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Clara
It was a shame how quickly life sped by when things were going well. A month passed in a blink. Thirty-one days full of stolen moments at lunch, sweet kisses, and long, sweaty nights. I was so caught up in the whirlwind of falling for him, I hadn’t savored it as much as I should have, but neither of us was going anywhere.
Not when we had it so, so good.
I opened my eyes, squinting at the light streaming through a crack in my blinds. Nellie must’ve dug her fingers into them the day before, leaving them in enough disarray for the sun to sneak through. I tried to be annoyed, but that lasted all of fifteen seconds. It was impossible for me to take issue with my little girl any longer than that.
I rolled over, expecting a warm body, only to be met with lukewarm sheets. Sitting upright, I peered around my bedroom and turned toward the en suite bathroom. It was dark.
Had Jake already left? He never left without kissing me goodbye. And it was usually difficult to pry ourselves apart.
I checked my phone. No messages from him.
Huh.
He wouldn’t have left the bedroom, not with Nellie and Marina out there. At least, I didn’t think he would have.
When he came home with me the first time, I’d introduced him to Marina, so that wouldn’t have been a problem, but Nellie hadn’t seen him since the night they met over fast food. Part of me thought it might be time for a slow introduction, but we hadn’t talked about it…
Not that that mattered. Jake probably had to get to Sage or something and hadn’t had a chance to text me. He knew I liked to sleep in on Sunday mornings. If not for the sun peeking in my room, I would have been asleep now.
Climbing out of bed, I pulled on my robe, needing to figure out what was going on. After a stop in the bathroom, I padded out to the living room. A smile stretched across my face at the sound of Nellie’s laugh, only to droop when I turned the corner.
Nellie was dancing to the music show she loved so much, with Jake right beside her, grooving along. If I hadn’t been so distressed at him going against my wishes, I would have stopped to admire how cute they both were. I never would have pictured Jake as the kind of man who boogied down to a kids’ show, but he was shaking and wiggling without restraint. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if this was how he’d been with Sage when she was little. Then I remembered I was pissed.
“Mommy’s awake!” Nellie spotted me first, and her little legs carried her to me at top speed until she crashed into my knees. “Good morning, Mommy. Jake’s here.”
I smoothed my hand over her tangled hair and took a deep breath. The last thing I wanted to do was get mad in front of her, but my blood was boiling.
“I see that, honey. What a surprise. Do you remember him?”
“Yep.” She nodded hard, her little head bobbing around. “Jake fixed Mommy’s car.”
“You have the memory of an elephant. Wow.”
I took a time-out from my anger to be impressed. Nellie didn’t meet tons of people, and we certainly didn’t have fast-food dinners with the ones she did meet, but that had been nearly two months ago. For a three-and-a-half-year-old, it might as well have been a decade.
“I’m not an elephant,” she cried. “I’m Nellie.”
“Oh, right.” I laughed, though I didn’t feel it like I normally did. “I forgot for a minute.”
“Okay.” She let go of my legs and swiveled around. “I’m gonna go dance now.”
During our conversation, I’d refused to look at Jake, not quite ready to deal with him yet. But once Nellie was immersed in her show again, he came striding in my direction, and I had no choice but to deal.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
He took me by the bicep and led me toward the kitchen, stopping just outside Nellie’s range of hearing while keeping her in view.
“I know you’re not happy, but let me explain.”
The gruffness of his voice in the mornings was still there. I loved waking up to him saying my name and touching me wherever he could. Today, though, I wasn’t so pleased to hear it.
“Go ahead.”
He cupped my elbows, keeping me within reach. “Marina knocked on the door this morning. Her daughter was in an accident on the way home from her shift, and she needed to get to the hospital to be with her—”
“Is Cassie okay?” I pressed my hand to my forehead. “I should check with her—”
