She sets the muffins on the counter, giving me a look that says she absolutely did. “Please. If I leave you unsupervised, you’ll have coffee for breakfast and call it nutrition.”
She’s not wrong.
She scans the room, sharp as ever. “Where’s my girl?”
“Sleeping. Summer has turned her into a hibernating bear.”
Mom smiles—that soft, fond one she reserves for Evie—but her eyes return to me in a way that makes my shoulders stiffen. “You look…bright,” she says, slowly. “Fresh. Like someone who had company.”
I nearly choke on a breath. “Mom.”
“What?” she asks, innocent only in tone. “I saw Haddie’s post.” She puts a hand on her hip. “And you said that little incident at Knox and Brynn’s wedding was just a one-time thing.”
My face burns. “Mom, I don’t want to talk about incidents.”
She waves a hand. “Well, obviously, it wasn’t a one-time thing and if you’re going to have fun with a man, Cam seems like the perfect candidate.”
I press my palms to the counter. “I’m glad you approve.”
She steps closer, voice lowered but still annoyingly pleased. “So…rumors aside…” she nudges, “is there truth there? Is there something happening with Cam?”
I inhale quietly, weighing how much to tell her. “That depends,” I say, careful. “On what we’re calling happening.”
Mom’s eyes soften. She reads between lines better than anyone I know.
“Why do I feel like you’re bottling something up?” She brushes my hair away from my face. “We haven’t had a good talk in a while.”
I exhale. “Mom, a lot has happened.” I look down at my coffee. “And not just with Cam.”
“Sweetheart,” she murmurs, “you can tell me anything. I’ve survived your teenage angst, your college heartbreak, and that phase where you only wore combat boots with sundresses. I think I can handle this.”
I stare at my coffee a moment longer, pulse thrumming. “Okay,” I exhale. “But you have to promise not to freak out.”
She smiles. “Katherine Prescott, I never freak out,” she says. “I react with feeling.”
“That’s literally the same thing.”
“Semantics,” she says, waving it off. “Now spill.”
I tell her everything.
It comes out in pieces, like I’m peeling back layers. The custody papers. The lawyer. Cam’s idea. How it somehow turned into dinner last night, and Evie’s big curious eyes asking what it all means. And then the big news—that we’re going to get married.
By the time I’m done, Mom’s sitting at the table with her muffin untouched, just studying me—steady, quiet, present.
“So,” I say softly, fingers twisting in my lap. “That’s everything.”
She reaches for me without hesitation, warm hand closing around mine. “Sweetheart, you should’ve told me about the papers sooner.” Her voice is gentle, no judgment, just a mother’s knowing ache. “I may not be a lawyer, but I know how to listen. You don’t have to white-knuckle everything alone.”
My throat tightens. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
She pulls me into her arms, and the moment I melt against her, something inside me wobblers. No matter how grown you are, there’s something about a mother’s hug that makes the armor slip. She strokes my hair, voice quiet in my ear. “You are strong—stronger than you know—but strength isn’t the same as isolation. Letting people help isn't a weakness, Kate. It’s connection.”
I nod into her shoulder, breathing through the sting behind my eyes.
Then she leans back with a sigh, eyes sparkling with something dangerously close to amusement. “So. You and Cam. That’ll give Cedar Falls something to talk about for the next ten years.”
I scrub at my face. “Just promise you won’t believe everything you see on Haddie’s Facebook. Even the pictures.”
