MAYA BROOKE
Inever thought I’d be able to juggle being a parent and carrying on my studies at the same time, but here we are. As much as I miss Skye, I know she’s in good hands, and Finn never fails to send me updates throughout the day.
As I leave my final class, I pull my phone from my pocket to see a couple of texts from Finn that mostly consist of pictures of him and Skye. My eyes water at the sight of how much she looks like him, even if he thinks she looks like me.
My thumbs move across the screen as I type and walk at the same time, but of course, I’m not looking where I’m going. I’m too engrossed in the fact my little girl looks like she’s having the time of her life with her dad.
A shoulder barges into mine, and I drop my phone. “Ah, shit,” I hear as I bend down to pick it up. “Sorry.”
My eyes land on brown eyes and dark hair. I pause for a moment as I recognise him as one of the guys from the football team who came over to me a few weeks ago.
“No, sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” I say before pushing my hair from my face.
He smiles at me, and I hate to admit I’ve already forgotten his name. I’ve got too many other things on my mind to worry about remembering something like that.
“Maya, right?”
I exhale a breath. “Yeah…sorry, what’s your name again?”
He places a hand over his chest. “Ouch, I’ll try my hardest not to be offended.”
I wince internally because I realise forgetting someone’s name when you’ve already met is incredibly rude. But baby brain strikes again, and studying at the same time definitely is taking its toll on me.
“Alfie,” he says slowly. “Alfie Shore.”
“Alfie,” I say out loud, so I don’t forget again. “Well, sorry for barging into you.”
“Don’t worry.” He shrugs effortlessly. “How are you?”
I blink at his question and force myself to nod. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Good.” He beams, not taking his eyes off me.
My cheeks heat because why is he looking at me so intently? I don’t look good today. Far from it. I had almost no sleep last night, and my hair hasn’t been washed in at least four days.
His eyes drop down to the books I’ve got hooked under one arm, and he tilts his head to get a better look. “You study journalism, too?”
“Uh, yeah. But I wanna get into entertainment journalism.”
Alfie shoves his hands into his pockets. “That’s cool. What class did you just come out of?”
“Law and ethics.”
“Ugh, I hate that class. I swear they want our eyeballs to bleed dry from how boring and tedious it is.”
I laugh. “Yeah, it’s a little rough, but it’s essential.”
“Totally,” he says with a grin. “So, there’s a party in a few weeks. You should come.”
My forehead creases as I adjust my books. “Did you forget the part where I am a mother?”
Alfie doesn’t look fazed one bit. “No, I didn’t forget. But that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to go out and have fun. You’re young and should be enjoying university. In moderation, of course.”
I purse my lips as I stare back at him. I can’t remember the last time I went to a party. I can’t remember the last time I did something selfless like that.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “It still feels a little too early.”
He nods in understanding, and we start to walk out of the building. “Fair enough, but if you change your mind, let me know.”
“How?”
“Add me on Instagram.” He winks. “It’s just my name. If you remember.”
I huff. “I do remember.”
“Then enlighten me.”
My shoulders roll back as I stare up at him. “Alfie Shore.”
His eyes flare, and he flicks them between mine. “I’m impressed.”
“It would have been incredibly rude of me to forget your name twice.” I chuckle.
My head twists towards the campus café where I spot Jade, who is waving at me. I clear my throat and timidly look back to Alfie.
“I’ve got to go.”
“I’ll see you around?” he asks hopefully.
I pause for a moment. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”
Alfie’s smile doesn’t slip for a second as I walk directly towards Jade, who is eyeing me suspiciously. I groan internally because I am not going to hear the end of this.
“Did I just see you hanging out with Alfie?”
I roll my eyes so hard they hurt. “No, we weren’t hanging out. I bumped into him after my class.”
“Ooh, tell me all about it,” she says as she waggles her brows.
“I can’t,” I sigh. “I need to get back to Skye.”
Jade’s face slumps. “Oh, come on, Maya. You’re already out. We can grab a coffee and have some girly time. You’re entitled to that, too.”
Hm. You sound just like Alfie.
I chew on my lip as I stare at my phone. “I’ll text Finn and see what he says.”
“Okay.”
Maya:
Hey, is it okay to grab a coffee with Jade before I come home?
If you need to be somewhere let me know and I’ll come home now
Finn:
Don’t be silly
Spend time with Jade, we’re all good here
And take as much time as you need
My heart flutters.
“What did he say?” Jade asks as she pokes her head over my shoulder. She reads over the messages and pulls back slowly. “See? He’s fine.” She grins before grabbing my arm and tugging me towards the café. “Come on. One coffee and then you can go home and see your girl.”
“Fine,” I huff.
We grab our drinks and perch ourselves at the window table. Jade is beaming at me, and I narrow my eyes.
“What?”
She rests her head on her fist. “Tell me about Alfie.”
I raise my coffee to my lips. “Nothing happened.”
“Well, he was looking at you like something happened,” she says with suggestive eyes.
“He invited me to a party.” I shrug.
“What party?”
“I don’t know, he said in a few weeks.”
Jade’s mouth falls open. “Oh, he’s talking about Fen’s party. Me and Alice were already talking about going.”
