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I glance over at Logan to see him cheering on Hannah as she shoots and scores in their makeshift goals, all the while rubbing a comforting hand on Isabel’s back as she snores on his shoulder.
I know we agreed I’d stay for three months, but I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave Pine Falls. I don’t want to leave this family. I don’t want to leave the house that is quickly becoming a home.
But the truth is: if I leave, I think I would miss him most of all.
“You go, baby girl,” I shout to Hannah as Eden and Molly lift her high and celebrate her goal.
She doesn’t want to leave either. She said so just last night when she asked if she could go to school here.
For the first time in so long, I’ve found somewhere I can make a life. A real one. A happy one.
But I’ll need to talk to Logan. I won’t leave Pine Falls, but if we can stay at the house is ultimately his decision.
As if sensing me watching, he looks over at me, a ready smirk on his lips.
He dips his chin. It’s always a silent question. “You good?”
I nod.
He winks and cradles Isabel.
My heart skips a beat.
She'd climbed up on his lap thirty minutes ago and his chest had been her pillow ever since.
I love that she felt comfortable enough to do it.
“There’s no such thing as coincidence,” Kim whispers at my side. When I turn to her, I see she’s been watching our exchange.
“What do you call this then?”
Taking my hand, she squeezes love into my bones. It’s a touch that screams an apology she always feels she needs to give, but the apology is mine. I lost her through no fault but my own. Rob might have tried to feed me lies about her, but I never believed it. I just never wanted her to get hurt too. And seeing me with him hurt her more.
“I don’t know what this is yet, but it’s too weird. It blows my mind.”
Mine too.
We remain in silence for long minutes, watching the world go by.
Contentment.
It’s the only word I have to describe how I feel.
Red-faced and exhausted, Hannah climbs onto my lap. I hate that her legs almost reach the ground. How much longer do I have like this?
I squeeze her tighter. “Having fun?”
“So much,” she replies, breathless.
Equally as tired, Molly and Eden drag their feet to their chairs, laughing as they take a long gulp of their beers.
Eden turns to me and Kim. “Let’s have a girl’s night. Let’s go out.”
“Oh, girl’s night,” Molly agrees, her face lighting up. “There’s a great band playing at the bar.”
Archer kisses the top of her head. “You should, baby,” he tells her, but her eyes fall to the grass. She recovers quickly, her lips tilting up into a smile.
I turn to Kim. “You should go.”
