Maya releases a shuddering breath as she looks up at me with glossy eyes. “It just seems she loves to kick me while I’m already down.”
“We’ll work something out about the housing arrangements,” I say with optimism. “If you can’t stay there any longer, then we’ll figure it out.”
“I’m scared.” She wraps her arms tighter around herself. “I’m scared it’s all going to end badly, and Skye will be taken from me and?—”
“Hey.” I stop pushing the pram and turn towards her, reaching for her cold fingers. “No one is going to take Skye from you, okay? No one. We’re going to work this out regardless of what you think might happen. We’re two present parents, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure we do our best. You’re not doing this alone anymore, sunshine, remember that.”
Her nose wrinkles. “Not sure why you still call me sunshine when I am clearly nothing like sunshine.”
“You aremysunshine,” I rasp as I drag my fingers gently over her knuckles. “Every time I look at you, I see so much brightness, so much happiness. You brighten my day every time I get to see your face.”
She blinks through the emotion that washes over her expression. “I don’t even recognise myself anymore.”
My brows dip at the sadness in her voice. “You just had a baby. Of course things are going to be a little different, but that doesn’t mean you’re not the same person. Priorities have changed, and I know you’re sleep-deprived and stressed, but things will start to get better soon. I promise.”
“How can you promise that?”
“Because I’m going to be here,” I state simply. “Through everything. You’re not doing this alone, and I’m not going to let you suffer. It’s us, okay?”
Maya flicks her eyes between mine and eventually nods, relieving the tightness in my chest.
We walk around the local area, and I try my hardest to put a smile back on Maya’s face, bringing up all sorts of stupid memories from our past because those were some of the happiest days of my life.
The days I spent with her where I didn’t think about alcohol, that made me forget everything else in the world, and I fell in love with her a little more each day.
“I miss when we used to go around every cinema in the city and see how many movies we could watch in one day,” I say with a grin. “That must have been some kind of world record.”
Maya’s lips crack, and I hold onto the sliver of her smile for as long as I can. “We were sick of popcorn by the end of it.”
“And my bank account was crying,” I chuckle.
“Hey.” She points a finger at me. “I offered to pay, but you wouldn’t let me.”
“Because it was a date.”
“Dates can be equal. It’s normalised in society these days for the woman to pay, and I agree. It doesn’t have to be on the man every time,” she says with raised brows. “And besides, we were already boyfriend and girlfriend.”
My heart lurches at that statement. Wewereboyfriend and girlfriend.
Not anymore.
“Because I wanted to treat you right,” I confess. “It was my first serious relationship, and I wanted to prove how much you meant to me.”
Maya swallows thickly. “Well, I knew, Finn.”
I almost close my eyes in defeat because after the conversation we had earlier, it’s evident Maya doesn’t want anything to do with me now. We’re going toco-parent, whatever the hell that means.
But the situation is bigger than us, and we need to be mature adults about it.
“I could have been better,” I murmur. “Ishouldhave been better at the end.”
Maya remains silent as she purses her lips. She knows it’s true more than anyone else. She saw me self-destruct right before her eyes.
When we arrive back at Maya and Nina’s house after an hour, I hover by the door. “Do you want me to come in?”
Maya turns to me with pleading eyes. “Yeah,” she whispers. “Is that okay?”
“Of course.”
