Page 121 of Mommy

“What can I help you with, Derek?”

There’s no chance Shelly hasn’t guessed what’s happened between Ivory and me. Hell, maybe Ivy even told her.

“He’s here to adopt.” Ezekiel answers in my stead, a shit eating grin on his lips.

Shelly’s demeanour immediately shifts, and her lips pull into an understanding smile. Before turning to walk us down a hallway, she throws a gaze back at Ezekiel.

“Ez, be a dear and take her picture from the board.”

Following Shelly, I end up in a small office, where I take a seat opposite her. Ez slumps into a spare chair in the corner, pulling out his phone.

I bet he’s texting Rose.

My insides churn at the thought, pulling my eyes away from him. They land on Posie, who’s taken a seat on the floor before my feet.

Rosemary stayed at my house to keep an eye on the pups while I took Posie to the shelter.

“You’ll just need to sign a few things and then you can take her back home.” Shelly says, her attention glued to the paperwork before her.

I nod.

This feels like its regular procedure. Ezekiel looks straight up bored, if I’m being honest.

“Does this… happen often?” I ask, masking my confusion with curiosity.

“More often than you’d think.” Shelly says, a smile tugging at her lips.

Shrugging, Ezekiel looks over at me with a grin.

“Fostering is like making pancakes, man.” He laughs. “The first one is always a failure.”

Foster-fail.

I think I’ve heard him use that word before. Maybe even when he failed in fostering Zero. He ended up adopting him too.

Well, I’m officially joining the club. The thought of having to lose Posie after I already lost Ivory was more than I could take. The solution? Adopt her before someone else could. I had called Ezekiel before I emailed the shelter, wanting to make sure this was an option and he insisted on tagging along.

“Okay, I think I’ve got everything I need except your signature.” Shelly says.

She pushes the papers over to me together with a pen.

I’m just leaning forward to grab both, when the door bangs open and… it’s her.

She’s here.

Ivory is here.

She looks thin, her blond hair falling in a chaotic twirl over her shoulders and accenting her slim frame. There are dark circles shimmering under her pretty blue eyes, like the night drew them there for her to remind her that she should’ve slept, but didn’t. She’s tired, even when she doesn’t show it in her defiantly wide stance, and yet— she’s gorgeous.

“Ivory—”

Ivy isn’t letting Shelly finish, her hard eyes landing on me.

“How could you?”

She is doing a good job of hiding the tremble in her voice, but not good enough to fool me. I’ve seen her cry, and I’ve made her angry, I can separate the two by now.

“Ivy, I⁠—”