A Measure of Love (20 page)

“ ’Bye, Mom,” he uttered quickly before he followed Lexie through the house and out the back door toward the forest and the spaceship they had built with Lexie’s father. It sat around ten feet off the ground and, although Lexie and Riley called it their Apollo, her parents called it a tree house.

Lexie began climbing up the pieces of wood that had been fixed to the tree, knowing Riley was right behind her. He always was, and it made her feel very lucky to have such a good friend. They both clambered onto their Apollo and began moving around the boxes, tins, pans, and other bric-a-brac that made up the seats and controls of the spaceship.

“Are we really going to Jupiter?” Riley asked as he placed the pilot’s seat (a large box) in front of her.

“Sure,” Lexie replied. “We can go anywhere.”

“How about Mars?”

Lexie laughed. “Anywhere.” She spread her arms wide and spun. “Anywhere. We can see all of the stars and all the galaxies. Together.” She spun the other way. “We can explore black holes and travel the universe.”

Riley laughed. “And Pluto?”

“Anywhere.” Lexie jumped and spun, making herself dizzy and tilting sideways.

She was aware simultaneously of two things. The first thing was that Riley was staring at her as though she was the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen, and the second was that her foot was touching nothing but air. It was a split second later that she began falling. Lexie had never considered how high or how long it would take to fall ten feet, but it seemed like it took forever. She heard a scream, she heard her name, and then she hit the ground, and all she felt was pain.

Her arm was on fire from the inside out and all she could do was shout for Riley, her mom, and her dad. Riley’s face appeared above hers, his eyes filled with tears. “Lexie? Lexie? Are you all right?” He took her hand, the hand that was attached to the arm that didn’t feel like it was burning up in flames, and squeezed it. “Your dad’s coming, Lexie. Hold on to me.”

“Lexie!” Her father’s voice came next, sounding almost like he was underwater. Then she was moving and the pain in her arm made her scream out. “I know, baby. Just breathe. We need to take you to the hospital. Riley? We need to move.”

In the car, Riley sat next to her, holding her hand and telling her he wasn’t going to leave her. The journey to the ER and the subsequent wait passed in an excruciating blur for Lexie. She just knew that Riley, as he promised, was with her the entire time, concerned and telling her over and over that she was going to be all right. Of course she was, but the broken arm and the pink cast she was now sporting were going to make the rest of the summer hard. She picked at a small piece of the cast that wasn’t quite set and sighed. The color made up for the pain and the embarrassment of it all, she supposed.

“At least it’ll go with everything you wear,” Riley commented from his spot on the edge of her hospital bed, where he’d been since Lexie’s parents had gone to find a doctor to sign something. He smiled, and Lexie was unable to hold her own smile back.

“Yeah. It’s going to make climbing to Apollo harder now, though.”

Riley’s eyebrows jumped. “You want to go back into the spaceship?”

Lexie blinked. “Of course. It’s my favorite thing to do with you.”

Riley played with the hem of his T-shirt. “I like it, too. But we have to be careful, Lex. You really frightened me.”

Lexie watched her friend for a moment as the pain in her arm was overwhelmed by something different, something warm and comforting. She reached out her free hand and placed it on Riley’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Riley sniffed. “It’s okay. It was an accident, but I thought . . . when you screamed. It was really scary.”

“I’ll be more careful. Promise.”

“I’m glad I was there,” Riley said softly. “Even though I was scared.”

“I’m glad you were there, too.”

“Maybe if you promise to always be careful, I’ll promise to always be there just in case.”

Lexie smirked and held out her little finger. “Pinkie promise?”

Riley snorted and shook his head before he wrapped his own little finger around hers. “Pinkie promise.”

·   ·   ·

Lexie stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom, hating every inch of what was reflected back at her. If she could have slapped the woman in the store who’d convinced her that red was her color and that a two-piece was the way to go, she would have.
Lord.
Was it this small in the store?

