****
The streets of Steelhavenblurred past as Ellie drove toward her mother’s house.She clenched her fingers too tightly around the steering wheel.The radio played something soft, twinkly, probably a holiday track, but she wasn’t really listening.
Her mind was still back at the café, stuck in that corner booth where Dasher had looked at her like five years hadn’t passed.Like she still meant something.Damn him.
She pulled into her mom’s driveway and killed the engine.Warm light glowed through the front windows, casting golden rectangles onto the porch.
Her chest ached with a strange mix of anxiety and longing.Maddy would be waiting inside, probably with sticky hands and glitter somewhere in her hair, chattering about whatever craft project her grandmother had invented this time.And Ellie needed that energy.That anchor.
The front door creaked open before she even reached it.
“Mommy!”Maddy squealed, barreling out in a blur of pink leggings and snow boots, a half-eaten candy cane clutched in her hand.
Ellie dropped to her knees and caught her daughter in a tight hug, burying her face in her soft brown curls.“Hey, bug.You behave for Grandma?”
“I made a snowman ornament with marshmallows!”Maddy beamed, already launching into a chaotic story about googly eyes, glitter glue, and a small mishap involving the cat.
Ellie smiled, letting her daughter’s voice fill her up and push out everything else.
“Come on in, sweetheart,” her mom called from the doorway, arms crossed but smiling.“You look frozen.”
Ellie followed them inside, grateful for the familiar warmth of the little house where she’d spent so much of her twenties.Post-Dasher, post-everything.
Her mom had been her safety net more times than Ellie could count.She’d watched Maddy on short notice, cooked dinner when Ellie worked late, never once made her feel like a burden.
And yet, tonight, something hung between them.
Maybe it was the way Ellie couldn’t meet her mother’s eyes when she handed off Maddy’s backpack.Or the way her mom raised a brow as Ellie rubbed at her forehead like she was trying to erase a memory.
“You okay?”her mother asked quietly once Maddy scampered off to the living room.
Ellie hesitated.“Just a long day.”
Her mom poured her a cup of tea without asking and handed it over with a look that said try again.
Ellie sighed and leaned against the counter.“I saw him today.”
Her mom’s brows lifted.“Him him?”
Ellie nodded.“Dasher.”
There was a beat of silence.
Then.“Oh.”
“He asked me to coffee,” Ellie said, watching the steam rise from her mug.“I went.Just to hear what he had to say.He said he regrets letting me go.That he never stopped thinking about me.”
Her mother’s expression didn’t change.No judgment.No outrage.Just quiet curiosity.
“I told him I had to pick up Maddy.I thought, maybe, I don’t know.I thought it would scare him off,” Ellie admitted.
“Did it?”
“No,” Ellie said softly.“He asked how old she was.Said her name was cute.That was it.”
Her mother took a slow sip of her tea.“He always did have manners.”
Ellie blinked.“You’re not going to tell me to stay away?”
