Side Chick Era... Over

Loving Mom 201

Chapter 201

“Theo said… he hates me,” Matty murmured. “He doesn’t want you and me to be together. He said the only reason he came to the amusement park was to make up with you. That if he just acted soft and sweet, you’d forgive him. And then you’d stop paying attention to me. He also said… he said…”

Matty’s eyes reddened suddenly. His voice caught in his throat, thick with the weight of something he didn’t want to say.

Sharon leaned forward. “He said what?”

“He said I’m just a substitute,” he whispered. “Sharon, am I really just Theo’s replacement?”

His wide eyes shimmered with tears, like a stray animal left out in the rain-beautiful, fragile, and aching to be loved.

Sharon’s heart tightened. And with it, her disappointment in Theo cut deeper.

A substitute?

Theo was just like his father. They liked to play substitutes. Like father, like son.

She knelt down to Matty’s eye level. “You’re not a substitute for anyone. You are yourself, Matty. That’s more than enough. If you want an apology from Theo, I’ll make sure you get it. But if there’s anything else you want, anything at all, tell me. I’ll do whatever I can to make it happen.”

Matty hesitated, then looked up at her with cautious, searching eyes.

softly.

chest ached at

him, it felt like Matty had been constantly getting picked on by

once blamed her. Never even

deep breath and turned toward the man who had been silently standing to the side

there’s anything you’d like to ask

the eye. “Sharon, you need to understand-Theo isn’t yours alone. The responsibility shouldn’t fall on

you.”

continued, “Carter’s never had to step up. He thinks raising a child is simple. He can’t see everything you’ve done.

words stopped her. Something

had on his plate-running a massive company, his endless meetings, the stress.

had wanted to be a good wife. The kind who made sure he had no reason to look back, no loose

with all that free

How cruelly

she said quietly.

that Theo was out of danger, Carter

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Chapter 201