Page 112 of The Challenge

I rolled my eyes. “Where’s Xavier?”

“He and I broke up…a few months ago, actually.”

Well, that’s news to me. “So now, because he’s out of the picture, you care about your daughter?”

“I’ve always cared about Effie,” she protested. “I just didn’t know how to be the mother she needed because there was a lot I had to experience before I could settle down.”

“Well, unfortunately, parenting doesn’t work that way,” I spat. “It doesn’t wait for you to be ready.”

“I understand that. I…” She stumbled over her words. “In the few months I’ve been alone, I’ve talked to a therapist and spent time taking a good look at myself. She helped me see that I was just afraid of failure—not only when it came to my daughter, but when it came to my relationship with you. I never felt like I was good enough for you, Evan. I always worried you were only with me because of Effie. I became depressed, and when Xavier came along, he made me feel desired—for a while anyway. It brought me out of the depression, but at the cost of losing my family.”

I shook my head. “Where are you going with all of this?”

She stopped walking and faced me. “I’m ready now to earn back what I lost. I want to be here full time for Effie.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “My hope is that she’s still young enough that she’ll forget these four years I’ve been away, or at least that I can start replacing the bad memories with good ones.”

I huffed. “I can assure you she won’t ever forget that you left. But you’re not gonna hear me complain about you wanting to be part of your daughter’s life. It’s never too late. She will always need her mother, even if I’ve done everything I can to fill the void of you not being here. I’m never gonna fight you on coming back into her life.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” She started to tear up. “But I don’t just want to be part of her life, Evan. I want to be part of your life.”

Every muscle in my body tightened. “That’s insane, Kat.”

“I realize it seems that way right now. And I don’t expect you to warm to me overnight or anytime soon. But it’s my goal to get my family back someday. I need you to know that.”

“You realize how crazy that sounds, right? You can’t just disappear for four years, coming back only when it’s convenient for you, and then return one day and decide you want your family back.” I shook my head. “Things don’t just pick up where you left off.”

“I understand why you feel that way. Respect has to be earned.”

“You’re damn right, it does,” I scoffed.

“Anyway, I don’t expect you to have a positive reaction to this news right now. I just wanted to make you aware of my intentions. I fully expected you to resist and be skeptical.”

I need to get back to Chloe. “Anything else?” I huffed.

“No. I’ll be staying at my mom’s place while she’s in Florida. I have a couple of job interviews lined up for this week, but I’ll be around if you need me to take care of Effie.”

“I’m sure she’s gonna want to spend time with you, so that’ll be fine.”

Katerina ran a hand through her long, dark hair. “I’m hoping someday you’ll want to spend time with me again, too.”

Chapter 41

CHLOE

I stared at the stack of mail on my kitchen counter in Chicago. While I’d had the important bills forwarded to Evan’s place in Wyoming, a fair amount of junk mail and miscellaneous stuff was still waiting for me here.

I’d been back two weeks now and still hadn’t bothered to open anything. My apartment was eerily quiet, the low hum of the refrigerator all too noticeable. I’d never realized how lonely it was. While I used to relish the quiet of living alone, compared to the house full of life I’d come back from, this seemed depressing.

A knock at the door startled me, although I knew it was my friend Liz, who’d said she would bring over a bottle of wine so we could catch up. While we’d spoken on the phone, I hadn’t seen her since I’d returned to Chicago.

“Hey,” I said as I opened the door.

“Hey, you.” She gave me a big hug and handed me the wine, along with a box of cookies from the bakery around the corner. She must’ve been running around because her short blond hair looked a bit disheveled.

I inspected the cookies. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Well, they’re for me, too. Don’t worry.”

“Let me get some glasses so we can nosh.”