6. Hattie
SIX
Hattie
“You can’t keep him from me, Harriett.” Chris sighs on the other end of the phone. He knows I hate it when he uses my legal name.
“I’m not keeping anyone from you, Christopher. Oliver has no idea who you are; you may be his father, but for the last seven years, you haven’t been here,” I say sharply.
“It wasn’t like it was easy being away. But I’m here now; doesn’t that count for something?” He lets out a long groan.
“Not much,” I mutter. “I’m not just leaving him with you for the weekend when he’s still getting to know you.”
“Well, how is he supposed to get to know me when you’re so busy with work that you’re never around to monitor us? I told you, I could have Crystal be an extra set of eyes if you need.”
“Oh yes, your new bride. Another stranger, that would be lovely,” I say sarcastically.
“Harriett, I’m trying to be nice about this. But I’ve spoken to a lawyer, and I have certain rights here. We can go through the courts if necessary,” he says angrily.
“Please, I’d love to see a court side with a man who hasn’t had contact with the child since the night of conception,” I scoff. He clearly has to be joking. There is no way any judge would let him have custody or fight me on this.
“Come on, I’m just looking to get to know my son.”
“And the last seven years weren’t convenient for you?” I can’t help it; I’m too angry not to be sarcastic.
“I can see this isn’t getting us anywhere. I’ll be around tomorrow for our visit, and maybe we can talk after that.” He sighs, and I mumble an agreement just to get him off the phone.
I angrily hang up, but pressing end on an iPhone doesn’t have the same feeling as hanging up with someone on a flip phone.
So I throw my cell phone forcefully onto my bed.
It won’t break, and at least I feel a little bit better.
It isn’t my fault; Christopher is the only one who can provoke this kind of anger from me.
I’ve done enough therapy to know I’m probably holding too hard onto the past, but it isn’t for my sake—it’s for Ollie’s.
Five years ago, Christopher disappeared from being Ollie’s dad.
When Ollie was first born, he did the bare minimum, coming around with a box of diapers and seeing him once a month.
But then those once a month visits eventually stopped.
His excuse was that he was too young and wasn’t ready to be a parent, despite the fact that he was only a year younger than me.
My parents were too religious to understand my bisexuality, let alone how I “ended up pregnant.” They had already kicked me out when they found out, and I was lucky enough to find a home here with Benny before she died.
Benny was the original owner of Sapphire Falls Orchard until a few months ago when she got sick and passed away.
Of course, that’s how Tilly ended up with Bells, Benny’s estranged niece, whom she left the orchard to. Benny put me through vet tech school with the agreement that I’d be on call for the orchard. It was a deal we both made out on, and it gave a job along with a home to my newborn and me.
Christopher spent the last few years as a cop, which was another red flag as far as I was concerned.
I wasn’t just about to let him back into Ollie’s life.
Especially when he showed up on my doorstep with his new wife and with no warning.
It was hard enough explaining that to Ollie.
Oh, by the way, this is the father you don’t know, and now he’s married to someone else.
All this time he’s been living his own life, but now he wants to be around. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around that; I can only imagine how he’s feeling about the whole thing. Ollie has seen him a handful of times now, with me supervising, so I’m always able to hear and see everything.
I’m sure Christopher thinks it is about my feelings for him, but it isn’t. I’ve long since forgotten about our romance. It was short-lived, and anyone who could abandon my son and me doesn’t deserve a second chance.
It isn’t that I’m worried he’ll somehow hurt Ollie.
It’s that he’s a stranger to us. Sure, we had a relationship, but that was almost a decade ago.
I know I’ve changed so much in the last ten years, so how am I supposed to know him now?
I’m insisting on taking things slow. I’ll allow him to get to know Ollie while we both get to know Christopher again.
It isn’t my favorite thing—watching Ollie bonding with his dad and Crystal, Christopher’s new wife, but it’s something I am learning to deal with.
Part of why I think it angers me so much is because it feels unfair.
How many sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and sick days have I spent with Ollie?
How many temper tantrums have I been on the receiving end of?
Not to mention the labor I had to go through alone.
Now he gets to show up just as things are getting easier and relish in all the good things? It’s like a slap in the face.
Plus, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. I’m finally able to take on more at work, but there aren’t enough hours in the day. Ollie is doing great with homeschooling, but he’s too smart for me to keep up at the pace he needs.
He needs more challenges, and that won’t happen if I am always running off to work. Even if he could come with me and tried to help, there’s only so much I can teach him while I’m delivering a baby calf or removing ticks from a stray dog.
This brings me back to hiring Emmy. It isn’t ideal, having someone I once knew so intimately hanging out with Ollie.
Still, she’s the most qualified by a long shot.
I even looked into her references and did a background check to make sure everything she said checked out.
Her father died recently; she was telling the truth about looking to sell the house.
All her past employers had great things to say about her.
