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"I knew you would recognize me," she said, tears wetting her eyes. I rolled my eyes inwardly. Of course she recognized her. She's practically a grown-up reflection of herself.
"Hailey we should get going," I said, not sure what to do. WWJD: What Would Jake Do? I was so glad he was away this weekend. This would be a nightmare for him but at the same time, he needed to be the parent in this situation.
"What are you doing here?" Hailey asked.
"I came to see you." Natasha said simply.
"I think we should go. If you’d like to see her, you should clear it with Jake first. It was lovely to meet you, Natasha." I put my arm up in the universal symbol for a high five. Natasha looked at my hand like it was alien technology, but she obliged, and it took every ounce of my strength to keep from laughing in her face.
Then I put my arm around Hailey to shield her from her mother, which felt both right and wrong. We walked away and Natasha yelled after us.
"You can't keep her from me. She's my daughter." I looked at her over my shoulder, thinking of the painful memories Jake had shared with me. But I also thought of Hailey. This was her mother. If she wanted to get to know her, it was her choice. So, I bit back all the awful things I wanted to say to her like Wow, Most Absentee Mother of the Century decides to swoop in out of the blue? Shocking!
I had to clamp my lips to keep from cackling at the mental image of me going full telenovela villainess, pursing my lips with exaggerated menace whispering, "Listen hussy, your baby daddy's all mine now, so skedaddle before things get ugly!"
I swallowed the overblown theatrics threatening to erupt, knowing an outburst would only drive a wedge between me and Jake. Natasha huffed and crossed her arms, storming off without even coming after us.
The next day the whole scene had the surreal feel of a dream. Or a nightmare. Hailey had a few questions, but none that I could help with. She seemed more curious than anything else.
"Does dad know she's here?"
"Not that I know of, and in a town like this, I think we all would have known. My guess is she just showed up yesterday.
She nodded. "Do you think we should tell him?"
"He's due back tonight. We can tell him together then.”
Natasha's sudden sinister arrival clouded my joyful weekend, which instead of ending on a high note, was spent fretting over ways to gently tell Jake his ex-wife materialized and was planning who-knows-what havoc.
Jake's car pulled into the drive and dread pooled in my stomach. My pulse quickened as his familiar figure climbed out, and I rushed to greet him. His strong arms enveloped me, and I inhaled his scent. "Welcome home."
"Thank you," he murmured, pulling away to plant a kiss on my forehead.
"So, how was your weekend?" I asked.
He grinned. "It was great. Just what I needed. How was yours?"
"It was good." I paused, taking a deep breath.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, I need to tell you something."
"Okay..."
"When we were at the coming out of the movies yesterday, we ran into Natasha."
His eyes widened, and he took a step back.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how to handle it. She wanted to see Hailey, but I'm not her parent obviously and so I said we had to go. I may have also high-fived her."
His brow crinkled in confusion. "You what?"
"I may have high-fived her. I'm sorry. I was caught off guard. She's like a myth in this town and she was suddenly standing there. I was dumbstruck and was like what would Jake do? Anyway, Hailey is fine. We talked about it a little, and she seems okay, but I think what she needs is you."
He nodded, looking physically ill. His tanned complexion was pale and clammy.
"Are you okay?" I asked, touching his shoulder.
