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Chapter Twenty-Five
Elijah
“I took this picture earlier. She was so mad when I showed it to her before we dropped her off at her grandparent's house.” I chuckled as I handed my phone over and showed Ma the picture of Lucy with her mouth wide open, catching flies as she slept in her car seat. I was a little tired myself. I didn’t sleep much after leaving Hadley’s apartment, but it was a good tired. Probably wouldn’t be feeling that way as the day went on and I was at work but that was okay too.
Ma smiled down at my phone. “I was wondering what you were doing up so early. Did the mom—”
“Hadley.”
“Did Hadley have to work this morning?”
I took my phone back. “Yeah. I’ll get her at seven, and we’ll go pick up Lucy and Eli.”
“That’s the baby, right? Got any pictures of him?”
I shook my head. “No, but I’ll take one of him with Hadley. That’s the first one I took of Lucy.” I grinned thinking about the way she pouted. It only made it worse that I laughed at her. Everything was all good in her eyes after I told her I only wanted a picture of her.
When I glanced over at Ma, she was watching me with curious eyes. “Might as well bring them over.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “How do I suggest that?”
Ma arched a brow my way, slightly amused. “What do you mean?”
“Answer me honestly, Ma. You’re the only female who can still say they love me after knowing me. Should I leave Hadley alone? She’s been through a lot. They all have. I don’t want to fuck them up—”
“Language, Elijah,” Ma scolded me.
Hank opened the screen door and ruffled my hair like he did when I was a kid. Back then it would always piss me off. That hadn’t changed. I leaned my head away and caught him smirking down at me as he went to refill his coffee cup.
“Are you going to leave them alone?” Ma asked me.
I didn’t even have to think about it. “No.”
Ma laughed. “Then why are you asking such a silly question? I know you, you know you. Do you plan to hurt them?”
“Of course not, but…” I placed my elbows on my knees, dropped my head between my hands, and sighed. “I want to be in their lives more than I am now. This being her friend shit is for the birds.”
“Language,” Ma muttered while Hank grinned. “Why haven’t you asked her out?”
“A lot of reasons.” I sighed. It should have been easy to do so since Hadley was letting me into their lives. I could have that morning. I should have, then was equally glad I didn’t when she mentioned I was a great friend. She had me bent out of shape.
“If it’s about her kids, they’ll make your life fuller,” Hank told me after another sip of coffee. “My life would have been empty and dull without your mom. You were such a little shit—a serious handful—but I wouldn’t trade a moment we had together.”
Ma muttered under her breath about our word choice while we laughed.
“Lucy is amazing. You’ll fall in love with her. Beautiful and sweet like her mom. And Eli is a little butterball.”
“Listen to you,” Hank chuckled.
“What?” I smiled.
“You sound proud. Like they’re already yours.”
I frowned. But they weren’t. The fact that they weren’t mine sucked me into a giant black hole. It left me devastated.
“All I know is that I want more than two grandkids. You got to impregnate her at least one more time.” Ma’s words were amusing but far from terrifying. I’d thought about being a father a lot since meeting Lucy. Being a parent was so much more than I originally thought and maybe it was something I wanted.
Maybe I already did. I pictured Hadley with a rounded belly like when we first met. Only that child would be a part of me and Hadley. Suddenly, I realized I wanted that life.