“You don’t have to hire her if you don’t want to,” Tilly reminds me, sipping her coffee. I break free from my thoughts, realizing I’m far removed from the conversation.
“What do you mean?” I raise an eyebrow.
“I can talk to Bells about hiring a second vet or even just someone to help you—” Tilly starts, but I cut her off.
“No way.” I shake my head. “I can handle it.”
“H, you’ve been running yourself ragged for weeks. You have the orchard, your office, and literally everyone in town runs to you—not to mention all your work at the animal shelter. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to get some help,” Tilly says.
“It’s okay. I’ve got it handled. But I think I have to hire Emmy.”
“You mean your one-night stand?” Lina asks, walking over with a fresh tray of pastries.
“Do you tell her everything?” I grumble at Tilly.
“Hey, I thought she knew.” Tilly puts her hands up defensively.
“I don’t see the big deal. If it was only a one-time thing, then who cares? It’s not like you want to date her. And you said she’s the best one for the job,” Lina points out.
I sigh. “I know, I just don’t want it to be weird.
” I don’t admit aloud that even though we had agreed not to meet, I had secretly hoped I’d get the chance to see Emmy again.
When she surprised me at my house, I was torn between thinking it was her stalking me or maybe fate.
Now I’m realizing the universe just likes having fun with me.
“Isn’t she going to be there when you aren’t?” Lina asks.
“Well, yeah. I’ll just see her for a few minutes before she leaves and gets to my house every day.” I nod.
“Then what’s the big deal?” Lina asks. “You keep it casual and about Ollie, and there shouldn’t be any issues.”
“Speaking of Ollie, how’s it going with his father?” Tilly doesn’t hide the disgust on her face. I don’t blame her; she’s overprotective of both Ollie and me.
Being the man who deserted us both isn’t exactly going to be earning him the father-of-the-year award anytime soon.
“It’s not going great. I mean, he wants to get to know him, but I don’t trust him alone with Ollie yet.” I sigh.
“What if that is something you have the new nanny do? She could be there when his father is so you don’t have to be?” Lina asks.
“Why haven’t you just gone through the courts to get him out of your hair?” Tilly asks.
“Because unfortunately, the court isn’t always perfect. They might see a man doing the bare minimum and decide to reward him for that.” Tilly rolls her eyes, and Lina scoffs. I know we’re all thinking the same thing: Ugh, men.
“But Lina has a good point. Why can’t the nanny handle that? Like, you can have him supervised without seeing him,” Tilly adds.
“I guess I could…” I think about it. I don’t really wanna subject Emmy to that, but it seems better than the alternative.
“Have you seen his new wife again, yet?” Lina asks.
“Only in passing. I said it’s enough on Ollie to meet Christopher. He doesn’t need to be forced into meeting a step-parent he doesn’t know about.” I shake my head.
“I just don’t understand how he can show up after so long and expect you and Ollie to meet him with open arms. And with a new wife you’ve never met?
I’m not shaming her, but how could he get married without even thinking about his child?
It pisses me off,” Tilly says angrily. I know how much she cares about Ollie; it’s part of why I had such a crush on her for so long.
It’s nice to see someone love my baby as much as they care about me.
“I know. I don’t know what went through his head; that’s why I’m making sure he’s thinking clearly before I’m letting Ollie be alone with him.” It stresses me out too much to think about this for too long. “How’s Bells doing with the plans for Halloween? Does she need any help?”
“She’s very excited; we’re doing an influencer Halloween brunch the week before Halloween, and she has a bunch of ideas for actual Halloween.
Lina, she might be reaching out to make sure you can make some specific treats, but Hattie, I was told not to ask you anything.
And I agree, you have enough going on. We got this, just focus on dressing Ollie up and taking him trick-or-treating,” Tilly says.
“Fine. I still have to get his costume. He’s changed his mind about what he wants to be, like, four times; every time it’s in my cart to buy, he asks for something else,” I say, laughing.
“That sounds like him. Are you trying to be something with him this year?” Lina asks.
“If he picks something soon, then yes. He asked to be Woody from Toy Story but then changed his mind. I’m just sort of hoping he changes it back because I think that would be cute for us.” I smile.
“Oh my goodness! Yes, that would be so cute! You could be Jessie!” Lina gushes.
“That’s what I was thinking.” I nod.
“I assume you’re not dressing up as usual,” Lina looks at Tilly.
Tilly grimaces. “Well, actually…”
“Oh my god! Bells did it; she’s got you so whipped!” Lina and I crack up.
I knew it would only be a matter of time before Bells made her dress up for Halloween. “It’s just, she saw this couple’s costume, and it actually looks really cute,” Tilly says defensively.
“Mmm, is the costume a ghost to remember the badass who used to definitively say no costumes?” Lina teases.
“Very funny.” Tilly shakes her head while Lina and I continue to make jokes at her expense.