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. “I just want

chest ached at that.

she met him, it felt like Matty had been constantly getting picked on by Theo, always suffering, always left

he’d never once blamed

breath and turned toward the man who had

you’d like to ask for…

“Sharon, you need to understand-Theo isn’t yours alone. The responsibility

you.”

continued, “Carter’s never had to step up. He thinks raising

stopped her. Something inside

his endless

to be a good wife. The kind who made sure he had no

with all that

absurd. How cruelly

she said quietly. “Thank you,

of danger, Carter sent Madeline and Denise home

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Chapter 201