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"So what's this job?" she asks, getting right to the point.
"You know about Old Town, right?"
"That place they built a few months back?"
"Yeah, well I happen to be best friends with the owner’s fiancée and he mentioned they were looking for people the other night at dinner. I thought of you, and when I spoke to him this morning, he agreed to meet with you."
"What would I be doing? Not that I have a right to be picky, but I'm curious."
Sharing with her the details I know, Haley nods in delight. When I tell her she can bring Gus to work with her, she starts crying. I expected her to cry happy tears, to have a sense of relief, but apparently, my news opened the floodgates.
Once she composed herself, we talked strategy. When she will interview. What she needs to wear. I even shared with her a little about Wyatt so she won't be as nervous as she looks right now.
"I don't know how to thank you, Addison. No one's ever been this nice to me before."
"Like I said," I start, sucking in a deep breath, "I've been in your shoes before."
Tilting her head to the side, I close my eyes and share with Haley the part of my past that's the most difficult for me to talk about.
"Before I moved here, I had a string of bad luck. The things that happened changed me. They made me guarded and unable to trust for a long time. It wasn't until I met Chloe and then Adam, my fiancé, that I really allowed myself to be loved again.
"You see, I allowed one thing to define who I was. It was my past, my present, and my future. It's all I could see for a long time. I was attacked while I was running one morning. They beat me up pretty good, but it could have been worse. What I didn't know at the time was I was pregnant. The trauma my body experienced led to my miscarriage. I blamed myself for a long time, assumed I wasn't strong enough to take care of my child. Shortly after, I met Chloe who was in a similar situation.
"She was pregnant and alone, but she was a fighter. It made me want to fight, but my demons were strong. I ran away from them and never really dealt with them. I didn't accept help from anyone when I should have taken all the help I could get. Emotionally I needed it, but I couldn't see it back then. That's why I'm so glad I can help you. I see a lot of fight in you. You want to do more, but you can't do it alone."
"What changed?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've obviously moved past things now. How did you do it?"
"Well, it's actually a recent development. I was still hiding from my problems until the day I met you. I found out I was pregnant that day, then that night Adam proposed, and I freaked out. I thought he knew and that was why he was asking me. That's what my last boyfriend did when we found out and as much as I loved him, I didn't want to marry him because of our baby. This time it was different, though.
"Adam had no idea. Freaking out on him forced me to come clean about my past, about the demons that still haunt me. It was freeing, in a way, to not have to hide it anymore, to talk about it with someone who wasn't there when it all happened. My heart can finally heal, and I can only attribute that to Adam."
Haley's quiet for a minute, letting it all sink in.
"I'm so sorry for your loss, Addison. It's heartbreaking because one look at you and Gus in the grocery store and I knew you'd be a good mother. And now you have a second chance to be the mother you deserve to be."
Pulling Haley in for a hug, she stiffens at first before wrapping her arms around me and returning the gesture. We stay this way while Gus softly coos from his playpen, the sound bringing a smile to my face.
Releasing her, I steer the topic back to her interview so I'm not late for my lunch date with Chloe.