She adjusted the top again, standing sideways to investigate how much side boob she was actually showing and pondering how much side boob would be regarded as distasteful at a public pool. The only thing she did like about it was the fact that it showed off her two newest tattoos, the pink orchid that curved up the right
side to her ribs from the top of her thigh and the hummingbird on her left hip. The colors popped against her skin, blues and golds, greens and oranges.

The more colorful the better, in her opinion. It wasn’t that she disliked simple black; she merely preferred color on her body. Riley only ever had black—save for the world on the inside of his arm—and his tattoos were really nice. Really,
really
nice. He’d had so many new pieces since the last time they’d seen one another—patterns of concentric circles on his shoulders, words she hadn’t been close enough to make out on his biceps and forearm, and what looked like a flock of swallows that dove and twisted around his collarbone. When he’d approached her in the park three days before, all ink, height, and Ray-Bans, she’d almost blown a gasket with how hot they were. The man could rock a tat like no one else. And that beard?
Shit.
At first it had been strange not to see that part of his face, a part she was intimately familiar with, but the more she stared at him—and stared she had—the more she understood why men grew them: they were sexy as hell.

Lexie blew out her cheeks and rubbed her fingertips against her temples. It was thoughts like those that were going to get her into a
lot
of trouble. She’d felt the all-too-familiar snap and spark through her body when he touched her, but she knew they had to be sensible. Besides, the hurt and anger she’d seen in Riley’s eyes told her that she had a lot of making up and explaining to do before they could move forward. She couldn’t allow herself to forget what had been before, or that Noah was the most important thing in the universe to her. Forgetting all of that and falling back into bed with Riley would be a huge mistake. They’d played that scene out too many times, and Lexie knew how it ended.

“Mommy!” Noah called as he sprinted into her bedroom and threw himself at the bed, scrabbling and clawing his way onto it. “Can I wear this?”

He stood, bare feet on her comforter, showing off the Batman board shorts Lexie’s mom had bought him instead of an Easter egg. Lexie grinned at how far he’d pulled them up, covering his belly button to almost under his chest.

“Don’t you look handsome?” she said as she moved to him, adjusting the shorts so they sat at his waist.

“Riley said he likes Batman, sos I can show him these.” He fiddled distractedly with the drawstring ties.

Lexie watched for a silent moment. “Do you like Riley, Noah?” Since meeting at the park, the four of them—Savannah included, because she was the perfect buffer between Lexie and Riley—had met again, just a quick coffee and a juice for Noah in the same coffee shop Lexie had worked in when she was sixteen.

Riley had mentioned that he wanted to introduce Noah to his parents and brothers, which Lexie was more than happy for him to do. Lexie couldn’t forget the look of disappointment and shock on Joan’s face the day she’d seen Noah. Once again, reason and stupidity clashed around her heart. She’d tried to explain to Riley why she hadn’t told him and, honestly, she stood by it 100 percent. Her number-one priority was Noah, and that would never change. Sure, she was more than prepared to build bridges and face whatever Riley and his family threw at her, but she would always protect her son. No matter what.

“I likes his beard,” Noah mused.

Lexie laughed and pulled Noah closer, kissing his cheek and taking a deep breath of him. It was strange how sometimes he smelled the same as Riley did when they were kids. So much of her son reminded Lexie of him and seeing the two of them together, as beautiful as it was, was also eerie. Riley wasn’t wrong when he said that they looked alike—they were like two peas in a pod—but it was their mannerisms, too. They tilted their head identically when curious about something and cocked their eyebrow in that same
derisive way. Even at four years old, Noah had that Moore characteristic down pat.

“I love you,” she whispered into her son’s hair.

“All the worlds, Mommy. Can we go to the pool now?”

Lexie kissed Noah’s forehead and moved back to her closet. “In an hour. Riley is meeting us there, but he’s picking up his daddy from the hospital first.”

“His daddy is sick?” Noah asked as he thumped back to the floor.

“He’s better now. Go and get your stuff. You need to decide what toys you’re taking.”

And with that Noah took off, leaving Lexie to breathe a sigh of relief, knowing she’d dodged a hell of a bullet.

·   ·   ·

“I’m fine, Joan. For Pete’s sake, stop fussing!”

