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“I’ve been doing everything I can to turn my life around. I even quit drinking a few months ago. I just want to be able to see my son…”
“Yeah, well this whole thing could have been much easier if your manager wouldn’t have pushed me off to your attorney—it’s been really frustrating, Wade.”
I nod, blowing out a sharp exhale. “I know,” I say, suddenly feeling more sympathy toward her than ever before. “And I know I haven’t been easy to deal with, Harper. I’m sorry for that. I was just trying to do what they wanted me to, you know.”
“Right, I get that,” she responds, folding her arms across her chest. “But I’m not some wealthy celebrity that can afford a lawyer like yours. It’s taking everything I can to combat all this. I never wanted to fight over custody—but I felt pushed into a corner. You checked out ... and I just wanted to do what’s best for Coop. I don’t want to see his heart broken or see him around things that he shouldn’t be at this age.”
My heart sinks at her words, as the realization hits me like a freight train. I’ve spent so much time blaming Harper and being mad at Harper ... when the only person responsible for all of this is me.
I’ve been a real jerk.
“I am so sorry, Harper,” I say, running my fingers through my hair as my eyes catch a glance of Callie and Cooper, running recklessly around the yard. I force my gaze back to my ex-wife. “I really am. I haven’t been who I need to be for a long time. I’ve just been running away from everyone and everything. But I hope you know I am really trying to make a positive change. I want to be a good role model for Coop.”
She’s quiet for a moment, her face looking a little stunned by my words. “That’s ... that’s surprising to hear.” Harper pushes some of her blonde hair out of her face, her lips pursed as she continues to study my face. “I think your fiancée has done you some good, Wade. I don’t know when you met her, or how, but I have to say, she’s not at all what I pictured when your mom told me that you had gotten engaged.”
“You’re right, Callie isn’t at all like the other women I’ve been with,” I say. “She makes me want to be a better person, or maybe it’s just the fact that she treats me like I’m just another person, if that makes sense. I’m so tired of being a rich celebrity, I just want to be normal.”
“You’ll never be normal, Wade.” Harper laughs, shaking her head. “But I get what you’re saying.” She pauses, looking out across the pastures before continuing. “I like her. And I’d like to get to know her better.” She pauses again, eyeing me cautiously. “I just feel like she and I will see eye-to-eye, especially when it comes to Cooper.”
Man, Callie’s really acting the part of the perfect future-wife.
My head starts spinning as I force out a nod, trying to imagine how any of this is going to work when Callie isn’t even here anymore. This is the most civil conversation Harper and I have had in years.
I clear my throat, confusing emotions filling my chest. “She really is the most amazing person,” I say, not even having to lie at all. She really is the most amazing person I’ve ever met.
“Yeah, I can tell that the two of you really care about each other,” Harper says, her lip curling into a smile. “I’m happy for you, Wade. I really hope that this can be the start of us having a much better co-parenting relationship. I could tell the moment I got here that something has changed in you.”
“That really means a lot, Harper,” I say, returning the smile. “Does this mean you’re open to allowing me to have custody again? I know I’ve been a real jerk about everything—and I haven’t been a good dad to Coop. But I am going to change that.”
“You are a good dad, Wade.” Harper meets my eyes with an earnest look. I’m taken aback by her kindness. “That’s the thing—you’ve always been an amazing dad to Cooper. It’s just that you haven’t been present much the last year or so—not since the incident at the zoo.”
“It’s because I was too ashamed to come back here.” I sigh. “I was embarrassed. I ... hated myself, Harper. I spiraled,” I admit. “I know that I haven’t been what I should be, and I can’t go back in time and fix it—if I could, you have to know that I would do a lot of things very differently, especially in the way that I’ve treated you and everyone else. But I can’t, all I can do is try to make things right now.”
Harper’s entire face softens as she looks up at me, and then back out at Callie. “We’ll take it one step at a time, but I appreciate your honesty Wade. And I’m willing to give you a second chance. Maybe this time, we can keep all these lawyers out of it—I swear they make us both into the worst people, and I have a good feeling that things are going to be a lot better for all of us this time.”
I sure hope she’s right. Because this very well could be my last chance.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Callie
“Are you catching feelings for Wade Lewis, Callie?” I can hear the concern in Beth’s voice. We’ve been on the phone for nearly twenty minutes as I’ve been casually filling her in on everything that happened yesterday.
“I mean ... let’s just say I realize that my attraction to Wade might be getting out of hand,” I reply, knowing good and well that she knows me way too well for me to be able to hide my true feelings.
It’s not helpful that all I can ever think about is the heart-stopping kisses we’ve shared.
Seeing Wade with Cooper yesterday took it to a whole different level. There’s just something about witnessing the love and adoration between a father and his child that makes my heart melt into a puddle. Watching Wade and Cooper interact—their laughter filling the air—was so beautiful.
And don’t even get me started on how I felt after witnessing Wade get down on one knee to look Cooper eye-to-eye and whisper sweet words of encouragement to him before he went home. I could hardly believe how incredibly tender their interactions were. It was a whole different side of Wade that I wasn’t expecting.
He’s obviously an amazing dad.
As difficult as this whole façade has been to maintain—and as much as it bothers me to lie to Harper and the rest of the Lewis family—seeing that little boy light up at the sight of his father yesterday made it all worth it. Because if I’m honest, I see a little bit of my younger self in Cooper—a child desperately longing for a relationship with his dad.
And Cooper deserves to have his dad in his life.
“Because you know as well as I do that it’s just an agreement that you have with him—and there’s no way that it’s going to end well for you if you start having real feelings,” Beth interrupts my thoughts.
