Chapter 23
Cody
Ella’s putting food on Cora’s high chair so she stops crying, and Jesse’s telling Mason about a fishing trip he wants to take next year.
Karissa’s sitting beside me, quiet and slightly tense, which I can tell by her shoulders. She’s smiling, though. Even laughs once when Addison serves Wesley an absurd amount of zucchini while he wasn’t looking, her mischievous snicker giving it away.
Emma’s up in my parents’ room, napping in a Pack ’n Play Mom set up for her. The monitor buzzes quietly in the background.
Mason looks past me to Karissa. “Hey, this is random, but one of my coworkers’ moms owns a bakery. A coffee shop place in Minot, right on Main Street. She’s been looking for part-time help for a while now.”
“Missy’s?” Ella asks. I forgot she lived somewhere right there for a little while until she and Jesse got married.
“Yup.” Mason nods. “Her daughter’s heading off to college in August, so the other apartment upstairs will be half empty too. She lives there full-time but said she’s open to renting it out if the right person came along.”
I glance at Karissa. She’s frozen, a roll halfway to her mouth. Her eyes are wide. Beaming.
“You’re serious?” she asks.
Mason shrugs. “Yeah. I told her I’d ask. She’s real laid-back. Would probably love having someone up there to keep her company in the evenings. You interested?”
Karissa nods, fast. Too fast.
“That would be perfect,” she says, voice catching. “I’ve been scouring the apartment listings.”
Mom offers a warm smile, a glisten in her eye.
I don’t say anything. I don’t know what to say. I just watch her. Because I’ve seen Karissa quiet. I’ve seen her overwhelmed. I’ve seen her guarded. I’ve seen her at her lowest. But I’ve never seen her like this—hopeful, happy. It looks amazing on her.
Even if it punches me in the chest.
“Speaking of houses.” Addison perks up.
“Oh, here we go,” Jesse mutters.
“Addie,” Wes calls her out nicely.
“I said we were finishing the floor this week,” Dad reminds her.
We’ve been working on Addison’s cabin since the spring and she’s chomping at the bit for us to get it done.
“I thought you weren’t in a rush?” Mom says.
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Mason adds.
I cut in. “She just wants a place to make out with Wes.”
“Nuh-uh!” she argues, and Mom scolds me just by voicing my name. Everyone else laughs, though, including Wesley.
After we all move into the living room, Emma’s awake. Addison’s holding her now, sitting close beside Wesley on the couch. Karissa stays nearby, attention glued to Emma like she’s waiting for her to need her.
I sink back into the couch next to Mason, stretch my legs out, and let the noise of the TV pull me in.
Until I hear “Cody” a few moments later.
I glance over. Addison’s standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Karissa’s holding Emma now on the other couch, her nursing cover over her. Everyone else is zoned in on The Dukes of Hazzard.
Addison gives me a look, so I sigh and get up, following her into the kitchen.
“What’s up?” I ask.
She lowers her voice. “She’s anxious.”
I step in closer. “What?”
“Karissa,” she says. “The baby barely made a noise and she jumped up like the world was ending.”
“Okay? It’s her baby, Addison.”
“I know that, but the way she reacted…it felt like more.”
I raise a brow. “Or maybe you’re just a baby-hog and she wanted her kid back.”
Her jaw falls slack. “I am not.”
I shrug, half smirking. “You kinda are.”
Addison narrows her eyes but leans in again. “I’m serious. I know what anxiety looks like. I have anxiety. And I’m telling you, she’s extremely tense. She’s wired like she’s waiting for something to go wrong.”
“She’s just adjusting still,” I say flatly.
Addison sighs. “Whatever.”
I push off the counter. “I don’t know what you want me to say. She didn’t want you holding the baby? Let it go.”
Addison scoffs under her breath as I walk back toward the living room.
I ease back onto the couch and watch Karissa for a minute.
She’s just watching Emma under the blanket. I think back to the last few days, weeks. She has been a little tense. I mean, before we left she was worried about a sunburn. Maybe Addison is onto something.
* * *
The drive back to the house is quiet. I want to bring up the apartment thing, but I’m already pulling up in front of the lodge. Might as well just wait until we get inside.
I set the car seat up on the counter for her. I watch as Karissa carefully unbuckles Emma, who scrunches up and stretches as she’s brought to her mother’s chest.
“I…uh, I didn’t know you had been that stressed out looking for a place,” I say.
“Well, yeah. I can’t be here in September, so…”
“I know. I guess I just kinda thought you’d move back in with me or something.” I laugh but she shakes her head, not smiling, serious.
“I was praying about it,” she admits, and the dynamic of the entire conversation shifts. Her voice is soft, a little shaky. “I kept that to myself.” She blinks fast, tears sticking to her lashes. “And He heard me.”
My throat tightens and something in my chest swells. “Well, that’s really cool, isn’t it?”
She nods, wiping the corner of her eyes.
The idea of her living somewhere else—forty-five minutes away from me—doesn’t sit right. Not because I don’t think she can do it. She definitely can. But I guess I just got used to having her in my world.
Not seeing Emma nearly every day, like I have since she was born, makes me kinda sad. Same with Karissa. But I won’t tell her that. Because this isn’t about me, this is about them, and she’s too excited for me to bring it up.
“I’m happy for you. You’re gonna do great, Riss,” I say, shoving my hand in my pocket to stop myself from touching her back.
She just nods, sniffles once, and keeps her attention on Emma. Like maybe looking at me, thinking about what I’m thinking, is hurting her a little too.