Page 101 of Sweet Escape
“This whole parenting thing. I don’t know the first thing about babies. Or any of it really.”
“Liv, look at you. The best part of my day is watching you with Emmy Lou.”
“That’s different. She’s not?—”
“Yours? You’re the closest thing she’s had to a mom in a long time.” I rake a hand over my beard and release a sharp exhale. “That’s the funny thing about parenting. You figure things out as you go. Sure, there are a few hard and fast rules: try your best not to drop them, make sure they’re fed and changed, and never let Griffin babysit for more than an hour at a time. But for the most part, it’s a learning experience. We’ll make mistakes—a lot of them if my experience with Emmy is anything to go by—but we’ll always try to fix them, and that’s what matters.”
“How do you always know the exact right thing to say?”
“Intuition, maybe. Or maybe I just know your heart. The fact that you’re worried about fucking up is a good sign, Liv. Gracie is lucky to have you as a mom.”
A line of tears forms along her lashes, and her cheeks pinch together like she’s trying to hold in her emotions, something I’ve noticed she does a lot of.
“Don’t hide from me,” I murmur, stroking a thumb over her cheekbone. “Who taught you to make yourself smaller? Who made you think you had to keep it all locked up inside?”
She shakes her head. “Nobody. I just—it’s easier not to feel. Feelings are complicated and messy.”
“They’re also the way we connect. They can be ugly and painful and beautiful and comforting all at once if you let them.”
“Doyoulet them?” Her question saps the air from my lungs. How she manages to see past the bullshit into the very heart of me is a goddamn mystery, but she does.Fuck, she does.
Emmy shifts, her tiny palm resting on Olivia’s cheek. The awestruck look in Olivia’s eyes tells me she’s overwhelmed and on the verge of losing the battle with her emotions.
“Do you need me to take her?” I ask.
“Just one more second,” she says, palming the back of Emmy’s head, holding onto her a little tighter. She kisses her hair, then nods at me.
I stand and lift Emmy out of her arms, then offer Olivia my hand. She takes it, and my heart hammers inside my chest. It’s a short walk back to the big house where I lay Emmy to rest in the spare room, then gesture for Liv to follow me out to the porch.
We settle on the steps like we did that first day, listening to the distant sound of horses whinnying, only this time there’s no distance between us. She lays her head on my shoulder, the familiar scent of wildflowers washing over me as something like quiet understanding passes between us—two damaged people finding their way to one another. Her fingers link with mine, and in that moment, I’m certain of exactly two things: I’m falling in love for the second time in my life, and I’m absolutely terrified of losing them.
Chapter 27
He loves me not
?Beg For Your Love - Kelsea Ballerini
Olivia
Every few daysfor the last two weeks, I’ve found a new bouquet of daisies waiting for me on the entry table. When one starts wilting, a new one takes its place, and the cycle repeats.
The flowers are nice, but Wilder’s keeping his distance, and I don’t know why or how to bridge the gap. The hollow gesture offers little comfort when his every action serves only to keep me at arm’s length, like a sickly sweet reminder of his sudden, deliberate withdrawal.
He’s gone before I wake, and I've been so exhausted that I’m in bed before the sun goes down. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, and we keep missing each other, but it feels like more than that. I feel like I’m losing him, which is ridiculous because he’s not mine to lose.
As if the universe is trying to give me clarity, I find Wilder in the kitchen. He’s standing in front of the stove, and the smell of somethingdelicious wafts through the house. He either doesn’t hear me come in, or he doesn’t care; the latter stings more than I’d like to admit.
“Hey,” he says, not even bothering to look up. “You’re home early.”
“Am I… not supposed to be?” I don’t mean to be combative, but I’m getting Jake flashbacks, and I refuse to ignore the signs again. I won’t put myself through that a second time.
“No. No, I’m just surprised. You usually stay to help out at the diner around dinnertime. Are you okay? The baby?”
“We’re both fine.” I step up beside him, intending to greet him with a kiss, but he turns his face at the last second, and my lips land on his cheek instead. My face falls, and I take a step back, a pit forming in my stomach.
He opens his mouth to speak, but before he can utter a single word, a blur of pink sparkles crashes into my legs, leaving me well and truly distracted.
“Livie!”Emmy’s cherubic voice instantly eases some of my worries, and her smile, so bright and infectious, makes it impossible not to mirror her excitement.
