Chapter Twenty-Eight
Evie
I stood in my kitchen, staring blankly at the mug of coffee in my hands, replaying the events of the last 24 hours like a movie stuck on a loop. I was still in shock. Not just because I’d slept with Liam but because of everything that followed—the tumble, the laughter, and somehow not wanting to bury my face in embarrassment for the next century.
Instead of feeling mortified, I felt... normal. Like it was the most natural thing in the world to fall butt-naked onto the floor in a tangle of sheets and limbs.
It was absurd, yet undeniably us.
I sipped my coffee and glanced out the window at the light dusting of snow that had fallen overnight. The morning sun's reflection cast warm light across the hills. And yet, my thoughts stayed firmly fixed on Liam.
He’d been so patient with me, so understanding. He didn’t even laugh when I crashed to the floor in a flurry of awkward panic.
Well, not at first. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he was more concerned about whether I’d hurt myself. It wasn’t until I started laughing that he let himself laugh too, a deep, vibrating sound that wrapped around me like a blanket.
“Why am I not cringing right now?” I muttered to myself, pacing the kitchen.
Normally, a scene like that would have sent me running for the hills, never to see the guy again. But with Liam? It just felt... different.
Maybe it was the way he made me feel like I didn’t have to be perfect. That it was okay to let my guard down, to just be me—awkward, clumsy, and all.
Or maybe it was the way he looked at me like I was the only person in the world who mattered.
I set my mug down on the counter as my heart did that weird fluttery thing it always seemed to do when I thought about him.
I could still feel his arms around me, how he’d pulled me close after we untangled ourselves from the floor.
Now, standing in my kitchen with the morning light streaming in, I realized just how much that meant to me.
“Mom!” Hayden’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see him bounding into the room, his hair sticking up in every direction. “Can I have pancakes?”
“Sure thing, little dude,” I ruffled his hair as I grabbed the pancake mix from the cupboard.
As I whisked the batter, I thought about how nice it was not to keep him at arm’s length any longer.
“Mom, are you okay?”
I poured the batter on the griddle and blinked, startled by the question.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re smiling,” he said, tilting his head. “Like... a lot.”
I laughed, flipping a pancake. “Am I not allowed to smile?”
“You are.” He shrugged. “But it’s weird. You’re usually, like, normal happy. Not super happy.”
“Super happy, huh?” I handed him a plate of pancakes and leaned down to kiss the top of his head. “Maybe I’m just in a good mood today.”
“Maybe,” he said, digging into his pancakes.
As I watched him eat, I felt a pang of guilt. Part of me wondered if I was crazy for even entertaining the idea of a relationship when my focus should be solely on Hayden. But another part of me—the part that hadn’t stopped thinking about Liam since the moment he walked into my life—knew that this was different.
He wasn’t just some guy. He was... Liam.
And as ridiculous as it sounded, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he might be exactly what I’d been waiting for all along.
Later that afternoon, as I stood in the living room folding laundry, my phone buzzed on the coffee table. I picked it up and saw Liam’s name on the screen.
Did you survive the fall the day after or are you all bruised and sore?
I laughed, shaking my head as I typed back.
You mean from the fall?
He wrote back.
What else would I be talking about?
I sent back a winky emoji.
Oh, yeah. That’s what I’m talking about. I knew I had moves.
I snickered and shook my head as I set the phone down, feeling a warmth spread through me that had nothing to do with the laundry I was folding.
For the first time in a long time, I reveled in happiness despite what was on the horizon.
Even if that happiness came with a side of tangled sheets and bruised dignity.
The warmth I felt thinking about Liam was a welcome distraction, but it didn’t last long. As soon as I slid the phone into my pocket, the weight of everything crashed back in. My ex’s letter and the custody claim loomed over me like a dark cloud I couldn’t outrun.
I folded a pair of Hayden’s socks, staring at the small patterns of dinosaurs on the fabric. The thought that someone could take him away from me made my chest tighten so hard it hurt. He was my whole world—my reason for every decision, every late night, every moment I pushed forward when I didn’t think I could. When my fingers were frozen next to the horse’s hooves or sweat rolled down my back in the heat of the summer, he was the reason.
How could my ex, the man with no interest, now think he had the right to disrupt that?
My hands trembled as I reached for another piece of laundry. I couldn’t imagine not being there for Hayden when he needed me. The very thought broke me.
How could I protect and give him the stability he deserved when the ground beneath me crumbled?
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it, and I wiped it away quickly. I couldn’t fall apart. Not now. Hayden needed me strong.
But even as I tried to balance myself, the fear crept in, whispering doubts I couldn’t silence. How would I fight this? Would the courts see through the thin arguments my ex was bound to make? And what if they didn’t? The future felt like a storm I wasn’t ready for. And as much as I wanted to lean on Liam, I wasn’t sure I could drag him into my life's mess. He deserved someone whose life wasn’t a minefield.
