“Does this car belong to who I think it belongs to?” she asked, her piercing green eyes swinging from the SUV to me. She arched both her eyebrows. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
I nodded, keeping my voice down, and walked around her tiny rental to grab her suitcase. “Let’s go talk upstairs. They’re in the garage.”
Mom ran a hand through her dark graying hair. Her gaze lingered on the SUV for another minute before she followed me inside. I took her directly to my bedroom and shut the door behind us, but as I looked at her, I suddenly couldn’t get a word out.
She just looked so much likeherthat it really hit me out of the blue that she’d come. I’d needed her and she’d dropped everything to be here for me. Again. Like always. Tears pressed at the backs of my eyes and she smiled, opening her arms and waiting for me to walk straight into them.
I didn’t make her wait long, melting into her and finding comfort in her arms like I was back to being seven years old myself. Wearing a white knit sweater she’d had since I’d been a teenager and paint-stained jeans, she held me close, making me feel like I’d just gotten home after a whole winter spent out in the cold.
“Oh, honey,” she murmured against my hair, one of her hands stroking my back while her other palm was folded around the back of my head. “Are you sure you’ve thought this through? Getting married to someone you barely know wouldn’t be easy on anyone, but under the circumstances…”
She trailed off, but I knew what she meant. I sighed and gave her one last squeeze, then stepped away from her and sat down on the edge of my bed. I turned my gaze toward the window and watched the yellow and red leaves rustling in the breeze outside.
I dragged in a deep breath. “We’re not rushing into anything we’re not emotionally ready for. I told you, it’s an arrangement. It’s what’s convenient for both of us.”
She raised an eyebrow and lowered herself into an antique armchair in the corner. I’d picked it up at a yard sale, but itsuddenly felt like it had been put here for this very moment when she would be the therapist with me as the patient.
“That’s not the part I’m worried about, baby,” she said gently. “I know you’ve convinced yourself that this… arrangement is practical. Safe. But marriage is still marriage. Is living with this man going to make you happy? Because right now, from where I’m sitting, you don’t seem particularly happy at all.”
“That’s not because of him, though,” I admitted, my voice coming out muffled as I buried my face in my hands. “Callum has been so good to us. Brody adores him and I think he’ll be over the moon when I tell him that we’re getting married.”
Mom softened and let out a long breath. “All I want is for you to be happy, but I also want you to be smart about this. I trust you, but all I’m hearing is about Brody and Callum. Where areyouin all of this? Gosh, baby. This ismarriageyou’re talking about.”
“I know.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I also know the way we’re going about things is unorthodox, Mom, but this is what Brody needs right now. Stability. A plan. Someone to show up consistently. Someone to be there for him. Callum is capable of that. My needs don’t matter as much right now as what he can offer Brody. Everything else can wait.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed, scanning my face like she was trying to read every thought in my head. “What do you mean,everythingelse? I also wouldn’t focus so much on them right now, honey. Obviously, Callum and Brody are smitten with each other at the moment. They’ve just discovered that they’re father and son?—”
She cut herself off at whatever expression was on my face. “Youhavetold them, right?”
My stomach twisted. “Not yet.”
Her eyebrows shot up, shock slackening her jaw. “Maisie Morgan! Are you honestly telling me that the man who’scurrently somewhere in this house with his own son has no idea?”
I shook my head, my fingers fidgeting with the edge of my shirt. “I’m afraid, Mom. I haven’t told him because I actually like him. I’m developing feelings for him and I’m scared that if I tell him now both Brody and I will lose him. I don’t want to ruin everything. Don’t you think it’s better to take things slow and to figure it out instead of imploding all our lives?”
She blinked at me, clearly processing. “You’re developing feelings for him?”
“I am,” I admitted, my voice low and cracking. “I’m so, so scared. I think he’s a good man even if I didn’t see it before and I think that if I tell him about Brody, it could change everything. Just not in the way I want it to. Not in the way that’s best for Brody, and Georgia was talking about custody, and?—”
I could practically see the gears turning in her head as she thought it over. Her gaze sharpened. “Feelings happen, baby. I know you’re trying to protect Brody, but don’t forget to protect yourself, too. The longer you keep this from him, the higher the chances of damaging whatever relationship you have when he finds out.”
I nodded, biting my lip and trying to sort through the jumble of guilt, fear, and hope swirling around in my chest. A familiar thump on the door made both of us turn. A moment later, it swung open and Brody burst into the room, his face flushed and his eyes sparkling.
“Grandma!” he shouted. “You’re here!”
I laughed despite the knot in my stomach, and Mom got up immediately to scoop him into a big hug. “How’s my baby boy doing?”
“I’m not a baby,” he shrieked with laughter as she tickled him while still holding him tight. “You have to come meet Callum. He’s just downstairs.”
Mom nodded and set him down, but he grabbed her hand. Practically bouncing, he dragged her out of the room as urgently as if he’d discovered hidden treasure. I followed them, staying close to my mom and trying to steady my nerves before we rounded the corner into the garage.
Callum was crouched beside the sharpening machine, Brody’s skates already halfway down the metal ramp. He looked up when we appeared, and that same half-smile, half-cocky expression I knew so well spread across his face.
“Hi,” he said casually, but I could see the subtle tension in his shoulders as he pushed himself to his feet. “This must be your sister.”
I stepped forward. “Actually, it’s my mom, but nice try. Mom, this is Callum. Callum, this is my mother, Michelle.”
She extended her hand toward him, smiling warmly. She looked him up and down. I saw the moment she noticed the resemblance between him and Brody. It was there in the slight flare of her nostrils and the recognition that sparked to life in her eyes.
