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“Ms. Emma, are you coming home with us?” she asked when the swing slowed to a stop.
Smiling, I bent down and pushed one of her brown curls behind her ear. It wasn’t going to be hard falling head over heels for this girl. “Not today, but soon.”
“Tomorrows?” Hadley asked in that sweet little five-year-old voice. Her hazel eyes pleaded for me to say yes.
“I’m not really sure. Your daddy and I have to talk about it.”
When I looked up, Aiden was nearby, talking to someone on his phone. Glancing at me, he gestured to it with a frustrated look, and I knew he’d prefer to be present in our conversation.
“Daddy’s always sad.”
My eyes jerked back to Hadley. “Why do you say that?” I asked, trying to give her a smile.
Her little shoulders lifted in a shrug. “He doesn’t laugh a lot anymore, and sometimes when he thinks I’m asleep, he sits on my bed and just stares at me.”
I wanted to scoop her up and hold her in my arms. Erase any pain she felt, and any her father felt as well.
I was momentarily shocked by how I’d instantly felt so protective of them both. Maybe it was a coping mechanism to forget about myownproblems. The ones I’d left behind. And I could do that by focusing on theirs.
“I bet he does that because he loves you so much.”
Her face lit up.
“What did I miss?” Aiden asked, looking at us both. I quickly stood and smiled.
“Hadley was asking when I was going to move in.”
Aiden’s brow rose. “Okay, well, whencanyou move in? The faster the better. Do you need to give notice where you’re at?”
I scoffed. “No, the man I’m renting a cabin from will probably be glad to see me go.”
“Wait…you’re staying at a rental cabin?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I only got to town a week and a half ago. I was focusing on finding work and then a place to live.”
“That must be costing you a small fortune, Emma. You can’t be doing that.”
“Why not?” I asked, my hands going to my hips. I wasn’t about to let another man start telling me what I could and couldn’t do.
His expression grew contrite, and he cleared his throat. “Well, I mean… I didn’t mean it like that.”
I softened my stance.
“I just meant, um, the room above the garage is ready, and if you wanted, you could move in tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I asked, my voice shaking slightly. It was clear Aiden and Hadley wanted me to start the job as quickly as possible.
“Is that too soon?” he asked.
“No… No, I say we go ahead and start adjusting to the new routine,” I added quickly.
Hadley jumped off the swing and fist pumped, and Aiden looked relieved.
“Do you need help with anything? Moving, I mean?”
I shook my head. “No, I only have one suitcase. Mostly clothes and a few things that were my mother’s. Everything else, I left behind in Dallas.”
Good going, Emma. Another round of let’s give too much information.
