28
Hayley
2018
He came back. I have no idea how to get my mind around it. That changes things. But why didn’t he contact me, let me know he’d been there? I needed to talk to Logan, but first I had to get through this morning. My stomach is in knots. What would we talk about? We agree to meet at a coffee shop around the corner from my shop. Carl can operate the store. I don’t want interruptions from clients.
My palms are sweaty as I wrap the brown paper around the stems of sunflowers. The pretty flowers are not bringing me any joy.
“You all right?” Carl walks up to me and places a hand on my trembling ones.
“Yeah, I just don’t know what to expect, you know? How do I let another person into London’s life? She’ll think I lied to her. She’ll never understand. She loves Logan so much, and he’s been her dad for all intents and purposes.”
“There is just so much more love to go around now. You’ll ease her into it. You’ll know when the time is right, Hay.”
I wipe the beads of sweat from my forehead.
“Was I wrong not to try harder? Maybe I should have written to him. If he’d known, he might have wanted to be in London’s life.”
“You need to realize that the past is done. It can’t be undone, but you can do something about it now.”
I sigh. Carl is right. I was beating myself up about something that I cannot change.
Two hours later,I leave the shop and make my way toward the coffee shop on the corner. He’s nowhere to be seen, which suits me fine because I’ll be able to get my nerves in check.
He walks through the door a few minutes later. He looks older, more troubled. He’s not the Wyatt I used to know, and it saddens me.
He takes the seat across from me, his eyes finding mine.
“Thanks for seeing me.”
“We can’t postpone this any longer.” I smile at him weakly.
“I didn’t know how to handle the information; you know? It was a shock, and I was angry. Angry for the time I’d missed out on. I want to change that. If you’d let me.”
“Why didn’t you call me? When you found Logan there, to tell me off, anything.”
“It’s never been my way, Hayley. I didn’t want to come between the two of you.”
“But we made promises, Wyatt. Didn’t you at least think I was worth fighting for?”
“Hayley, I never believed I deserved you. I never wanted to be like my stepdad, leave you behind while I did my duty.”
“But you never gave me a choice. You just made it for me. And then I found out you’re married!” I scoff.
“Erin and I found each other during a time when we were both alone, both needing a friend . . .”
“I don’t want to hear your fucking love story,” I interrupt.
“I never stopped loving you,” he spits. “Not ever. But you’d moved on, or so I thought.”
I can’t believe he’d say that. It angers me.
“There is no going back, Wyatt. What’s done is done. But you have every right to be in London’s life. Just give me a couple days. I need to think about how we’re going to do this. Maybe introduce you as a friend, I don’t know.”
“I want to be in her life, Hayley.”
I sigh. “Just a day or two.”
