I groan, dragging a hand down my face. “As opposed toTrouble.That’s what he usually calls me. Is that the part you’re stuck on?”
They start whispering, giggling, trading looks that make my cheeks heat.
Zoe eventually smacks Isla’s arm. “Shhh. She’s just opened up, and you two are giggling about a nickname. We all have one. Men just can’t help themselves.”
The laughter fades, replaced by a quieter kind of calm. I try to shrug it off, to make light of it, but Zoe catches my chin before I can retreat into a joke. “It’s okay to want something that feels good,” she says quietly.
Imogen points her glass at me. “And if anyone says different, I’ll key their car.”
“Please don’t key anyone’s car,” Zoe says, smiling. “But do keep that energy.”
“Thank you.” Then realisation hits me. “You three are vaults, right? Like, if any of this gets back to Bradley, I’ll move towns and change my name.”
Zoe raises both brows. “You don’t think he’d actually lose it, do you?”
God, I don’t know.“There isn’t even anything to lose it over,” I say too quickly. “But… I mean, maybe? He’s protective. Always has been. I like to think he’d handle it like a grown man—unlike me, who had a full meltdown when I found out about him and Amelia.”
With those thoughts still spinning, we eventually drift to the kitchen for Zoe’s second cake—because one apparently wasn’t enough. We cut oversized slices, laughing when frosting slips off the knife and splatters across the counter.
Tomorrow, there’s a fair, a little boy waiting for me, and a man who saidplease.Maybe that’s enough for now. Nights like this remind me I’m not lost, just learning. The girls don’t fix anything; they just sit in the chaos with me until it feels a little less heavy. I leave Zoe’s place feeling full—not just from cake, but from them. From the reminder that I’m allowed to feel everything, even the messy parts. Especially when a certain message still echoes in my head.
I want you there, too, Trouble.
27
Sebastian
LOVELIFE - Sam Fischer
It’s early evening, and the fair’s alive.
Lights blink across the stalls, kids shriek from the Ferris wheel, and somewhere nearby, a country cover band is butchering a love song that’s already been overplayed to hell. Teddy’s practically vibrating beside Olivia, dragging her from one stall to the next.
Watching him now, you’d never guess where we started. Three months ago, he barely looked people in the eye. Words were slow to come, touch made him flinch, and I was a man who had no bloody clue what he was doing. I’d sit up half the night, reading about sensory triggers and communication strategies, terrified I’d screw him up more than life already had.
There were days I felt like I was raising a stranger.
But then something shifted it. No. Not something, butsomeone. Olivia. She walked in—this whirlwind of sunshine andnoise—and somehow, cracked the silence. I didn’t think anyone could reach him like that. Now, he’s tugging her toward the next game, and I can’t decide what hits harder. The pride, or the ache sitting right behind it.
He’s come so far. Webothhave.
So far, they’ve done the dodgem cars twice, fed half the petting zoo, and spent ten minutes debating which show bag to get—he picked the one with a cheap toy car and a chocolate bar, of course. Olivia’s been the one to hold his hand, crouch beside him at every booth, her bright laugh carrying over the noise. I’m just here to fund the chaos, and chauffeur them—the guy who gets handed half-eaten fairy floss when she says,“Hold this, Bash. I need a photo.”
Truth is, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
And the question that remains is—what the fuck do I do now? I’ve never been the guy to stumble over a woman. Never been the one to second-guess every glance, every word. But she’s under my skin—that laugh, those ocean eyes, that stubborn streak, the way she looks at me like I’m not some jaded cop with too much baggage. I run a hand over the back of my neck, scanning the crowd. She’s standing near the games now, afternoon sunlight catching on her hair. I take a slow breath.I’m attracted to her.I can admit that much.
But attraction is easy. It’s everything else that scares the hell out of me. Teddy bolts toward me from where he’d been standing with Liv, curls bouncing, cheeks flushed from sugar and excitement.
“Daddy, look!” He points to a balloon stand across the dirt path. “Can I get one for Mummy?”
The word hits like a sucker punch straight to the ribs.Mummy. Nothername. Not evenwhere’s Mummy?Just…Mummy. In a sentence. Casual. Unthinking.
My throat locks up. I haven’t heard him say that since last year. Since the meltdown, when he cried for hours and begged me to bring her back. When he still thought I could fix it.
I freeze for a second, the air thinning around me. It’s not the word itself—it’s the memory it drags behind it. Olivia’s only a few steps away, smiling gently, like she doesn’t see the crack that just opened in my chest.
I clear my throat, crouching down to Teddy’s level, swallowing everything I’m feeling. “Hey, bud. How about we pick one for Diesel instead, yeah? Bet he’d love a blue one.”
