Hadley giggles and lets go of my hand to run straight into her, wrapping her arms around her waist. “We saw horses,” she says quickly, words tumbling over each other. “And cows, and a lot of dirt, and—”
“And?” Nammy prompts gently, her gaze lifting to meet mine over Hadley’s head.
“And I met him,” Hadley finishes, like it’s the most important part, her voice softening just a little.
The room shifts at that, subtle but immediate, and I feel it in the way my shoulders tighten before I can stop it.
Mom doesn’t react right away, which is exactly why I love her. She doesn’t jump to conclusions or ask questions in front of Hadley that don’t need to be asked yet. Instead, she smooths a hand over Hadley’s hair and smiles like nothing in the world just changed.
“That sounds like quite the day,” she says, her tone easy, steady. “Why don’t you go wash your hands and grab one of those cookies before dinner? I made your favorite.”
Hadley lights up at that, already pulling away. “Nammy, with the chocolate chips?”
“The very same,” Mom confirms.
Hadley doesn’t need anything more than that, darting toward the kitchen like the last hour didn’t just rearrange both our lives, and for a second I just stand there, watching her go, trying to catch up to something that refuses to slow down.
“Alright,” Mom says quietly once Hadley is out of earshot, her attention settling fully on me now. “What happened?”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, setting my keys down on the small table by the door like that simple motion might ground me. “I told him,” I say, keeping my voice low even though there’s no one to overhear us. “I told him about Hadley.”
Mom’s brows lift slightly, but she doesn’t look surprised. “And?”
I shake my head once, more at myself than at her. “He didn’t run,” I admit. That’s the part I can’t quite wrap my head around yet. “He didn’t argue or question it the way I thought he would, and he didn’t look at her like she was a problem.”
I pause, the memory hitting again whether I want it to or not, the way Hadley walked right up to him, the way he didn’t pull back.
“He looked at her like…” I trail off, searching for the right word and not finding one that doesn’t mean more than I’m ready to say out loud.
“Like she mattered,” Mom finishes softly.
I meet her eyes, and there’s no judgment there, no pressure, just quiet understanding that makes it harder to hold onto the walls I walked in with.
“Yeah,” I say after a second. “Like she mattered.”
Mom nods once, taking that in, then gestures toward the kitchen. “Come sit for a minute,” she says. “You look like you’re still standing in that yard.”
I hesitate, part of me is still back there watching everything unfold in a way I couldn’t control, but I follow her anyway, moving into the kitchen and sliding into a chair at the table while she pours two glasses of iced tea without asking.
“I’m not getting ahead of myself,” I say, wrapping my hands around the cool glass like I need something solid to hold onto. “This doesn’t change anything overnight, and I’m not about to assume he’s going to step into this the way he said he would just because it sounded right in the moment.”
Mom sets her glass down and leans back against the counter, watching me carefully. “You don’t trust him.”
It’s not a question.
I shake my head slowly. “I don’t know him,” I correct. That feels more honest. “Not the man he is now, and I’m not going to pretend I do just because we shared one night five years ago.”
My gaze drops to the table, tracing the faint lines in the wood. “Hadley deserves more than a maybe,” I add quietly. “She deserves something steady, something that doesn’t disappear the second it gets hard.”
Mom is quiet for a second, letting that sit the way she always does before she speaks. “And what if he doesn’t disappear?” she asks finally.
I let out a small breath. That’s the part I don’t have an answer for yet.
“Then we take it one step at a time,” I say, echoing the words he used earlier without meaning to, and the realization of that settles in deeper than I’d like.
Whether I trust him or not…
I can’t ignore what I saw and I still don't know if I even like him.