Tate snickered and Riley shook his head as the two of them followed their parents through the front door and into the house. Upon his release, the hospital had suggested that once they got home, Park be transported from the car to the house in a wheelchair, but Park had responded with some pretty colorful words of disagreement. As an alternative, Joan gripped his arm as though the poor man were going to keel over at any second, babying him and guiding him with every step. It was clear that Park’s patience was running out.

“Oh, stop whining,” Joan retorted as they all moved into the living room. “Take a seat.”

Park settled carefully into his favorite chair with an eye roll. “It’s a few stitches, Joan. Relax.”

“
You
relax. I don’t want to hear another word. You need to keep your blood pressure down.” She turned to Riley and Tate. “I’m making tea.” They watched her flounce toward the kitchen and collapsed into almost silent chuckles.

“Yeah, laugh it up, you two,” Park commented, adjusting the cushions at his back.

“I
can
laugh it up,” Tate said with a grin, moving toward his father so he could help make him comfortable. “She did it with me when I came out of the hospital; now it’s your turn.”

Park grumbled again and rubbed a hand across his chest. “You okay, Dad?” Riley asked with a concerned frown.

Park nodded and waved an indifferent hand in his direction. “I’d be better if you all stopped looking at me as though I’m gonna explode. Shoo. Go on. Go do something else.”

“I’ll go and see if Mom wants a hand,” Tate said as he limped off in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Riley with their father and an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Bastard.

Riley stood for a minute or so, watching his dad and hating the awkward silence, before he took a seat on the large sofa. He sat on its edge, hands clasped between his knees. “It’s good to have you home,” he offered, to which Park simply lifted his eyebrows. Riley sighed. “Look, Dad, I know Mom has filled you in on what’s going on, but I wanted to tell you myself that I’m going to be sticking around Michigan a little while longer. Mom said I’m welcome to stay here at the house, but if you’re not happy with that I can make alternative—”

“It’s fine, Riley,” Park answered with a deep breath. His gaze cut to his son briefly before he dipped his chin minutely. “It’s fine.”

Riley cleared his throat. “Thank you, sir.”

“You do what you have to,” Park added. “However long it takes.”

Well, hell.
Riley nodded. “Okay, well, I’m going to meet Lex and Noah now. I’ll see you later.”

Park grunted and reached for the TV remote. Riley wandered into the kitchen to find Tate and his mother whispering like two
school kids. They stopped when they saw Riley. “My ears are burnin’,” Riley quipped, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water. “Anything I need to know?”

Joan shook her head. “No.” She sipped her tea delicately. “I was just asking Tate if he knew what was going on with you and Alexis.”

“And I told her,” Tate said, defending himself, “I know nothin’.”

“You know nothin’ because there’s nothin’ to know,” Riley singsonged with a smirk. “I’m getting to know my son. End of.”

“And that’s wonderful,” Joan said, placing her cup on the counter. “But what about you and Lexie?”

Riley lifted his shoulders. “What about us?” He knew he was being obtuse and the purse of his mother’s lips told him she knew, too, but he didn’t want to lose himself in worrying or wondering about anything other than building a relationship with Noah.

“I worry,” Joan said seriously. “You and she have a long history and you’ve both been hurt. She lied to you about Noah. I just want to know that you’re going to be careful.”

Riley exhaled heavily. His mother’s concern was warming, but it was also unnecessary; Riley was focused on one thing and one thing only: Noah. “You don’t have to worry,” he told them both. “I know what I’m doing.” He didn’t stop to wonder why the words almost tasted like a lie.

Joan’s stare was probing in the way only a mother’s look could be. “Fine,” she said, apparently seeing what she needed before she returned to the other room to check on Park.

“I’ll see you soon, yeah?” Riley asked his brother as he grabbed his bag and headed toward the front door. Tate was heading back to Pennsylvania that afternoon for work.

“Yeah, man. When will you be back in New York? I’ve got a meeting with Max at the end of the month.” Tate was Max’s Narcotics
Anonymous sponsor and had been working with him since his release from rehab.