Read Room for More for Free Online Page B

back for us. The last five years, I’ve prayed every day that he would stay far away, and that the girls would belong to just me forever. The room started to spin as my breathing increased.
    “Uh oh, what’s with the face?”
    “What?” I tried to sound as normal as possible.
    “Don’t ‘what’ me, Kacie Jensen. I know you. You clam up when I mention him, but you don’t look ill.”
    My brain started arguing with itself. I didn’t want anyone to know I’d seen him. If I said it out loud, it made it seem more real. I wanted to take that secret, lock it in a box, and bury it in the middle of nowhere. Maybe then it would stay hidden forever and my life would never change. On the other hand, I desperately wanted someone to talk about it with. I hadn’t seen Alexa yet, and I knew she was going to lose her mind and try to kill him. Telling Brody was out of the question right now. Lauren knew I’d seen him, but she lived on the other side of the world for the next year. I couldn’t just grab the phone and call her every time I needed to talk about it.
    “Where are the girls?” I craned my neck, looking for them in the family room and down the hallway.
    “When you were in your room, they got dressed and went outside to rake leaves with Fred. Spill it.”
    “I saw him,” I said in a barely audible voice.
    “Him? What him? Zach?” Her eyes opened so wide I thought they might fall out of her head. “When? Where?”
    I sighed. “At work. He works there. Well, kind of. He’s an EMT, so I’ve seen him a couple times.”
    She didn’t speak. Her mouth hung open, her green eyes still wide as can be, her face completely frozen in shock.
    “I saw him my first day. I was in a room waiting for a patient and two EMTs brought her in. He had his back to me—I didn’t recognize him from behind. When he turned around, I almost died.”
    “That son of a bitch,” she growled. “Have you talked to him since you saw him? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this sooner, by the way.”
    “I ignored him the first time I saw him. Actually, I freaked out and hid in the bathroom. Then last week, the day Brody brought the girls to the hospital to have lunch with me, Zach saw them. Us. Sitting together, having lunch.” She sat at the island across from me with her chin resting on her hand, mesmerized by every word I was saying. “Anyway, on my way back to the ER, he grabbed me, pulled me into a janitorial closet, and asked me about them. He wanted to talk to me, even offered to buy me a coffee.”
    “Wow,” she said, shaking her head back and forth. “You should’ve taken him up on it.”
    “I should have?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
    “Yes. You should have ordered the biggest, hottest coffee on the menu then thrown it in his face.”
    “Mom.” I let a slight giggle escape as I rolled my eyes. “Fun as that would have been, it’s slightly violent.”
    “But fitting.” She curved her lips into an evil smirk. “What does Brody think about it?”
    I covered my eyes with my hands, ignoring her question.
    “You didn’t tell him yet?”
    I just shook my head, still hiding from her.
    “Kacie! What are you thinking?” She crossed her arms across her chest.
    “I know, I know.” I sighed. “I’m going to tell him. Soon.”
    “You better,” she demanded.
    “Anyway, I don’t know what to do. I can’t exactly ask for a transfer or it’ll delay my graduation. I just have to do my best to avoid him until I’m done.” I swallowed a huge lump in my throat as tears stung my eyes. “I’m so scared, Mom. I don’t want him back in our lives. Can he take the girls?”
    Mom got up and hurried around to my side of the island, pulling me in close. “Honey, he will never, ever take those girls. Do you hear me? He hasn’t been around for five years. No court in their right mind would grant him any sort of custody. The most he could hope for would be minimal visitation, but if I have to sell this