Page 101 of Stay Wild Darlin’

“We said we’d be nanny and boss. You can feel whatever you want about whoever you want. That’s fine.”

“It’s the comment about Brooke?”

She didn’t respond. I gripped the wheel harder, jaw clenched, silently begging her to say something—anything.

Finally, she cleared her throat.

“Yes.”

“Talk it out with me.”

We had one more hour until we got into Dallas; we could make this work. We had to. There wasn’t another option.

“Work through it with me. We’ve still got time before we get there.”

She was quiet for a second, then shifted in her seat, tucking her legs up a little. Her fingers fidgeted with the fabric of her dress.

“Brooke’s always going to be Cora’s mom, and I get that. I’m not trying to take her place. But after what we did . . . after we had sex like that—” She paused and glanced back out the window. “I’ve never done anything like that before. It was a vulnerable moment for me. Letting go like that. Letting you in like that.”

“It was.” My throat tightened. “I know it was.”

“So when you brought up Brooke afterward, it felt like I was this temporary placeholder. Like you trusted me with your body and your kid, but not your heart.”

I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I fucked up.”

She didn’t say anything.

“I’m not gonna pretend I didn’t say what I said, because I did. I said it, and I hate that I hurt you.” I glanced at her. “I didn’t know how to picture a future that didn’t involve trying to fix what broke. I kept thinking maybe if Brooke came back, we could raise Cora together, and I wouldn’t feel like such a failure.” I paused, thinking through my next words. “The truth is . . . she did drop the baby and run. While I was busy looking back, you were right in front of me. You showed up. You love my daughter. You gave me more in a month than I could have ever wanted.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re not a placeholder. You never were. That last night with you—it wasn’t a mistake. It scared the shit out of me how real it felt. How good. Maybe I tried to cover that up by falling back on old ideas, old guilt. I’m saying that I see you. I always have.”

She stared at me for a long moment. “I-I don’t want to feel disposable,” she whispered. “I don’t want to open myself up like that and be left wondering if you’re still hung up on someone who didn’t choose you.”

I reached over and grabbed her hand. “She’s not who I want. It’s you, Poppy.”

“What happens if she comes back? If Brooke shows up one day and says she wants to be in Cora’s life again—what then? You’ll have your family then. The one you pictured. The one you waited for.”

I kept my eyes on the road, but my thoughts were spinning.

What if she did come back?

Would I let her in?

Would I try to rebuild something that had never been whole for the sake of a picture-perfect family?

The truth was . . . that image wasn’t mine anymore. It hadn’t been for a long time.

I gripped the wheel tighter, heart pounding, and finally said what had been lodged in my chest since the moment she walked into my life.

“I want to be with you, Poppy.” I glanced over at her, forcing her to see what I meant. All of it. “If Brooke ever comes back, we’ll figure out how she can see Cora.” I paused, feeling the weight of the next part push up into my throat. “It doesn’t change this. It doesn’t change you. It doesn’t change what I want.”

I pulled off at our exit and stopped at the stop sign, turning toward her and meeting her gaze. “You,” I said. “I want you.”

She blinked, her eyes glossing over in a way that twisted something deep in my chest.

“I know we’ve already completely mucked the line between nanny and boss, but in my defense, this job doesn’t come with an HR department.”