I walked quietly alongside Logan as he carried Harper inside, her body still heavy with sleep. She stirred once as he tucked her in, mumbling something. He kissed her forehead, brushed a curl from her face, and stood there for a moment too long, just looking at her.
Then, soft and sleepy, she whispered, “Night, Mommy.”
Everything in that moment paused. It was if the very air went still.
I froze in the doorway, heart clenched, while Logan’s shoulders rose and fell slowly.
He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe for a beat.
As if sensing my unease, he turned to me, his voice low. “She’s dreaming.”
“I know,” I whispered, although my breath caught.
But the wordMommyhung there like a ghost that didn’t quite belong to either of us. I felt the expectations then in thatmoment. The weight of what was truly at stake here. Something I wasn’t cut out for. I could do temporary, fun, the playful aunt. But anything more, the risk was too high and I didn’t allow myself to start things when I knew I’d fall short.
Back in the living room, the house was hushed. My bags sat neatly on the couch where I’d left it. Half-zipped, half-forgotten, but suddenly, it felt impossibly heavy.
“I should probably get going,” I said finally.
Logan turned toward me. “You don’t have to rush out; we can watch that movie you mentioned earlier. I want you here as long as you’ll let me keep you.”
“Logan.” I sighed, shaking my head. “This is crazy. I barely came here to babysit. To help out for a few weeks, and now you’re asking me to stay?”
He didn’t flinch. “Yeah.”
I huffed a laugh. “That’s it? Just ‘yeah’?”
“I’m starting to realize that not everything is by the book, Counselor,” he said, voice low, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
That word,Counselor,made something twist inside me. He said it like he knew exactly what I was doing: thinking too much, building walls out of reason when my heart had already stepped past them.
“Logan, you can’t just—” I broke off, exhaling. “You can’t ask me to stay like that.”
“I can,” he said softly, “because I mean it.” He stepped closer, eyes warm, voice even. “The house feels better with you here. She feels better. And so do I.”
“Logan…” My voice cracked. “You can’t build this around me. Not like that.”
“I’m not building anything around you,” he said gently. “I’m wanting to buildwithyou. There’s a difference.”
I looked down at my hands, my heart pounding. “She just called me her mom.”
“I know.”
“And…I don’t want to confuse her.”
“You won’t,” he said. “She knows you. And she knows love when she sees it.”
I swallowed hard. “You make it sound simple.”
“I know its not simple, trust me I know,” he said, stepping closer. “But I’m done letting it feel so complicated.”
“I want to stay,” I whispered. “God, I want to. But I need… I need a little space to think. To make sure this isn’t just because of the timing. Or because it’s easy to get attached when you’re filling empty places.”
He nodded slowly, even though I could see the struggle in his eyes. “Okay.”
“I just…” I sighed. “I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. For you. Or her.”
He reached out, fingertips brushing my cheek. “You’re not running away?”