I just didn’t know if I could face it all alone.
What if the unthinkable happened?
Tears filled my eyes so suddenly that I didn’t even realize I was crying until the sound of my own sniffles broke through the silence. I wiped my face hastily, trying to pull myself together, but it was too late.
Hayden had already turned toward me from where he was sitting on the couch, holding the envelope in his small hands.
“Mom?” His voice was soft, concerned. He tilted his head, his big brown eyes wide with worry. “Why are you crying?”
I froze.
My gaze darted from his face to the envelope in his hands. The sight of it there—the weight of it in his little fingers—shattered me all over again. I had left it on the coffee table, not wanting to deal with it in front of him.
But of course, curiosity always won out with a seven-year-old.
I dropped to my knees in front of him, trying to breathe through the ache in my chest.
“I’m okay, buddy,” I said, though my voice wavered, giving me away. “It’s just... sometimes grown-up stuff gets a little hard, that’s all.”
Hayden frowned, his tiny hands clutching the envelope tighter. “Is it about this?”
I hesitated.
How could I possibly explain this to him?
Instead, I nodded slowly. “Kind of.”
“Who’s it from?” he asked, his brow furrowing in that thoughtful way he had, so much older than his years.
I swallowed hard, the words tangling in my throat. “It’s from... your dad.”
Hayden’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked back down at the envelope, turning it over as if it might hold some kind of answer.
“My dad?” he echoed, the words hesitant, unfamiliar.
I forced myself to meet his gaze, my heart breaking all over again.
“Yeah, but we don’t have to talk about it right now, okay? It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
He nodded slowly as his small fingers loosened their grip on the envelope.
“Okay,” he said quietly, but his eyes stayed on mine, searching for something I wasn’t sure I could give him.
Hayden stared at the envelope for a moment longer, tracing the edges absentmindedly.
I could see the wheels turning in his head, the questions building behind his curious eyes. My stomach twisted, knowing what was coming but feeling completely unprepared for it.
“I don’t even know my dad,” he said softly, looking up at me with a mix of curiosity and confusion. His voice was calm, but there was a weight to his words that hit me like a punch to the chest. “We never talk about him.”
I reached out, brushing his unruly hair back from his forehead.
“I know, sweetheart,” I said gently. “And that’s because... well, he hasn’t been part of our lives.”
“Why not?” Hayden’s gaze locked on mine, unflinching and innocent, and it made the lump in my throat grow heavier. “Doesn’t he like us?”
My heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.
How do you explain something so complicated to a child who only sees the world in black and white? I searched for the right words, knowing there was no easy answer.
“It’s not that he doesn’t like us,” I said carefully, keeping my voice as even as possible. “Sometimes grown-ups make choices that aren’t the best. And sometimes those choices mean they don’t get to be part of the really good things, like you and me.”
Hayden’s brow furrowed. “So, he made a bad choice?”
“In a way,” I said, nodding. “But it doesn’t mean anything about you. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Hayden. Never forget that, okay?”
He seemed to chew on that for a moment, his fingers now idly playing with the flap of the envelope. “But why’s he sending this now? If he didn’t want to be here before?”
That question cut deeper than the rest. Because I didn’t have an answer. Not one that I wanted to say out loud. I couldn’t tell him it was selfishness, spite, or some misguided sense of entitlement.
“I don’t know. But I’m going to figure it out. And I will do everything I can to ensure you’re happy and safe. That’s my job as your mom.”
He looked at me for a long moment with an expression unreadable.
“Are you scared?” he asked quietly.
“A little,” I admitted. “But I’m a lot stronger than I look. And we’ve got a lot of people who care about us, who are here to help if we need it.”
“Like Liam?” he asked, tilting his head.
I felt heat rise to my cheeks, but I nodded.
“Yeah, like Liam.”
Hayden seemed to accept that answer, his small shoulders relaxing slightly.
“I don’t think I need a dad,” he said after a moment. “I have you. And we’re a pretty good team.”
Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes again, but this time they were bittersweet.
I hugged him tightly, burying my face in his messy hair.
“We’re the best team,” I whispered. “And I’m so lucky to have you.”
“Me too,” he mumbled into my shoulder.
I held him for a moment longer, letting the weight of his words settle in my heart. When I finally pulled back, I smiled at him, brushing away the hair from his forehead again.
“How about we put this envelope away for now and make some cookies instead?”
“Can I help?”
“Of course,” I said, standing and holding out my hand. He slipped his smaller one into mine, and as we walked toward the kitchen, I felt a flicker of determination spark inside me.
No matter what this envelope brought into our lives, I wasn’t going to let it take away the happiness and security we’d built together. And I wasn’t going to let anyone—especially not my ex—dictate what our future would look like.