Page 95 of Second Chance with Seth

“You do better than okay,” he says. “You were always gonna make a success of it. I never doubted that. But don’t you ever get sick of it all being on you?”

“All the time.”

“Then won’t this make things easier?”

“How?”

“Because I think we both know your routine with River isn’t gonna work forever.”

“What routine? She doesn’t seem to have one anymore.”

“Exactly. She’s staying awake longer in the mornings, and based on everything Aiden tells me about George, it won’t be long before she’s stretching that even further. She’ll take up too much of everyone’s attention. Before you know it, she’ll be crawling, and walking, and things will be even more crazy around here than they already are.”

“So, what are you suggesting now?” I ask, pushing away my half-finished meal. “You think it’s a good idea for us to both give up work? Is that it?”

“No.”

“Good, because as master plans go, it’s not a great one.”

“I know, and that’s not what I’m thinking of. I want us to share the load, Everly.”

He finishes eating and I stare across the table at him, thinking about how much I want that, too… how much I’ve been thinking of exactly that, ever since he left on Tuesday.

“That sounds lovely,” I say, although I hadn’t meant for the words to cross my lips.

“It does.”

“I missed having you here,” I admit. “Especially in the mornings. With River sleeping in a little longer, it’s been crazy trying to get her ready in time to start work. That’s why I’ve had to rely on Owen opening the coffee shop for me every day.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mind.”

“Maybe, but that’s not the point, is it?”

“No, babe, and I understand that. I missed being here too, you know? Not just so I could wake up beside you, or so I could help you, but so I could be with River. I really enjoyed spendingtime with her, giving her a bottle and getting her dressed. It was lovely, and I wanna be around to do it every single day, without worrying about rushing out the door to the office.”

“I’d like that too, for both of us, but I don’t understand how we can hope to make this work. I get that the way things are now is far from perfect, but it sounds to me as though I’ll be the one downstairs, working my ass off, while you’ll be up here with River, and while I get that parenting is no walk in the park, I don’t see how this benefits either of us. We’ll be worried about money all the time, and probably fighting about it. We still won’t see each other, because I’ll be working and you’ll be parenting. I doubt it’ll be long before we find things to resent about that, and we’ll be no better off than we were before.”

“Are you done with the doom and gloom?” he says, shaking his head, although he’s smiling.

“I’m just being realistic.”

“No, you’re not. Because it won’t be like that…”

Chapter Eighteen

Seth

I’m dragging this out, and maybe even teasing her a little, but my plan is sound, and I know it. Once I’d worked it out, I knew it made sense. I thought through every option… every problem, and twist, and it was still the only thing that added up. When Everly understands what I’ve got in mind, she’ll realize that, too. She’ll believe in what I’m saying. I know she will. Who knows… she might even believe in me, too.

I pick up our plates, taking them to the kitchen and putting them in the sink before returning to the table.

“More wine?” I say, and she glares up at me. She’s expecting some kind of explanation, and I’ll give her that… in a minute. In the meantime, I hold the bottle over her glass until she nods her head, and I pour a little wine, adding some to my glass as well. “Shall we sit?” I hold out my hand to her, but she shakes her head.

“We are sitting.”

“I meant somewhere more comfortable.”

She sighs, like she’s just about done with me, but I smile, refusing to relent, and eventually she gets up. I grab the glasses and carry them to the coffee table, putting them down, and I wait for Everly to take a seat on the couch before I join her.

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