Read Online Adam’s Boys by Anna Clifton - Free Book Online Page B

him.
    She followed the lights to the kitchen where he was making a pot of coffee, two mugs out on the bench in front of him. But to Abbie it looked like an executioner preparing his tools of trade—suddenly she was wondering whether her coffee would be as restorative as she might have hoped.
    He lifted his eyes to take her in, clutching at her pants to keep them up as she slipped onto one of his kitchen stools. And right then something passed across his expression, but it was so fleeting and cryptic she couldn’t decipher it at all.
    â€œWhere have you been?” Abbie asked more boldly than she felt as she accepted a mug of coffee from him, wrapping her hands around its warmth gratefully. “I was worried about you.”
    â€œWorried! Really!” His voice was scathing but eerily calm. “Never mind where I was. I was somewhere doing a lot of thinking about you, me, Pete and Henry. And although it’s taken me all this time to work out what I want from this mess, it will take precisely sixty seconds to communicate it to you.”
    Although Abbie knew she was staring at Adam in wide-eyed alarm at what was coming she couldn’t drag her eyes away from his, let alone speak. It didn’t matter. Adam clearly had no interest in hearing from her.
    â€œI want Henry in my life full-time while I’m in Sydney. I can never regain the time I’ve lost with him and I’m not prepared to lose another minute while you and I waste time in court and argue over access.”
    Abbie’s heart clenched hard within her chest. It sounded like they were moving into an acrimonious divorce without anything like a real marriage to precede it. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but couldn’t.
    â€œYou know as well as I do that the family court are giving fathers bigger portions of time with their children these days,” he went on with about as much warmth as he would have displayed were he handing down a sentence to a convicted criminal. “Despite what you’ve done though, I’m not out for revenge. It’s not in Henry’s interests to blow your life with him apart, and so I’m going to offer you a choice. You can opt for an agreed court order for access where Henry’s week will be split between us, or you can move in here with him by Saturday night. But I’m not talking a couple of suitcases. If you choose the second option your whole life will move in here—every book, every toy, everything. You and I will look after these boys as a couple—I’ll give you all the help and support I can, and I want the same from you. As far as Henry is concerned, this will be his home, and as far as Pete is concerned, you’ll be his primary carer—just as much as I am. Pete’s struggling with anxiety and confidence issues that I’m determined to resolve, and you’re going to help me do it. That’s part of the deal and it’s not negotiable.”
    â€œI’ll do it. I’ll do everything you say,” Abbie blurted immediately.
    Despite his cold demeanour, Adam looked taken aback at her swift and sure reply.
    â€œHang on, Abbie!” he protested after several seconds of visibly struggling to process her words. “This is not something you decide on the spur of the moment.”
    â€œYes you do,” Abbie replied, hearing more composure in her voice than she was feeling. “You think that’s a choice? In one scenario I see less of Henry, and in the other I don’t. That’s not a choice. I’ll be moved in by Saturday.”
    And Abbie meant it.
    What choice did she have? It was no muddier a decision than whether to breathe or not.
    How could she ever choose to lose her son for even five minutes out of any week? And how could she deny Adam what he asked of her when he was entitled to see as much of Henry from then on as was humanly possible?
    Yet despite everything she’d done to him, she despaired