Fallon shook her head as the tears ran down her cheeks. Man, she had messed up.

Royally.

Hadn’t she just been in her office ready to give him another chance? Asking him to give her a chance was more like it now. She was going to have to beg for forgiveness, and she should have to. Fallon had no right to say that, but she wasn’t thinking — she was just acting.

Something she really needed to learn not to do.

Fallon turned to go back inside, and when she reached the stairs she saw Aiden looking out the window. His face was pressed against the glass and his eyebrows were drawn in at the middle. Fallon looked away as she pushed the door open and shut it behind her.

“Where did Dad go?” Aiden demanded, his hand on his hip.

“He left.”

“Why? He didn’t even say bye to me!”

Fallon let out a long breath, “Aiden Punkin’, sit down, he’ll call later,” Fallon said as she came towards him. Aiden’s face turned red as he moved away from her.

“Did you send him away!? It was my fault he hit me! I skated in front of the net!” Aiden yelled.

Fallon was appalled he was yelling at her. She looked down at him. “Aiden James, watch your mouth right now!”

“No! You sent my dad away! You keep keeping him away from me! He’s my dad! I want him!” Aiden yelled irrationally as his other hand moved with each word that left his mouth.

“Aiden, buddy, calm down,” Audrey said from the kitchen.

“No! I want my dad back! I want to go live with him!” Aiden screamed pushing past Fallon and running towards the stairs. He turned to pin Fallon with the scariest look ever. Her sweet boy never looked at her like that. He was looking at her as if she was the worst person ever. “I hate you!” he screamed before running up the stairs and slamming his door.

Air rushed from Fallon’s lungs as she braced herself against the sofa.

That did not just happen.

“Oh, Fallon, he didn’t mean that,” Audrey said quickly, coming to her side and wrapping her arms around Fallon’s arms.

Fallon took in deep breaths as tears poured down her cheeks. Aiden did not just say he hated her. He couldn’t have. She must have heard him wrong.

“He loves you, Fallon. He’s just upset, he didn’t mean it, I swear,” Audrey reassured her but Fallon wasn’t listening. She was replaying the look Aiden gave her, the angry words that left his sweet mouth, and even the look Lucas gave her as he pulled out of her driveway. In a matter of minutes she had hurt two people she loved more than anything.

Yeah, she was a winner.

Fallon broke apart from Audrey and went into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of Big Rock Syrah wine on her way. She popped the top and poured a hefty glass before bringing it to her lips, drinking quickly. The hearty, spicy red wine burned down the back of her throat and she welcomed the pain. She deserved it. The wild black fruit and pepper danced along her tongue as tears gushed down her cheeks and she pulled in a lungful of air. She felt like she was going to pass out but it didn’t stop her from finishing the glass and reaching for the bottle to pour another. Audrey took the bottle from her before she could do so.

“Stop, stop right now.”

Fallon glanced over at her before crumbling against the counter. She let out a cry before letting her face fall into her hands, where hot tears coursed down her cheeks onto them. Fallon was hurting so bad that she swore she felt like she was bleeding from a gaping wound on her chest. She hated what she done and she hated that she had hurt two people who could honestly be the most important people to her ever.

“Fallon, you can fix this with Lucas. Aiden is just mad, he’ll be fine once he talks to Lucas and you know he didn’t mean that. You have to know that,” Audrey soothed as she sat beside Fallon, wrapping an arm around her.

“No, he has every right to hate me. I keep keeping his father away from him. He isn’t stupid, he knows that I am a bitter hateful bitch, and I don’t deserve him or Lucas,” Fallon cried.

“Okay, I’m gonna give you another two minutes for your little pity party, and then we’ll move on and fix things, okay?”

Fallon sat up to send Audrey a glare. “This ain’t no pity party.”

“Yes it is! Oh my God, my kid says he hates me. Oh, the guy I love hates me too, everyone hates me, blah blah blah!”

Fallon couldn’t believe that Audrey was teasing her, this was serious! Fallon was convinced her heart was breaking. “You told mom you hated her when we were five years old! I remember that like it was yesterday. Did you mean it? No! You were just mad that she took your dolls away. We say things when we’re mad, it’s a Parker thing. As long as you say you’re sorry and you mean it, then everything will work out.”

Fallon shook her head, “Mom took my dolls. I took Aiden’s dad away. Totally different scenarios here, Audrey.”

“No, Aiden didn’t mean it, the same way you didn’t mean to call Lucas what you did,” Audrey stressed.

“You heard it?” Fallon asked sadly.

“We both did, but it doesn’t matter. If you can apologize to Lucas, it will show Aiden that he should apologize to you. Be the bigger person, swallow your pride. Be the strong woman I love and know.”

Fallon laid her head against her knees, sniffling loudly before shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You can. You can do anything. You are the strongest person ever Fallon. I wish I could be half of what you are.”