Page 43 of Grumpy Ex's Secret Baby

Haley shrugged and crossed her arms. “I don’t know what good that will do. There’s not a whole lot that they’ve done so far, and I doubt a visit from you will nudge them to do anything more.”

“Then what’s your plan?” I asked, my tone harsh as I looked down at her. “If you’re unwilling to accept my help or make Corey get off his ass and deal with everything, what’s your plan for keeping our daughter safe?”

“I’m going to make sure that nothing happens to her, Ty. You don’t need to worry about that.”

I stepped away from her and started pacing again. It felt like the world was starting to close in around me. My heart was racing in my chest. There was nothing I could do, no amount of deep breaths I could take, to make the feeling of helplessness go away.

“This stalker, do you know who it might be?”

“There was a guy who followed me around in university for a little bit. I saw him a few times after university too. He liked to send letters and that sort of thing. The campus security and the police at the time didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah. Being followed around is a pretty big deal, but he never threatened me. He just liked to tell me how much he liked me and how pretty he thought I was.”

“You are pretty,” I said as I stopped pacing and took another deep breath. “But that isn’t what these new letters are about. These ones are threatening.”

“Yes. And the sheriff’s office is going to handle it. I just need more proof.”

“You shouldn’t need more proof. I’m going to deal with this.”

“You are not!” she said, her tone sharp. “You’re not going to get involved in what you don’t need to be involved in. Do you understand me?”

“I think I should be involved where our daughter is concerned.”

Haley got up and closed the distance between us. “Don’t you dare start thinking you can start bossing me around because she's half yours? I’m not one of the peons who works for your company, and you are not my boss.”

As I looked at her, I couldn’t even begin to understand why she kept pushing away my help. It wasn’t going to keep happening. I wasn’t going to let her pretend that this stalker situation was going to get any better.

“You know what, Haley, I think it’s time I head home.”

She scowled and marched to the truck. “Fine. Drop me off first. Glad to see that things worked out like they always do. I thought that just for once, we could have talked about Trinity without fighting.”

That’s what I thought too,I thought as I got in the truck and slammed the door behind me.

She was silent the entire short drive to her house. Bret appeared in the window as the car parked. As much as I wanted to go inside and see Trinity for a few minutes, I knew nothing good would come of it, especially since I had already been arguing with Haley.

“Have a good night,” I said as she got out.

When she flipped me off, I started laughing and shook my head. I wanted to keep being angry with her, but I didn’t have the energy anymore. It was time that we both got over our hurt feelings and moved on with life.

“Come here,” I said, still grinning as she gave me a dramatic roll of her eyes. It seemed like she was tired of fighting with me too.

Haley walked to my open window and crossed her arms, leaning against the door as her head popped into the window.

“We’re acting like children,” Haley said. “What the hell are we doing, Ty?”

“I don’t know,” I said, cupping her jaw. “How about we just start over? I want to be in your life, and I want to be in hers in whatever capacity you’ll have me. I just need to know that you two are safe until this mess is resolved.”

“I’m doing everything I can to keep her safe. You have to trust that. I would never let anything happen to her.”

“I know,” I said, running my thumb across her cheek.

“We’re going to figure this out. It’s just going to be rocky as hell at first, but I’m tired of fighting with you, Ty. I want to try being a family. Trinity needs us.”

“A family as in two different families that co-parent together or one family?”

She smiled and leaned into my touch, her eyes fluttering shut. I kept stroking my thumb over her cheek until her eyes opened again.

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