she’d lie about something like that. Maybe Scott lied to her? Either way, she had no right to confront me.

“Mommy?” Lucy seemed anxious as she walked over to me.

“What is this on her hands?” Lilly rushed over and latched onto Lucy’s arms. She tried to pull away, but Lilly gripped her too tightly as she glared at the fake tattoos.

“It’s my pony and puppy,” Lucy smiled a bit as she spoke until Lilly opened her mouth.

“What is wrong with you?” she snapped, her voice full of scorn. Her eyes dilated while her mouth curled like an angry dog.

“What do you mean? They’re fake tattoos. I’m sure Scott had them dozens of times as a kid.” I reached down and pulled Lucy away from her grandmother.

“That’s beside the point. You think I’ll idly sit back and watch you bring such a bad influence around my grandkids? Look at him.” She gestured toward Elijah. Hissing, she added, “Tattoos are so disgusting and say a lot about a person’s character.”

“I don’t like when you yell, Meme,” Lucy said frowning.

“Meme is trying to take care of you.” She patted Lucy’s head. Lucy stepped back immediately which earned me a scowl.

“Let’s not have this discussion in public,” I offered nicely despite the anger and hurt I felt. “You’re scaring Lucy. This isn’t the way to act.”

“Having two kids doesn’t mean you know things.” She put her hand in my face and that was when I felt Elijah moving behind me. “I’ve raised three, and there’s no way I’d separate a dad from his babies the way you have!”

“Hadley said she’s not doing this here, so I think you should move along so we can finish shopping.” Even while trying to sound nice, Elijah’s personality and stature was just too big and demanding to ever seem anything but rude.

Lilly became rigid with rage. “Shopping? You’re not their family. You don’t even belong in this conversation.”

His nostrils flared as he held Eli closer. His eyes were wild and angry as he glowered at the elderly woman. “That’s where you’re wrong. They’re my business because I care about them. I’m not going to stand back and allow you to hurt them like the last time they saw you.”

She gasped and her accusatory gaze landed on me. “How could you do this to Scott?”

Elijah tossed his hand up, clearly getting frustrated. “She’s done more than enough. If he really wanted to see his kids, he’d make an effort. All of you would instead of throwing your blame on someone else.”

She scoffed. “Wow. Spoken perfectly from someone who knows so little. Has she told you that? She’s the one that never lets Scott see them!”

Lies!

“Want to take them to the truck while I checkout?” Elijah asked softly as he placed Eli in my arms. I nodded quietly as Lucy tugged on my hand and followed behind Elijah who took the shopping cart from me.

Of course Lilly followed. “I’ll be taking this to court,” she told me.

I was so mortified. What if we ended up on the internet in one of those crazy-people-of-Walmart videos simply because Lilly saw us shopping with Elijah. That’d be my luck. And what was worse was the fact that I was beginning to suspect that Scott was lying to his parents about what really happened. He chose not to show up each time he said he’d come for Lucy. And every time he failed, Lucy would sit in front of the window frowning. Eventually, she stopped waiting to see her dad. Her sad faces turned into disinterested ones. Thanks to Scott, Lucy didn’t want to see her dad since she spent so little time with him.

Elijah stopped in front of me and sighed before he looked at Lilly. “Don’t you follow them outside. You’re a grown-ass woman. Act like one.”

Her eyes widened. “That’s no way to talk to a woman. You want that around Lucy?” She pointed at him.

“Elijah, please,” I mumbled quickly, just wanting the scene to be over.

“I only see one mature woman, and it sure the fuck ain’t you,” he told her. “Have you stopped to wonder that maybe your actions are the blame for losing touch with your grandkids? No wonder Lucy cries when she’s with you. Look at the way you’re acting.”

“Elijah,” I said more sternly. When he glanced at me, I gave him a frustrated frown as I gestured to Lucy who was listening to every word he said.

“I’m calling Scott right now and telling him about this nonsense. First thing in the morning, I’m taking him to the courthouse.”

Elijah chuckled dryly. “Take him? See what I mean? Raise your own damn kid before worrying about someone else’s.”

Although I agreed with everything Elijah said, I didn’t appreciate how he’d done it. Maybe if Lucy and Eli weren’t listening it would be better, but I wasn’t okay with anyone bad-mouthing their father in front of them even though he deserved it. I didn’t want to raise them to think it was all right. And the fact that Elijah continuedly ignored my plea to ignore her only made it worse.

So, yes, I was hurt and angry at him and this entire situation.

“Tell your meme bye, Lucy. We’re heading to the truck,” I blurted. Lucy never said it though.

“You need the keys.” Elijah handed them over. When I walked away, he grabbed my shoulder. “Hey…”

I shirked away from him and steered Lucy out of Walmart.

“Lucy!” We turned around to see Lilly running out after us. “Don’t you want to see your mommy and daddy get back together?”

