Maddy shrugged. “Seems like he likes her, is all. You going to tell me what happened there?”
“She left.”
Maddy raised a brow at him
“Use your big boy words. Why did she leave? There’s gotta be more to the story based on how you’ve been stomping around the house since I got released.”
He gave into the temptation to fidget and grabbed another pillow to fluff.
“She wouldn’t commit to staying here, so I told her to leave.”
“Because you wanted to protect Avery?”
“Yeah.”
He heaved a sigh and tossed the pillow at the foot of the bed, breathing through the anxiety rising in his chest. With the anxiety came the what ifs. What if he hadn’t told Ava to go? What if they had never started up again in the first place? What if Maddy hadn’t gotten hurt? On and on it went.
“Well, that’s stupid,” Maddy interrupted his spiral.
“What?”
“That’s stupid,” Maddy said again. The way she enunciated the words implied he was also stupid. His indignation rose.
“What’s stupid about protecting Avery? He’s our son. What good would it do to keep dating Ava, knowing it would end? That she would eventually leave? It would destroy him. He has enough instability in his life. I can’t add to it,” Owen ranted.
Maddy winced at his rising tone, her hand pressing against her forehead. Guilt immediately flooded Owen. He was supposed to be taking care of her, not making things worse. She reached for the water bottle on the bedside table, and Owen got it for her.
He pressed it into her palm. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Maddy took a sip and waved him off. “It’s fine, you’re fine. Not used to you raising your voice. You never get this worked up,” she said.She took another long sip and handed it to him to place back on the table.
“Look, I’m not blind to Avery’s insecurities. I know our parenting situation is hard for him. It’s hard for me, too. This latest stunt has me rethinking things. I’m not going back to work, at least not until I’m medically cleared. If I went back now, I’d be stuck doing office work or something inside, and I don’t want that,” Maddy said.
Relief swept through him. They hadn’t talked about her work situation yet, but it had been on his mind. “What do you want, then?”
“I want to put down roots for a while. I’ve been talking with Matt, and he’s going to help me find a place of my own, so I’m not crashing in your guest bedroom.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. You know that,” Owen said.
Maddy smiled at him. “I know, and I appreciate that, but I want my own space. We’d drive each other crazy. Remember when Avery was a newborn, and we lived as roommates? You couldn’t stand how I would leave my wet towels on the furniture,” she said.
Owen snorted. “Yeah, because who puts their wet towels on furniture? Just hang it up when you’re done. It’s not that hard.”
Maddy raised an eyebrow.
“OK, point taken,” Owen conceded.
“Plus, I don’t want to cramp your style. You deserve to have love in your life again, Owen. Whether that’s with Ava or someone else, you don’t have to be alone forever. It’s not our job to keep Avery from ever getting hurt. It’s our job to love and support him, especially when life hurts. To show him life is hard and painful, but it’s also full of hope and adventure. That people may come and go from his life, and that’s OK, because there are some people who will never leave and who willalways be there to love him. Why not give someone else the chance to be one of those people?”
Maddy shifted against the pillows, getting comfortable. “I’m off my soapbox now. Do what you want, Owen. And I mean that. Do whatyouwant. Go after Ava or don’t. It’s your choice. But don’t let this chance slip by because you’re scared of getting hurt. Because that’s stupid,” Maddy said.
Owen stood, putting distance between him and Maddy as he mulled over her opinion. Was that why he’d pushed Ava away … because he didn’t want to get hurt? He’d put a stop to things before she could hurt him. He didn’t even want to give her the chance to prove him wrong. Or to prove him right.
“Thanks, Mads. You always know when I need a kick in the ass,” he said.
She smiled brightly at him. “Now stop fussing over me for a while. I’m going to take a nap,” she said.
“Message received. I’ll stop hovering,” Owen said.
