“You suuuure you wanna know?” He side-eyed me, and I hesitantly nodded. “My girlfriend’s brother isn’t the greatest guy. In a gang. Not like the kind you see in movies, or even gang members you’ve probably helped at the hospital.” He met my eyes in the reflection. “More business-y, if that makes sense.”

It didn’t, and I wasn’t sure if he was defending his girlfriend’s brother’s actions with that comparison, so I kept quiet and let him explain.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess I was lucky Constantine was there. Well, according to him, at least, things would have gone much differently if he hadn’t shown up. But I guess we’ll never know.”

“Thank God for that.” Like, really. Thank you, God.

“I’m done with all that stuff, though, okay?” He twisted around to face me, and I hooked my arm with his. “I promise.”

“And what about her?”

His jaw strained in defense mode. “I can’t lose her. Please don’t ask me to do the impossible and leave her.”

I let go of his arm and went over to his bed, needing to sit again. I felt a little better after our conversation and truly wanted to believe he was “done with all that”—especially now that his father was in his life to help out—but . . .

Damn that but still bouncing around in my head. Such an inconvenient and obnoxious worry word causing overthinking and sometimes bad decisions.

“Mom?” He stood before me, forcing me to look up at him.

“Yeah?”

“Why do I want to be mad at him?”

Oh. Um. I sat taller, gripping my thighs as I tried to summon an appropriate answer.

“It’s not like he knew I existed. It’s not like he knew I was his son in the hallway that night all those years ago and just walked away from me.” He screwed his face up tight. “But I’m still pissed he didn’t know and angry that we missed out on having each other in our lives.”

My everything hurt for him and Constantine. This, right here, was why I knew I’d have to forgive, but not forget, his lies and sneaking around even faster than I usually did when he’d been in trouble. He was experiencing something that would change the course of his life, so I needed to focus on what was in front of us and not the problems of yesterday.