Page 55 of Big Island Summer
And every day that she took care of him, she loved him a little bit more.
As a thank you, Ethan had started fixing things downstairs as well. He had replaced her tiny kitchen sink with a bigger one that he’d found at the transfer station, and he had treated early signs of termite damage as well.
In that moment, while she fed Theo, he was walking the entire perimeter of the property and applying an eco-friendly spray to guard against the tiny fire ants that had become a menace in recent years.
Fern’s eyes tracked him as he moved past her window. His t-shirt pulled tight over his broad shoulders as he worked, and she forced herself to look away.
She didn’t know which was more dangerous: the pure love that she had for the baby in her arms or the intense attraction that she felt towards his father.
Her heart was going to get broken. She knew that. She wasn’t stupid.
But in that moment, she couldn’t force herself to care. It was only her heart that she was risking. She would soak in every minute that she could with Theodore… and when his father inevitably moved him away, she would pick herself up and keep going.
She had dealt with heartbreak before, after all.
She would survive.
Theodore finished his bottle, and she set it aside. She lifted him higher, and he rested his cheek drowsily against her shoulder as she rubbed his little back. By the time the extra gas worked its way out in a tiny burp, he was already asleep.
She was content to sit there with Theo in her arms, just holding him. Seated meditation had always been a challenge for her, but not this.Thiscame as easy as breathing.
A sharp knock on the door startled her and Theo both. He jerked in surprise but didn’t wake. She shushed him, rubbing his back to ease him back into a deeper sleep, as she rose to open the door.
Her stomach dropped with a sudden vertigo when she saw Chad.
“Fern, I wa–” he cut himself off mid-sentence and stared at Theo. “What the hell?”
“Keep your voice down,” she hissed.
“Whose baby is that?”
“Just a minute.” She went back inside and gently lowered Theo into the cradle that Ethan had carried downstairs. His little forehead crumpled into a frown, but his eyes stayed closed. She made soothing sounds and kept one hand on his chest until his frown faded away. And then, reluctantly, she went back out the door.
Chad was still there, staring at her like she had grown a second head. She closed her front door against mosquitoes; she would hear Theo through the window if he cried.
“Who’s baby is that?” he asked again.
“What are you doing here?”
“Did you start babysitting as a side gig?”
She crossed her arms and stared him down, waiting for him to get to the point.
“I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Fern narrowed her eyes. She had assumed that he was there to ask about something that had been lost in the move or talk about some shared subscription that they had yet to untangle, not… whatever this was.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he said. “I tried to do the right thing, to stand by the woman whotoldme that she was carrying my child, but I never really cared about her. Not like I care about you. You’re my twin flame. Being away from you is tearing my soul apart.”
His little speech felt less like a heartfelt plea and more like she was watching an overwrought performance from someone who was bound to flunk out of theater school.
“I’m coming home, Fern.” Chad smiled and opened his arms like he expected her to rush into them.
“There’s no home to come back to.”
“I know you had to rent out the second floor, but I don’t mind staying downstairs with you for a little while.”
“No.”
