Page 98 of Deal Breaker
“You built Cove,” she whispers. “You did it. It’s incredible. I didn’t want to be the reason you walked away from making that happen.”
Taking a deep breath, I pull myself back together. “Don’t you see? You were always the reason I wanted more.”
Landyn looks away first. The silence between us is softernow, but still heavy with everything we’ve said and everything still to come.
I let out a breath. “So where do we go from here?”
She hesitates, sniffles. “You mean…with Poppy?”
I nod. “One step at a time. I don’t need answers about us right now. But I want to know her. I need to know her.”
She smiles for the first time, her eyes lighting up. “She’s amazing, Ford. Smart. So curious. She loves animals and books and…she’s got your eyes.”
That knocks the breath from me more than anything else has today. “Does she…does she ask about her dad?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking,” she says quietly. “She knows families look different. But…yeah. Sometimes.”
I rub the back of my neck, grounding myself. “I want to meet her. However you think is best. We can take it slow. You don’t have to drop everything and throw me into your lives.”
Landyn lets out a laugh. “Good. Because she’s got a lot of questions when she meets new people. She might interrogate you.”
“I can handle a 6-year-old,” I tell her. “Maybe we start with something low-key. Ice cream, or the beach. Somewhere she’s comfortable.”
“She’d love that,” Landyn says, finally meeting my gaze again. “How about Saturday? They have story time at the library. It’s one of her favorite things.”
“Saturday,” I repeat, nodding. “It’s a date.”
Her brows lift.
“I mean…with her,” I add quickly. “Not—not that kind of date.”
She smiles, but it’s faint. Unsure. Still, it’s a start and right now, that’s all I’m ready for.
THIRTY-SIX
Landyn
Poppy is buckled into the backseat, chatting to herself as she flips through a dog-eared book she’s probably read 20 times. I can barely hear her over the sound of my own heart pounding.
I check the clock on the dash. We’re early. Too early. But sitting around the house felt impossible, so instead we’re here, parked outside the Deep Cove Public Library, waiting for the minutes to tick by.
“Mom?” Poppy leans forward as far as her seatbelt will let her. “Can we go inside now?”
I grip the steering wheel and force a calm smile. “Yes, baby. I’m sorry. Let’s go in and find a new book to bring home before story time starts.”
She squints at me like she can tell I’m not myself today, but then shrugs. “Okay. Can I get one with dragons this time?”
“You can get two,” I say, unbuckling her. “Let’s go.”
The library is quiet and bright, with high windows that flood the space with natural light. Poppy immediatelymakes a beeline for the kids’ section, and I trail after her, heart in my throat. Ford texted me this morning. “I’ll be there. I don’t know what to say yet, but I’ll be there.”
I knew he wouldn’t miss it. Now I just have to believe that it will all be okay. That the truth won’t ruin her—this sweet, sensitive girl with a heart the size of the ocean. It’s always just been the two of us and now I’m about to change everything she’s ever known.
“Do you want to sit over there?” I ask, nodding toward a reading nook at the back of the room next to a wall of windows.
“Sure.” She tucks a picture book under her arm and skips ahead, settling cross-legged in a beanbag chair. I lower myself into the seat across from her, my back to the entrance so I don’t spend the next five minutes watching the door like a crazy person.
But I feel it when he walks in. My body knows his presence before I set eyes on him. I hear the quiet sound of his boots on the polished floor as he approaches us, and then?—
