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He respected that. A lot. Phoebe was a fighter.
"Well, Annie's mom was in the program, and she didn't have anyone to designate. Eliana asked me if I'd do it, and of course I said yes." She smiled. "I didn't realize that by saying yes, that one day, Eliana would show up at my door at three in the morning with a two-year-old girl and tell me I now had a daughter."
"No shit?"
"Best day of my life. I thought I'd never be a mom, but then Annie was in my arms, scared, and traumatized, and I knew my life had a purpose." The peace and love in Phoebe's voice seemed to fill the whole night. She laughed softly. "My ex had just died, and I'd been just about to call my parents for the first time in five years, now that I could go back to my life, but then Annie arrived, and I had to choose."
"You chose her over your parents?"
"I had to. She's my daughter." There was a hint of sadness in her voice. "My mom and stepdad are amazing, but they knew when I left my husband that I'd have to disappear. They wanted me safe, so we said our good-byes, and that was it. I couldn’t ask them to go with me and give up their whole life, so I just left."
Jacob sat down on the front step, absorbing that. He couldn't imagine walking away from the Harts, never seeing them again. "That takes a hell of a lot of guts." And she'd done it for a kid that wasn't biologically hers. He'd respected her before, but now? No words.
"Life takes guts," she said. "You either live, or you die while you're alive. I believe that someday I'll see my parents again. They'll meet Annie and fall in love with her. In the meantime—" She held her hands up to the sky. "I get a vacation in Oregon on a horse ranch. Does life get better than that?"
He smiled. He could tell she meant it. This woman had a hell of a dark past, and yet, somehow, she was lying on his lawn entirely at peace with the moment. He didn't understand it, but he was a little jealous. "Who is after Annie?"
"I'm guessing her bio dad. That's who her mom was hiding from. I don't have details, but I'm sure Eliana will be in touch when she has actionable info for us."
Jacob rested his forearms across his knees and leaned back against the house. The night was cool, but had enough warmth to feel good. "How dangerous is he?"
"I don't know. Bad, I think."
Jacob thought of the gun he had in his safe in the living room. He hadn't dared wear it on him with Annie around, but he wished he had it now. "And your ex?"
She laughed. "Definitely bad, but he's dead now, so it doesn’t matter."
It doesn't matter. It did matter, but he respected her resilience. "What do you do for work?"
"I run the Confident Women's Queendom. It's an online membership program to help women find the confidence to get unstuck and change their lives. It's often focused on changing their personal situation, but it could be anything. Starting a new business, for example. Or just trying to experience their current life in a different way."
He stared at her. "No shit."
She laughed softly. "I'd never lie about my community. I treasure them. I do a Q&A every Monday for an hour, plus I record a new lesson each week. Then sometimes I do longer events. I'd love to do an in-person event, but obviously, that's on hold for now."
"I bet you're an amazing coach."
She laughed. "I like to think I am. I learn more every time I teach a new lesson, so I benefit too. We're all works in progress, you know?"
"Never thought about that. I am who I am. Nothing more complicated than that."
She laughed and rolled onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow to face him. "Jacob, you're so much more complicated than that. You're changing right now, while we're in your house causing chaos. We're always growing."
He could listen to her talk for hours. "I bet the women love your voice."
She paused. "My voice?"
"Yeah. It's like a hug or something. No judgment at all. You don't meet many folks who have zero judgment."
She smiled. "I don't have zero judgment, but it doesn't help my students if I judge them, so I do my best to see value in everything and everyone."
He thought about that. "I'm judgmental as hell."
Her laughter seemed to light up the night. "If people don't fit you, they don't fit. I get that."
The sound of her laughter faded into the echoes of the night. In the distance, he could hear coyotes barking, gathering their kin for their evening excursions. Frogs croaking from a nearby pond. The wind drifting through the trees. His home. His life.
"I like the coyotes," she said. "I can almost understand what they're saying. I think Mom is telling her teenagers that this is their first time on the hunt, and they better follow the rules and stay close. Uncle Bob is telling them to ignore her and have fun."
