“Name one.” I cross my arms, giving her a steely glare.
“We just met.”
“How long does it take to know someone will be in your life forever? You have to meet your best friend or the love of your lifesometime. You have to startsomewhere. You knew Eli for longer, and he’snothelping you.”
Madelyn opens and closes her mouth a few times. “Uh. All right. Skip the timing. You don’t make that much.”
“What I have is yours. It doesn’t have to be much to help, does it?”
Madelyn swallows. “If you start helping, I’ll trust you. Rely on you. Get used to you. I’ll... I’ll never want you to leave. Not just for me, but for Zack.” She looks down and huddles in her own arms, agony on her face. “I might start loving you.”
“But, my love, that’s already everything I want. It’s already happened. I see you trust me with your precious child, and you trust me to help him learn to swim, to protect himself with valuable skills. You allow me in a little more each day.”
“Maybe that’s stupid.”
“Maybe not letting the right people in is stupid,” I say harshly, and then curse myself. “But it is also foolish, I know, to rush. Listen, Madelyn. I will not leave until you tell me to go. I won’t leave Zack, ever. Even if you are not my lover, but only my friend, I wouldn’t abandon Zack. I think,” I say words that feel as though they’re pulled from the depths of my heart, words that are so risky to say, but I must, “I think he loves me already, and I love him like he was my own. I love you more each day, and I don’t mind if you take a long time to catch up. Just let me be here and help as long as you want me.”
“Oh, Mercer... I’m going to want forever. That’s the problem. I’m not supposed to make this mistake again.”
I kiss her. “Then let me prove that we are not a mistake.”
The rest of the afternoon is spent in distraction mode for Zack and helpful mode for me. We do the shopping and make the party goodie bags with little toy dinosaurs and crazy straws. We read and snack.
Madelyn works in dribs and drabs, but she keeps coming over to hug me and Zack, leaning on us both, kissing both of our foreheads as if she needs the comfort of our presence.
“Is your leg better?” Zack asks when she comes up to hug us as we make a homemade pizza (well, partially homemade, anyway, thanks to store-bought crust).
“It’s better, but I think I need to go to bed early. Can Mercer tuck you in tonight, sweetie?”
Zack, who always perches on my shoulders when we cook, wraps his hands around my head and bends down to peer intently into my eyes. “Two stories?”
“Three, if you go right to bed after a popsicle,” I whisper back.
“Will you still hug me?” Zack looks at Madelyn.
“Forever.”
“Mercer can read to you, too.”
Madelyn’s look is subtle, but her hand lingers on my back. “I would love that.”
Chapter Thirteen: Bedtime
I have a long, hot shower while Mercer puts Zack to bed. I hear the low rumble of his voice, the sweet layering of his deep laugh over Zack’s little giggles.
As I lotion my legs after shaving them—a daily thing now that we’re beach adjacent—I hear Mercer singing.
“Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing.
Onward, the sailors cry!
Carry the lad that’s born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.
Loud the winds hows, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air.
