AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My head dropped and I stared at the floor. “I don’t really know what I’m doing, Emma. I think I’m a good dad, but some days it feels like I’m losing my mind, and I don’t know if the decisions I’m making are the right ones.”
“You seem to be doing a good job, if you ask me.”
Lifting my gaze to hers, I attempted to smile. “You’ve only known me a few days, how can you say that?”
“I see it in your daughter. She’s such an amazing little girl, and she loves you so very much. You’re all she talks about when she’s with me. She worries about you as well.”
“Worries about me?” I asked.
“She told me sometimes at night she knows you sit on her bed, watching her sleep. She asked me if you were sad because you missed her mommy.”
I stared at Emma. Words wouldn’t form in my brain.
Letting out a long breath, she made a pleading gesture before letting her hands fall to her sides. “I don’t know how you’re feeling, Aiden, because I’ve never lost a love like yours, or had to hold my life together because I had a child who needed me to do so.” She looked away and bit into her lower lip, like she was attempting to keep something back, a memory of her ownthat she wasn’t ready or willing to share. “I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like for you, and if me being in your home is making you uncomfortable, we should rethink this.”
“No,” I said, pushing off the desk. “No, I don’t want to rethink this. I need time, Emma, that’s all. I swear to you, I won’t let what happened this morning happen again.”
She grimaced. “I overreacted as well, and you didn’t really yell. You raised your voice, and that’s your right if you were concerned about your daughter.”
I shook my head. “You didn’t overreact. I should never have raised my voice to you.”
She swallowed hard and looked down at the floor. I started to speak, but she cut me off.
“I’m not some fragile woman who’s going to get her feelings hurt if you tell me I’m doing something wrong. I need you to know that. I had a moment, just likeyouhad a moment. I think we were both caught off guard by feelings we’re both trying to figure out. I really don’t want to leave, but if you feel like it would be the best thing for Hadley, I definitely will.”
Making my way closer, I stopped in front of her. “No, I don’t want you to leave, and I know Hadley would be upset if you did. She’s adjusted to this so much faster and easier than I have, and I think that’s also thrown me. But having you here the last few days has already made a difference. It truly has.”
The corners of her mouth rose slightly. “I’m glad I’ve been able to lighten your load some, but I have a feeling you don’t like me, or maybe don’t like having me here.”
I wanted to tell her that wasn’t all she’d done, and she was dead wrong about me not liking her. She’d sparked something back to life in both meandHadley. For the first time in months, I felt something inside, and while I wasn’t sure exactly what that was, it made me happy, and not sad, for once.
She cleared her throat and continued, “Clearly you loved your wife very much.”
My hand rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. “Ididlove Lisa, but we’d been having some problems with our marriage.”
Emma looked down and kicked at something on the floor. “Aiden, before you go on, I need you to know I amnotthe type of person who searches for gossip. But yesterday, when I had coffee with Tammy, she sort of told me a little bit about you and Lisa. She wasn’t gossiping either,” she rushed to add. “It’s just that she walked up on Nancy being rather rude to me in front of Hadley. Tammy wanted to give me the backstory on why Nancy was acting the way she was.”
Narrowing my eyes, I asked, “What did Nancy say to you?”
She shrugged. “Something along the lines of me trying to use Hadley to get to you.”
I sighed and jerked a hand through my hair. “Crap. I’m sorry, I should have warned you about her last Saturday, when you met her. I honestly didn’t think she’d try to sink her claws into you that quickly.”
Emma chuckled nervously. “Well, you don’t have to worry about me, I can take care of myself. Now that I know the reason behind her attitude, I can handle myself better next time. If thereisa next time.”
This woman was unbelievable. She seemed so strong on the outside, yet I’d glimpsed her vulnerability this morning. I longed to learn more about her, and at the same time, my head screamed for me to keep my distance.
“Did Tammy tell you Lisa and I had split up? That she’d moved out of the house not long before she found out she had cancer?”
She looked surprised. “No. She mentioned you had trouble in the marriage, but that you were working on it.”
Turning around, I walked back over to the window. “Lisa and I got married at a very young age. We loved each other, but I’m not sure, had she not gotten pregnant, if we would’ve actually stayed together. We had some great times, and the first couple of years after Hadley was born, we felt like a family. But both of us refused to admit something was missing. Then Lisa decided she wanted a different life. She wanted to move away from Estes Park, and I didn’t. I love my job. I love this town. I love these mountains.”
“And she didn’t?” Emma asked, finally taking a seat on one of the chairs at my desk. I was glad to see she was no longer ready to flee.
“She did, but she wanted to move to a bigger city. Once upon a time, she wanted to travel and see the world. After she lost our first baby, she fell into this depression. I had no idea how to pull her out of it, so we started to try for another baby pretty much right away. I can’t say that was a mistake, because I have Hadley. But it probably wasn’t what Lisa needed. Like I said, things were great for a few years after Hadley was born, but when she was about three, Lisa asked me to move.”
The room grew quiet for a moment as I got lost in the memory.
