Page 116 of Falling for Love

I snickered and shook my head as I set the phone down, feeling a warmth spread through me that had nothing to do with the laundry I was folding.

For the first time in a long time, I reveled in happiness despite what was on the horizon.

Even if that happiness came with a side of tangled sheets and bruised dignity.

The warmth I felt thinking about Liam was a welcome distraction, but it didn’t last long. As soon as I slid the phone into my pocket, the weight of everything crashed back in. My ex’s letter and the custody claim loomed over me like a dark cloud I couldn’t outrun.

I folded a pair of Hayden’s socks, staring at the small patterns of dinosaurs on the fabric. The thought that someone could take him away from me made my chest tighten so hard it hurt. He was my whole world—my reason for every decision, every late night, every moment I pushed forward when I didn’t think I could. When my fingers were frozen next to the horse’shooves or sweat rolled down my back in the heat of the summer, he was the reason.

How could my ex, the man with no interest, now think he had the right to disrupt that?

My hands trembled as I reached for another piece of laundry. I couldn’t imagine not being there for Hayden when he needed me. The very thought broke me.

How could I protect and give him the stability he deserved when the ground beneath me crumbled?

A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it, and I wiped it away quickly. I couldn’t fall apart. Not now. Hayden needed me strong.

But even as I tried to balance myself, the fear crept in, whispering doubts I couldn’t silence. How would I fight this? Would the courts see through the thin arguments my ex was bound to make? And what if they didn’t? The future felt like a storm I wasn’t ready for. And as much as I wanted to lean on Liam, I wasn’t sure I could drag him into my life's mess. He deserved someone whose life wasn’t a minefield.

I just didn’t know if I could face it all alone.

What if the unthinkable happened?

Tears filled my eyes so suddenly that I didn’t even realize I was crying until the sound of my own sniffles broke through the silence. I wiped my face hastily, trying to pull myself together, but it was too late.

Hayden had already turned toward me from where he was sitting on the couch, holding the envelope in his small hands.

“Mom?” His voice was soft, concerned. He tilted his head, his big brown eyes wide with worry. “Why are you crying?”

I froze.

My gaze darted from his face to the envelope in his hands. The sight of it there—the weight of it in his little fingers—shattered me all over again. I had left it on the coffee table, not wanting to deal with it in front of him.

But of course, curiosity always won out with a seven-year-old.

I dropped to my knees in front of him, trying to breathe through the ache in my chest.

“I’m okay, buddy,” I said, though my voice wavered, giving me away. “It’s just... sometimes grown-up stuff gets a little hard, that’s all.”

Hayden frowned, his tiny hands clutching the envelope tighter. “Is it about this?”

I hesitated.

How could I possibly explain this to him?

Instead, I nodded slowly. “Kind of.”

“Who’s it from?” he asked, his brow furrowing in that thoughtful way he had, so much older than his years.

I swallowed hard, the words tangling in my throat. “It’s from... your dad.”

Hayden’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked back down at the envelope, turning it over as if it might hold some kind of answer.

“My dad?” he echoed, the words hesitant, unfamiliar.

I forced myself to meet his gaze, my heart breaking all over again.

“Yeah, but we don’t have to talk about it right now, okay? It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

---