Page 61 of Dare to Stay

Two words. And for the first time, the whole picture made sense.

I tuck the top blanket around him, careful of his neck, and kiss the top of his head.

“Night, Dad.”

“Night, buddy.”

I stand in his doorway a second longer than I need to, the way I do every night, watching him settle. Then I pull the door until it’s open exactly the width he likes and head down the hall.

Dottie’s already turned in. The house is silent except for the dishwasher’s humming.

I drop onto the couch, about to flip the TV on.

And that’s when it lands.

Olivia met Bo today.

Not the way it’s supposed to happen. Not the careful way, the planned way, the way where I decide months in advance that someone is worth the risk and even then walk it in slow, one inch at a time, watching Bo’s face the whole way.

It just... happened. In a hallway. Over a dropped piece of paper.

I sit up.

I don’t bring people around Bo. That’s the rule, and it’s not a soft one. He gets attached fast, and he loves big, bigger than he can protect himself with. I decided a long time ago I would never let him hand that kind of love to someone who wasn’t going to stay to catch it.

So I keep the two halves of my life apart. Bo on one side. Everything else on the other.

And the truth is, I felt it the second I came around that corner this morning and saw them already talking. The alarm went off right on schedule. Stranger. My kid. Too close. Everything in me stood up at once.

I just didn’t let it reach my face. So I kept it easy. Cracked the joke. Shook it off like it was nothing.

It wasn’t nothing. I knew that the whole drive home, through lunch, through the hamster and the dishes. The wall I’ve held for ten years just... wasn’t there. Olivia walked straight through a gap I didn’t know I’d left open, and by the time I reached them it was already done.

I should be worried. Part of me is. I broke my own rule and didn’t even get to make the call.

But I keep coming back to the look on Bo’s face.

He liked her.