luna
“I cannot fucking believe it,” Nova said, dragging her hands through her hair as we sat at her dining room table.
Thank god the delivery guys had brought our furniture a few days ago, but that was small potatoes compared to what happened last night. Nova had run into her ex-husband. The father of her child.
“Was it... like, a decent conversation at least?”
They had gone to breakfast this morning to talk about what happened. Austin hadn’t known Scarlette existed, which was why I couldn’t tell Dirks. It was all out in the open, though, when we ran into Austin and his mother yesterday.
“It was good.”
That made me blink. “Good like... he apologized for everything and burst into tears? Or good like, you threw a box of tampons at his face and walked away victorious?”
She cracked a laugh, but it faded fast. “Good like... calm. Normal. He asked how I was, how Scarlette was. He said he moved back after rehab to help out his mom. He’s living nearbynow.” She ran her finger along the rim of her coffee mug. “Said he’s clean and got married.”
I blinked. “Married?”
“Yep. Wedding ring and everything.”
“Well,” I said, my tone dry. “That’s deeply inconvenient for my plans to hate him forever.”
Nova huffed out a breath, part laugh, part heartbreak. “Same.”
I studied her for a second. “So... what made it so hard? The marriage? Or the fact that he finally seems like the guy you always wanted him to be?”
Her eyes went glassy, but she held steady. “Both. I kept Scarlette away from him because I thought he was still a drunk, and the guilt... that’s what’s killing me.”
“You know what I think?” I said, reaching for the last bite of toast between us. “I think it’s a lot easier to stay mad at someone when they’re a disaster.”
Nova let out a weak laugh. “Yeah, well, he’s not a disaster anymore. He’s... he’sbetter.”
“And that pisses you off.”
“No,” she said quickly, then paused. “Okay. A little.”
“Fair,” I said, shrugging. “I’d be pissed too if my ex showed up in my city, clean, stable,married, and had the nerve to be... what?Mature?”
“I think what’s messing with me the most,” Nova said, voice lower now, “is that I didn’t want him around. For years. Iactivelymade sure he wasn’t.”
I stayed quiet, watching her closely.
“I thought he was still using. Still that chaotic version that hurt everything he touched. I didn’t even think to check. I just decided. I raised Scarlette without him, like it was black and white.”
“Nova—”
“I-I thought I was protecting her,” she said, voice cracking. “Now he’s here. Sober. Married.Healthy.”
“You didn’t keep him from her,” I said gently. “You kept her safe from theversionof him you knew. That’s not the same thing.”
Nova twisted her hands in her lap. “I never wanted to be that mom. The one who keeps the kid and pushes the dad away out of spite. But it wasn’t spite, Lune. It was fear. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“And maybe you were,” I said. “But guess what? That doesn’t mean you don’t get to change your mind now. You’re allowed to evolve. To say, ‘Hey, the man I kept my daughter away from doesn’t exist anymore, and this one might actually show up.’ That’s not failure. That’smotherhood.”
She blinked fast, eyes filling. “He asked if he could see her for Christmas.”
I reached across the table and took her hand.
“Ollie says it’s a good idea. He’s... being amazingly supportive. Said it’s Scarlette’s story, too, now. He wants to be there forher.”