“Lilly,” I breathed out slowly. “You’re going too far. You’ve caused a scene in a public place.”

“You know this is ridiculous, Hadley. How can you guys raise your babies apart?” So she was being docile and trying to be nice. Her tone was fine, but her words were all wrong.

“I’ve been raising them just fine. In fact, single parenting happens all over the world, and those kids are doing fine.”

“Lucy…” She dropped down to Lucy’s height. “What do you want?”

“My mommy.” She clutched my leg.

“No, I mean don’t you want to see Daddy and Mommy get together again as a family?” Lucy pressed her face into my leg and ignored her.

“Don’t be this way to her,” I practically begged as I bent down and scooped up my four-year-old in my other arm. It was hard to hold them both but I was determined. “I know you mean well, but what you’re doing is wrong.”

And with that, I turned away and hurried to Elijah’s truck. I buckled Eli in quietly as Lucy climbed into her car seat and waited for me. “Are you okay, Mommy?” she asked as I buckled her in.

“I should be asking you that,” I mumbled.

“I’m okay. I hope Elijah doesn’t get lost in there alone.”

“He’ll be okay.”

“Will he get my chips?”

“He will.”

Before I closed the door, she asked, “Do I have to go to Meme’s?”

“Only when you want to.”

“I don’t want to.”

Kissing her forehead, I shut her door and climbed into the passenger seat. It didn’t take the A/C long to cool us as we waited. A few minutes later, Elijah placed the groceries in the bed of the truck. When he sat in the driver’s seat, I peered out my window instead of looking at him. “Hey…” he murmured.

“How much was it so I can pay you back?” I asked, still not turning in his direction. I knew I was being unreasonable and grumpy. No one despised me more than me. But my mind was in absolute turmoil. Eli and Lucy were my everything, and the fact that someone just threatened to take my world from me haunted every molecule in me. I hated confrontation more than anything and didn’t like people talking the way Lilly and Elijah had in front of my kids. I also didn’t like how he disregarded me when I tried to get his attention.

It scared Lucy when people yelled, and I didn’t like her feeling afraid. So, yes, I was angry.

“That’s a dumb-ass question when you know I’m not letting you pay me back.”

I whipped my head around and glared. “Fine. It can go to your house.”

“Hadley,” he groaned, closing his eyes. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“You shouldn’t have yelled at her. She’ll try something just because of you.”

“I don’t care who it is. You’ll never see me stand back and watch as someone talks to you that way. I’ll never be okay with that shit. Never.”

Tears filled my eyes, so I faced forward. I didn’t want to be this way in front of Lucy. My cell phone started going off. My heart dropped when I saw that it was Scott. When I ignored it, I knew Elijah was watching. The rest of the drive was spent in uncomfortable silence with my phone going off every minute. Neither of us even thought to put music on to fill the tension.

All I could think about was what Lilly planned to do. It filled me with nausea. I unbuckled my belt and hopped out of the truck the second he parked. He went to grab Eli, but I mumbled, “I’ll get him since we’re going to head to the apartment.”

“I thought we were going to Elijah’s?” Lucy said still in her car seat.

“Not tonight,” I replied.

Elijah’s hawk eyes were on me. “Hadley…”

My phone started going off again. “Later. I need to deal with this mess.”

He sighed. “At least let me carry the groceries to your apartment.”

“No. Take them to your house.”

“Lucy, do you want your chips?” Elijah helped her out.

“Yeah, will you eat all the food without me?” She asked him just as a text message came through my phone.

Scott: Answer your phone!!!

Scott: I swear to god, Hadley, I’ll never let you see your kids if you keep that man around.

Scott: He fucking yelled at mom!

Elijah’s soft, deep chuckle pulled me away from the text messages. “No, goofy. We’ll eat together. It ain’t going to all disappear within a day.”

“I want to go to your house,” she whispered.

I closed my eyes, tears threatening to spill. Scott yelled at me all the time, so how was his reasoning fair? It was okay for him to yell at me but not for anyone to do it to his mother?

“Maybe she’ll change her mind later,” Elijah whispered to her.

“Come on, Lucy.” I hefted Eli into my arms and watched as Elijah handed Lucy two bags loaded down with what she quickly picked out to take to the apartment.

It only made me feel distressed. I hated being upset with Elijah of all people. It hurt my soul, but I was scared and frustrated about Lilly and Scott. I didn’t know what they would do.

“Bye, Elijah…” There was a sadness in Lucy’s tone as she said it.

“Hey…” I ignored him, walking faster. His footsteps grew louder as he ran. “You’re that upset with me?” I peeked down at Lucy who was keeping close to him and he sighed. “Will you talk to me later?” Like clockwork, my phone started going off, and Elijah glared at it. “Just tell him to fuck off.”

“See, it’s not that easy,” I muttered as I resumed walking. “Come on, Lucy.”

She took my hand as we walked away from Elijah. With every small step she took, she glanced back.