31. Chapter 31
Madison
Sunday mornings usually meant grocery lists, laundry, maybe bribing Olive with muffins so she’d sit still long enough for me to tackle bills. But this one was different.
Olive sat at the little table by the window, crayons scattered like confetti, humming to herself while Bunny rested beside her.
She was drawing again, this time, Seth holding a hammer twice his size with Bunny perched on the roof.
Every so often, she’d glance up at me, grinning, then return to her masterpiece.
I should have been paying attention to the stack of mail I’d spread across the counter, but my mind wasn’t on utility bills or overdue notices. It kept drifting back to yesterday.
The Ferris wheel swaying high above Wisteria Creek. The warmth of Seth’s arm brushing mine as Olive squealed at the view. His mouth twitched into something that almost looked like a smile when Olive called him Uncle Seth. The pink bear tucked under his arm like it wasn’t ridiculous at all.
I’d seen glimpses of a different Seth. Not the gruff architect who barked at his crew, not the man who always seemed half a step removed from everyone else.
Yesterday, I’d seen a version of him who laughed, who softened, who leaned in close and made me feel, if only for a moment, like the world wasn’t so heavy.
And that unsettled me more than anything.
A knock rattled the door before I could spiral further. Olive bolted from her chair, Bunny in hand. “Aunt Blair!”
Blair stepped inside, balancing a bag of muffins like she was arriving for brunch rather than an ambush. “Morning, girls,” she said cheerfully.
Olive threw herself at her, words spilling out so fast they tangled. “We went to the fair! Uncle Seth won me a bear! He carried me on his shoulders! We had ice cream and rides and…”
Blair laughed, smoothing Olive’s curls. “Sounds like someone had the best day.”
“She did,” I muttered, taking the bag of muffins and busying myself at the counter. Anything to avoid the look I knew was coming.
Sure enough, Blair leaned against the counter, arms folded, one brow raised. “And how about you? Did you have the best day?”
I shot her a glare, but it didn’t faze her. It never did. “It was fine.”
“Fine,” she repeated, drawing the word out. “That’s all you’ve got?”
I sighed, tearing the muffin bag open a little too aggressively. “Olive had fun. That’s what matters.”
Blair reached for a muffin, tore it in half, and studied me like I was one of her puzzles she was determined to solve. “You can’t tell me nothing shifted yesterday, Maddie. Because I can see it on your face.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. “There’s nothing to see.”
Her smile softened, but her voice was firm.
“Look. Seth isn’t easy. He’s stubborn, grumpy, and he acts like emotions are a foreign language.
But underneath all that? He’s a good man.
Loyal to the bone. He’ll go out of his way for the people he cares about, even if he doesn’t know how to say it out loud. ”
Her words landed like stones in my chest. Because hadn’t I seen that already? The man who cooked dinner and told me I deserved a break. The one who carried Olive’s bear without complaint. The one who let his guard down on the Ferris wheel just long enough to share the view.
And yet, my voice came out defensive, brittle. “This is temporary. Olive and I will be back in our house soon. Then all of this will go back to normal.”
Blair tilted her head. “And what if normal doesn’t look the same anymore? What if that’s not such a bad thing?”
I had no answer for her.
Later, after she left, Olive climbed into my lap, smudging my jeans with crayon-stained fingers. “Mommy,” she said matter-of-factly, “Uncle Seth makes you smile. You don’t do that enough.”
The breath caught in my throat. I kissed her hair, pulling her close. She smelled like crayons and sugar.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe letting someone in, someone like Seth, wasn’t such a bad thing after all. What scared me most wasn’t Seth hurting me. It was him staying. Because if he stayed, if I let myself fall, there’d be no going back. And part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to resist anymore.