“It’s funny.” Lainey forced a smile. “When we met, I thought we might be too different to understand each other, but now I think we’re too similar.”
At their core, she and Elliot were both scared kids, so used to being let down that they needed trust to grow on them like vines. She thought back to that first night with Waffle, when he needed someone to show up for him before he could be brave enough to get out of the car.
“Neither of us can fill in the gaps for the other person, because we’re both equally bad at the same fundamental thing.”
Bree seemed to consider that. “I think you’re looking at this the wrong way. Having opposite traits is great when one of you likes to cook and the other likes to clean or whatever. But with the real stuff, isn’t it nice to have someone who speaks your language? It hasn’t always been easy for me to understand why you’re so determined to do everything on your own. Or why you push me away when I try to be there for you. There were plenty of times I took it personally.”
“Bree. I’m—”
She waved Lainey off. “No, we’re good. This isn’t about us. I’m just saying. You are both learning how to be with someone. Maybe you’re also the best people to teach each other how.”
Lainey looked down at Elodie as she cataloged all the peoplewho already loved this little girl. Then Lainey did the same for herself, picturing all the people in her life who had shown up for her before and would continue to, if only she’d ask. It wasn’t a small number of people.
“You really think he and I could work?” Lainey’s voice wobbled with a storm of emotion. Joy, grief, hope, fear, love, regret. Each one swirled at the base of her throat.
“Do you believe him when he says he was never going to exercise the option to restore the property?”
“Yes,” Lainey said. In her heart of hearts, she knew who Elliot was, and he wasn’t cruel or underhanded. He fretted over the well-being of turtles and liked bees. He noticed the slope of the ceiling and angle of the light shining through the windows. He cared for her when she was sick. He listened fiercely to every word she said. He looked at her like he was memorizing her every freckle and curve. Like he would die if he forgot even one small detail.
It didn’t matter how he’d protected himself when he hadn’t known her. She knew who he was now. Elliot and her were alike in so many ways, and one of the ways was this: they didn’t hurt the people they loved.
“Then I think you have your answer,” Bree said, reaching for Elodie, who was beginning to root around the bib of Lainey’s shorteralls. “As your best friend, I reserve the right to never forgive him for the house bullshit as long as he lives—such is my right—but ifyouwanted to forgive him, I don’t think that would be so crazy.”
Lainey nodded, overwhelmed by how much she could feel all at once—for herself, for her friend, and for the tiny human in her lap. “Hey,” Lainey said, placing Elodie into Bree’s eager arms. “You made a person.”
“I know, right? I kind of want to hang it up, since I absolutely crushed it right out of the gate, but I also feel like I owe it to the world to continue producing perfect babies.”
Lainey nodded with great solemnity. “People don’t talk enough about the responsibility that comes with possessing such phenomenal bone structure.”
Bree narrowed her eyes. “I’m too tired to tell if you’re making fun of me, but I also don’t care.”
Colin flew back into the room, holding a beige-colored pudding cup in the air like a trophy. “Butterscotch,” he announced triumphantly.
“How…?” Bree let her question fall away as Colin tore open the cup and scooped a dollop of pudding onto a plastic spoon.
“Be quite quick about it. I snuck into the doctor’s lounge and stole it from the lunch of an orthopedic surgeon. He’s a large man, and I’d like to dispose of the evidence, so open up.”
Lainey left the family to enjoy their contraband pudding in peace and wandered into the waiting room. The hallway lights were dim, a not-so-subtle signal that visiting hours were coming to an end. Disappointment circled above the empty waiting room. What had she expected?
But then she spotted them—a pair of shoes and a familiar-looking olive rain jacket slung over the back of a bench facing the television. She wasn’t sure anyone had ever been so elated to spot a piece of fabric in a hospital common area.
“I was hoping you’d stay,” she said, dipping her head over the bench.
“Huh? Wha—?”
A blond-haired woman, who was most definitely not Elliot, yanked herself from the throes of sleep.
“Sorry.” Lainey blinked. “Your jacket…I knew someone with a similar one.” Heartbreak sank through her limbs.
She took the elevator down to the main floor and walked out into the ambulance bay. It was quiet, which was probably a good sign for the people of the Lake Superior region of northwest Wisconsin. Stopping beside a lonely looking bus stop bench, she looked up at the sign, hoping that one of the routes would get her close to where she needed to go, when her eyes caught on a man across the street.
“Hey,” he called out to her. “Need a ride?”
Her heart floated inside her chest at the sight of Elliot, his hair rumpled like he’d been combing his fingers through it all night while he stood there behind his silver truck, waiting. “Have you been out here this whole time?” she yelled across the street.
“Yes. Well, I went home to let Waffle out. Then I came right back.”
A bus pulled in front of the stop, blocking their view. The driver eyed her impatiently, and she waved him onward. Elliot was still there, looking at her with that familiar intensity that unspooled her.
