Page 104 of Deal Breaker
“I meant to ask, is she doing okay?” I ask gently, nodding toward the house. “I mean, with everything going on with your mom?”
Landyn exhales. “Yeah. She doesn’t know the full extent of it, just that she’s not feeling well. We’re…trying to keep things light for her.”
“And how is your mom?” I ask.
She hesitates. “If all goes well, she’s being discharged tomorrow. We caught it in time, but it’s going to be a long road. It’s a relief to know that with the right medication and time, she’ll feel like herself again. My dad’s stepping up a lot, and I’ll be juggling some of it too.”
“Tell me what you need, Landyn,” I say, my voice firm. “Anything. I want to help.”
She looks over at me, something soft and unreadable in her eyes. “Thank you. That means more than you know.”
“I mean it,” I say.
She nods slowly, then sips her tea. “I’ll be back at work Monday. My dad will be with my mom, and I’ve got everything else lined up.”
I lean back, resting my elbows on the arms of the chair, looking up at the stretch of clear blue sky. The ache in my chest is still there—everything I lost, everything I missed out on—but it’s softer now. I’ve got something to hold onto.
Today was a good day. Pretty close to perfect. For the firsttime in a long time, I feel like something in me might actually be healing.
And then the back door swings open, and Poppy runs out clutching a tiny pink photo album, yelling, “Ford! I found it! It’s my baby pictures!”
Landyn laughs beside me, and I turn just in time to catch our daughter launching herself into my lap.
Yeah. Things are going to be okay.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Ford
It’s Monday. Landyn’s back at the office, and so am I, and for the first time in what feels like forever, things are going pretty smoothly. I can feel it in the way my shoulders seem to have dropped half an inch, in the muscles that have slowly unclenched. The media storm surrounding Cove has died down for the time being—thanks in part to Landyn and the team’s had work and in part to the fact that the CEO of another local company just got caught embezzling funds. New day, new scandal. I’m not complaining. The weight that’s been pressing on my chest for months feels a little lighter. For now.
As for Landyn and me—things between us aren’t perfect. Not even close. There’s still plenty of anger and regret there, but there’s also something new. Something exciting.
Poppy.
I think about her all the time. It’s only been a few days, but already the thought of a world without her in it feels impossible to imagine. Her tiny voice, her infectious giggle,her nonstop stream of questions and stories. When she ran toward me with a photo album like she couldn’t wait to share a piece of her life with me I thought my heart would explode right there on the spot. I didn’t know I could love someone I barely know this much, but here we are. The anger I felt when Landyn first told me about her—when the truth detonated everything I thought I knew—has dulled. It’s not gone, not completely, but it’s mellowed, settled. The ache has turned into something else entirely. When I think about Poppy now, it’s not rage that floods my veins, it’s this wild, all-consuming protective instinct. All I need is for everything in her little world to be okay. And all I want to do is get to know her better.
This morning, Landyn popped into my office to ask if she could leave a bit early to pick Poppy up from school. With Carolyn still recovering and no after-school care set up yet, she has a lot on her plate. When I asked if I could come too, she looked surprised but then she said yes.
So now it’s 2:45, and I’m grabbing my keys from my desk and trying without success to keep my nervous energy under control.
Noah peeks his head into my office, Jesse not far behind him. “You heading out?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’m going with Lan to pick up Poppy.”
He grins, that rare kind of genuine smile that cuts through our usual sibling gibes and sarcasm. “You’re a dad now, huh?”
Something flickers in my chest. I nod.
“Don’t let her hustle you for snacks,” Jesse warns. “Kids are pros at that.”
“Noted.”
He leans on the doorframe, already mid-smirk. “So, how’s it feel? Knowing you made a whole person?”
“Feels…big,” I answer honestly. “Like I’m still catching up.”
They’re both curious and they’ve earned the right to be, but they’ve been careful not to push too hard, trying to give Landyn and me space to work through it. I’m grateful for that, but they’ve also made it known that they can’t wait to meet their niece.
