Surging to his feet, Geo sought out Renae and told her what happened. Her cheeks paling, she clutched his arm.
“That explains so much,” she breathed. “I’ll let her therapist know. We’ve been searching for a way to break through to her, to understand her, and this might be it.” Her voice broke. “Oh, Jesus, help me help my baby.”
When she couldn’t go on, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered over and over. “So glad you’re here.”
The game was in full swing when Lani finally arrived, breezy and beautiful in a colorful maternity top and leggings. Geo’s pulse throbbed at the sight of her, the desire to whisk her away and make love to her almost overwhelming him.
Their eyes met, and she put the cupcakes down before sauntering over to him, her lips quirked in a sexy half-smile. “Hey, you.”
“Hey, gorgeous.” Geo reached out and drew her to him. With a contented sigh, she tucked herself into his side, her arms linked around his waist.
The game was a close one. Ari played with a ferocity that Geo recognized as an attempt to exhaust her body as well as quiet her mind. His gaze met Renae’s more than once in shared concern.
She saw it, too.
A sudden burst of cheering caught his attention, and he left Lani at the snack table to move closer to the field, where Ari drove toward the goal with seconds left, her feet a blur as she worked the ball. A quick pass to a teammate, a dart into scoring position, and then...
“She made it! She scored!” Renae pumped her fist wildly in the air. “She scored the winning goal!”
“Way to go, Ari!” Geo put his fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. “Yeah!”
He and Renae jumped up and down in their excitement, and Ari turned in their direction, her lips stretched in the widest grin he’d seen yet. Renae caught her breath and threaded her arm through his in sheer happiness. “You see that? She’s smiling!”
Suddenly, Ari charged toward them, her smile morphing into an expression of red-faced fury. Geo barely had time to brace himself before she slammed into him, fists flying.
“I hate you!” she screamed. “I don’t want you here!”
He staggered back, horror turning his blood to ice. “Ari, what—” he choked.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, her face a mask of anguish. “I don’t want you here! I want my daddy!”
Sinking to his knees, he pulled her close, ignoring the blows that continued to rain down on his chest and shoulders.
“I want my daddy! I want my daddy! I want my daddy!” Her howls at last trailed off into sobbing as she sagged against him. Falling back on his butt, Geo hauled her into his lap and wrapped her up tight.
“I know, baby,” he whispered, rocking her, his own tears flowing unchecked. “I know you want your daddy. I’m so sorry he’s not here.”
Renae knelt beside them as the rest of the team parents linked arms to form a protective circle around them, a barrier against the phones suddenly pointed in their direction by seemingly every bystander in the vicinity.
Her hand shaking, Renae stroked Ari’s sweaty hair. “That’s it,” she crooned. “Let it out, my love. Let it out. You’re safe.”
Geo attempted to let her take his place, but Ari clung to him, her fingers digging into the back of his neck. He subsided, holding on to her, in that moment a willing stand-in for the dad she so desperately missed.
Lani stood at the edge of the group, her hand over her mouth, her eyes full of empathy and pain. Geo lost sight of her when Renae pressed her tear-stained cheek to his. “Whatever fate brought you here to us now, I’ll be endlessly grateful for it. She’s grieving, thank God. Because of you, she’s finally letting herself grieve, and now I can get her the help she needs.”
By the time he assisted her in getting Ari home and settled, it was late, approaching ten o’clock. He drove to Lani’s apartment in his pizza-smelling truck, his body numb, drained. All he wanted to do was fall into bed with her and hold her close all night long.
“It won’t matter if we wait to talk in the morning,” he told himself. “I have a week left. Plenty of time.”
He trudged up the walk and slipped the key in the lock. The tiny entryway was dark, although judging by the slight glow emanating from the kitchen, the light over the stove was on. Heading to turn it off, he about jumped out of his skin at the sight of Lani sitting at the kitchen table, her fingers knotted tightly in her lap.
A jolt of unexpected fear made him croak, “Babe? What’s wrong?”
Her eyes darted back toward the door. He turned to look, and what he saw there made his body go leaden with a weary sadness.
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Can I ask why?”
“Because I can’t do this.” Her voice was brittle, like glass, the way it’d been when they first met. “This isn’t the life I want.”
What life? A life of loving each other? A life of respect, and happiness? Of family?
He wanted to argue, to plead his case. Whirling away, he scrubbed his hand over his jaw, searching desperately for the words that would convince her to try.
As he did, his eyes fell on the picture of Lani and Tyler. It struck him anew, how Tyler’s seemingly-happy smile masked so much internal pain, a pain so severe it’d wrenched him away from everyone who’d loved him—
He glanced back at Lani’s bowed head in sudden understanding. Her beloved brother had died. Rhys had fallen in love with someone else. The baby’s father abandoned her by not returning her messages. Geo’s job would take him away for months, a job there was always a possibility he’d never come home from.
She’d already dealt with so much loss, uncertainty and—Geo squeezed his eyes shut—far too many goodbyes.
On shaky legs, he made his way over to her and rested his hand lightly on her nape. With a muffled sob, she lifted her face to look at him, her eyes dark with misery yet her mouth firm with resolve. They stared at each other even as a strange sense of peace swept over him.
If what you need right now is for me to leave you on your terms, then sweetheart, that’s what I’ll do.
Because he loved her. And because in asking him to go, she trusted him to know what she needed, and to understand it.
Tears stinging his eyes, Geo took that trust and tucked it away deep inside, even as he cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her oh, so gently.
Then he strode to the door, grabbed up his neatly packed bags, and left.
Chapter Twenty-Three