Page 103 of My Sweetest Obsession
That hope flickers more solidly.
The churning dark waters it feels like I’ve been hopelessly treading in for so fucking long start to calm.
I swallow all the things I want to say to Ivy but can’t while Mom is seated in the other room. “I’d love to.”
Ivy presses a kiss to cheek. “Good. I’m going to go sit with your mom. Let me know if you need any help.”
“I’m good.” I pour out some batter. “I may not be a master chef, but I can handle pancakes and bacon.”
An amused grin plays at her lips that suggests she has some reservations about me in the kitchen—which would be completely fair. “I’m sure you can.”
She slips away, leaving me standing stunned.
The ease with which she just invited me to do something so important with her somehow makes all the months of angst and turmoil worth it. Because she wants me around. Not just for herself, but to be in this baby’s life, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted since the moment she told me about her.
To be there for both of them.
To make up for everything I caused them to lose.
Starting with breakfast…
I start the Keurig and move to the stove to flip the pancakes. Mom and Ivy chat in the living room, occasional laughter hitting my ears and making me grin as I work on our breakfast. It doesn’t take long for them to finish cooking, and by the time they’re ready, so is the coffee.
“Mom, your coffee’s ready.”
“Oh, great!” She pushes up from the couch, interrupting whatever conversation she and Ivy were having, and moves into the kitchen, stopping next to me where I plate up breakfast for us. A knowing grin tugs at her lips. “So, you two seem…”
I clear my throat, glancing at Ivy, who seems intent on looking at something on Mom’s phone. “I don’t know, Mom, but yeah, it does seem that way.”
It’s all I can say right now.
Just like I don’t want to get my hopes up, I don’t want to do that to Mom, either. After everything she lost, all the pain she’s suffered, she deserves something good as much as Ivy does, but I can’t promise her something that could be gone tomorrow so easily.
I could fuck it up again.
I could relapse.
And it could rightfully scare Ivy away.
“Hey, Cam?” Ivy pushes up from the couch awkwardly and walks over to us, flipping the phone around so I can see the screen. “Could you paint something like this?”
The nursery in the advertisement has the baby’s name written in stars across the night sky on the wall of a nursery.
It would be incredible in the room.
“Of course. As soon as you decide on a name, I can add it to the mural or put it on one of the other walls. Whatever you want.”
Ivy smiles and rubs her free hand on her stomach. “I have a name.”
Mom’s eyes widen. “You do?”
“I’ve kind of been waiting to tell you guys, but it’s going to be Andrea. Drea, for short.”
The vise around my chest tightens, and my eyes immediately fill with burning tears.
Fuck.
Mom releases a little sobbing noise as she pulls Ivy into her arms and hugs her tightly. “Oh, that’s beautiful. That’s perfect.”
