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“It all happened so fast. I couldn’t process that Brandy was back, much less what that means for the next few days or the sleeping arrangements.”
“Hanna didn’t want to be in the same house as Brandy.”
I sighed. “Brandy never liked her. She was always jealous of our friendship.”
“What are you going to do?”
I stood. “I’m going to go inside and make sure Ember’s okay.”
“And what about Hanna? Are you going to let Brandy stay with you?”
My stomach churned with indecision. “She’s already assumed she can, and I always have in the past.”
“Things are different now. You’re in love with Hanna. You’re building a future with her.”
“Am I?” My head still felt like it was filled with hot lava, and I couldn’t navigate around it to make sense of anything.
“You don’t know?” Knox’s tone was incredulous.
I tried to think back to how I felt when I’d pulled her behind that sign to kiss her. “I want her in my life. I told her tonight I was falling for her.”
“Tell me how you felt when she walked out that door.”
“Like my entire world was crashing down around me, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.” The words tumbled out without any conscious thought. Hanna was my world. My life. My past, present, and future. She was everything, and I’d let her walk away. I was an idiot. “What can I do about it, though? I can’t leave Brandy alone with Ember.”
I didn’t know Brandy, not really. She wasn’t great with kids. She didn’t have much experience with them, and I never knew what toxic thing she would say to Ember next. Panic surged through me. “I have to go.”
I clicked off without saying goodbye, knowing Knox would understand.
Inside, Ember was playing with the dollhouse we kept in the living room.
“What do you think about going with me for a while?” Brandy asked.
Ember frowned, confusion in her gaze. “I live here with Daddy and Hanna.”
“Hanna? She lives with you now?” Brandy asked carefully.
Ember nodded. “Yeah, she was helping out my dad, and now they’re dating.”
My heart skipped a beat when I stepped into the room, and Brandy’s shocked gaze met mine. “You’re sleeping with her?”
I held up my hands. “First of all, it’s none of your business, and watch what you’re saying in front of Ember.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I knew Hanna liked you as more than a friend.”
“I like her right back.”
Brandy pouted. “I always thought we’d end up back together. We share a daughter, after all.”
“This isn’t the right time and place to discuss this.” We’d had a surface-level relationship. I’d been dazzled that a pretty girl liked me. One that was a little wild. But then she got pregnant, and I realized that she wasn’t mother material. She wanted to smoke and drink while she was pregnant. I stuck close by so I could discourage that behavior. Then, when she had the baby, I thought it was best for the mother to be around.
But when I saw how destructive Brandy could be, how volatile, I wished she’d leave, and she eventually did. She decided being a mother wasn’t for her. But she stopped by every once in a while to get her “Ember fix,” as she called it.
I allowed it because I thought Ember should spend time with her mother, but this didn’t feel right.
Ember looked uncomfortable. “I like Hanna.”
Brandy’s lip curled. “She’s just using your daddy to get his family’s money.”