“Who?”
She laughs. “Just this guy who is super rich, I’ve heard his parties are pretty sick. Alice managed to get us in because she knows Fen’s housemate or something.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like I’ll be going.”
“Why not?” Her face falls.
I lean in and frown. “Because I need to look after Skye.”
“Can’t Finn look after her for the night?”
My hand presses to my forehead. “I can’t go out partying when I just had a baby, Jade. Do you know how guilty that’ll make me feel?”
“You’re entitled to a life, Maya,” she says softly. “You’re allowed to go out and have fun.”
I chew on my lip as my stomach twists. “I would feel awful.”
“For who?”
“For Finn, because he’ll have to look after her.”
“Maya, he’s the father, not a babysitter.”
My eyes close as I sigh. She’s right.
“Think about it,” she says when I don’t respond. “It’ll be good for you.”
“Yeah, I’ll think about it.”
For the next thirty minutes, Jade fills me in about her life, and for once, we don’t talk about Finn or Skye, and it makes me feel somewhat normal. That I can do both and still come out the other side.
When I head home and walk through the front door, Finn is asleep on the sofa.
He’s lying on his back with the baby monitor in one hand and a textbook on his chest. His curly blond hair is flopped over his forehead as he breathes evenly, an oversized hoodie slightly bunched up to flash off the sliver of hair that trails from his belly button down into his trousers.
My mouth automatically curls at the sight—I know the feeling of needing a nap when someone needs your attention all day.
I silently shut the front door behind me and walk across the living room, into my bedroom. I creep forward and lean over Skye’s cot to find her sound asleep with her baby blanket draped over her.
My fists squeeze from how adorable she looks, and I resist the urge to touch her and wake her up. We could have silence for a little bit more.
When I return to the living room, I walk towards Finn and slowly pluck the baby monitor from his hands, but his eyes immediately snap open, and he jolts. His hazy green eyes flick over my features as he releases a soft groan and rubs his handsome face.
“Shit, sorry,” he croaks. “I fell asleep.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I say softly. “I nap all the time. I get it. It’s exhausting looking after a baby.”
Finn stretches out as the book falls from his stomach, and my eyes travel down to his abdominals once more. I stare for a moment too long because memories of being on my knees and kissing over his skin flash in my mind.
“How was your day?”
I snap my head back to his eyes. “Yeah, it was good.”
“Have a good time with Jade?”
“Yeah. It was good to spend time with her. I haven’t ever done that without Skye.” And as much as I loved it, I’m happy to be home.
Finn pushes himself up into a sitting position as I perch beside him. “Well, whenever you want to do that, let me know. I’ll be here to look after Skye.”
My heart thumps again. It really is the bare minimum from a father, but he’s thrown himself into this full force and hasn’t looked back since. It’s everything I didn’t know I needed, especially after thinking I’d have to do this alone.
“Thank you,” I say. “How was Skye today?”
“Perfect.” He grins. “Perfect as always.”
Warmth grows in my chest.
“What’s the time?” Finn asks as he starts looking for his phone.
“Just after five.”
“Ah, shit,” he says as he stands and finds his phone under the pillow. “I said to my therapist I’d go to a meeting tonight.”
“Do you think they help?”
Finn drags a hand through his hair as he stares down at me. “Yeah, I do. It also gives me something to do instead of overthinking, you know?”
My mouth suddenly turns very dry. “How have you been feeling?”
“Better than I was,” he says with a soft smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“You know you can talk to me, right?”
Finn’s chest rises and falls. “I don’t want to bring you down with my shit. You’ve got a lot on your plate as it is.”
I frown, standing from the sofa. “I want to be there to support you,” I say truthfully. “If it’ll help at all. I want you to be okay.”
He raises his hand and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. The gesture is so tender and familiar that I shudder as his finger brushes the curve of my neck. “I’m okay, Maya,” he murmurs. “I’ve got two beautiful girls in my life that I don’t want to let down, and I won’t. So I keep going.”
My chest tightens at the pain I know he’s been through.
“I’m just glad you’re talking about it with your therapist,” I whisper.
“Me too.” His phone buzzes, and he clears his throat. “I gotta go, is that okay?”
“Of course. Your meetings are important.”
“Yeah,” he says as his eyes roam my face. “Oh, and I made dinner. It’s in the oven.”
“Again?”
“Yeah.” He shrugs as if it’s nothing, but it’s not. It’s everything to me. “Hope you like it.”
My lips tremble as I admire the man who once stole my heart and looks like he could do it all over again. “Thank you.”
Finn doesn’t move for a long moment; he keeps his gaze on me. Then he steps forward and brushes a kiss over my forehead, and my eyes flutter closed at the sensations that burst through my body.
“I don’t want to wake Skye,” he murmurs into my skin. “Kiss her good night for me.”
When he pulls away, I instinctively want to reach out for him, but I don’t.
He needs to focus on staying sober. We need to focus on being parents.
As much as my heart cries for him, we have to get everything in check first before I can even think about rekindling our relationship.
But he’s making it incredibly hard with his heartfelt gestures.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says as he approaches the door.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”