I snort into my coffee. “That’s debatable. You came home from her house last time with blue hair and a sugar hangover.”
“It wasn’t blue, Mama—it wasaqua lightning.” He grins proudly, showing off his missing tooth. “Tristan said we looked like superheroes.”
Talia laughs. “Well, I hope you two superheroes plan to save the worldquietlythis time. I heard you guys partied till midnight.”
He waves a dismissive hand. “That was the dog’s fault. She kept wanting snacks.”
I shake my head, amused. “Right. The dog made you eat four slices of pizza and half a bag of marshmallows.”
“She’s very persuasive,” he says seriously.
Talia leans down and tweaks his nose. “You’re a menace, kid. Poor Tristan’s mom has no idea what’s coming.”
He beams. “She said we could build a fort! With flashlights and popcorn andnachos!”
“Nachos?” I fake a gasp. “What is this, Amazing Chicago’s Funhouse?”
Laddie puffs out his chest. “Better. It’s Tristan’s house.”
Talia grins and winks at me. “You know what that means, Em. You’ve got the night off and zero bedtime stories.”
I smile as Laddie zips up his bag. “But first, I have to survive the drop-off.”
By the timeI’m back home, the apartment feels way too quiet. Laddie’s off living his best life at Tristan’s, and I’m standing in my kitchen pretending I’m not nervous as hell.
It’s the perfect night for a sleepover, for himandfor me. I didn’t really want to ask Talia to babysit anyway, especially since I have no real intention of coming home until morning.
“So, uh...” I start, hovering awkwardly by the counter, not sure how to tell Talia that Liam and I are going on a date. And that we’ve been doing a lot of phone sex. Yeah… probably skipping that part for now. “I, uhhh…”
She glances up from her laptop, peering at me through her ultra-cool, wire-frame glasses. “What’s wrong with you? You look like you’re about to confess to a crime. Or have a stroke.”
I roll my eyes. “Neither, thanks for your concern.”
Talia is home for the night, a night she would normally work. She’s been taking more and more vacation days and sick days lately, I’ve noticed.
When I asked her about it, she just said she thinks she needs to look for something else, and that is indeed what she’s doing now.
“I have a date tonight,” I blurt. “Just wanted to let you know.”
Her eyes narrow. “With whom, exactly?”
“Ummm...”
She stares at me for half a second, then groans. “Jesus, Emma. Liam Callaghan? Seriously?”
I feel defensive already. “We’ve been texting a lot. I think we just want to see where it leads.”
“Where it leads?” She scoffs. “I’ll tell you where it leads. To you, telling him he has a kid, and him reacting, who knows how? To you, getting dragged into whatever mess he’s got going on rightnow. To you, getting cold feet and ghosting him again. That’s where it leads.”
Her words hit like a slap, sharp and stinging. I flinch before I can hide it, and she must see it because her expression softens instantly. She exhales, long and slow, closing her eyes like she’s reeling herself back in.
“Emma,” she says, “I’m sorry. That was...I should have thought about what I wanted to say before I said it. It’s just that you made a choice to end things a long time ago, and I do not understand, for the life of me, why you would want to reopen a box you sealed up six years ago.”
I swallow hard, forcing the lump in my throat down. “I left because I didn’t want to put him in a position that would mess up his chance to chase his dream, not because I didn’t love him.”
“I know,” she says softly. “And that was incredibly selfless of you. But you were eighteen then. You’re not that girl anymore, Em. It just feels like… you’re walking backward.”
My jaw hurts, and I realize I’m gritting my teeth. “I have tried dating other people, Talia. I’ve been with other people. No one makes me feel the way he makes me feel.”
