The next morning, we were eating at the island when someone knocked on the door. I rolled my eyes as I went to answer it, knowing it was one of two people. Or both. Again.

“Hi, ladies, what’s shakin’ today?” But it wasn’t Roza or Riley. It was Charlie. She looked disheveled and nervous in her big gray sweats and matching ragged sweatshirt. What the heck? Please don’t let it be the baby.

“Jesus, Charlie, did something happen?” I asked as my heart sped up and fell to my stomach.

“I couldn’t sleep, thinking about you and that idiot stalking you! Oh God, he’s still making your life a living hell. It’s just not fair. He did that for years. It’s enough,” she said as she grabbed onto my shoulders for dear life. This was a whole lotta crazy before eight o’clock in the morning. Even for me.

I gently removed her talons from my skin, closed the door, and guided her to the couch. “Honey, I’m fine. Gabe isn’t going to do anything else. I reported him, and the police scared him off. I’m sure of that,” I told her as I moved her wavy, flaming hair away from her face. “He’s just a spineless piece of garbage who hates it that I found someone else. It’s done, okay?” I said, hoping to get through to her.

She finally caught sight of Jack as he got off the stool and walked into the kitchen. “Hi, Charlie. I’ll make you a plate.”

Her hand went directly to my knee and squeezed tight. “Good freaking heavens,” she whispered, ogling him. “Do you know what you have in your kitchen? Holy crap.” Boy, did I ever. The absurdness of Charlie being here with a half-naked Jack in my kitchen hit my funny bone, and I started to giggle. Like a lot.

Jack handed her a plate with an omelet and fruit on it, then announced he was going to shower and get ready. Both Charlie and I stared at his flexing muscles as he strode all too quickly down the hallway.

“This is so good,” she said, digging into her breakfast. “What did he put in these eggs? Mine never taste this good.”

“I’ve no clue. Who can concentrate on what he’s doing with food when he’s in there shirtless?” I shrugged.

“Mmmhmm. Truth,” she mumbled through her omelet filled mouth. “Oh, and nice shirt, by the way,” she said, motioning with her fork to Jack’s shirt that I currently wore. “I always liked Ricky Martin.” I frowned at her and gave her a shove. When I stole it from Jack after our first night together, I never quite gave it back. Actually, I still had no intentions of returning it.

A little while later, more knocking on the door interrupted our discussion. Good grief. I got up to let the dynamic duo in. “Yo. Charlie came over for breakfast. Come on in.”

“Charlie, congrats. Harper told us the good news,” Riley said and sauntered over to sit with us. Roza went into the kitchen to inspect.

“Yeah, thanks.” She smiled while shoving more food into her mouth.

“You guys must be so excited. What do you want? A boy or a girl?” Riley bounced on the couch.

“Have boys. My boys slide out, easy as pie. My daughter, different story. Her head was so big they use forceps size of garden shovels to get her out,” Roza said, her arms stretched out in a monstrous demonstration. “Not even normal ones would work.” She clapped her hands together, making us all jump. Satisfied with our reactions, she resumed looking over everything in the kitchen.

Jack made an appearance after his shower just in time to hear Roza’s gender selection advice. Nice. Jack being Jack, he ignored it and walked into the kitchen greeting the newcomers. Charlie looked even more pale—if that was possible—and put down her plate with a crash. Guess it was too early in the day to discuss gigantic forceps.

“I’m hoping for a girl first. Girl stuff is more fun to buy, but I’ll be ecstatic for a boy, too,” I intervened in the hopes of stopping the horror movie that was likely playing inside Charlie’s mind right now.

“First? Oh please, I’m never doing this again,” Charlie repeated her mantra. She’d do it again. I was almost positive.

“Ha, we all say that, my love. Then we look into that sweet child’s face and fall in love, and then, boom,” she said, raising her voice. “Before you know it, number two on the way. It’s the way of the world. Those babies got some kind of magic that make you forget the terrors of the delivery room,” Roza imparted her wisdom on Charlie.

“Even forceps?” Charlie asked, wide-eyed and clearly terrified.

Roza shook her head, looking solemn. “No, you never forget those bastards. Trust me, that’s why Danika was last one.”

“So, have you picked out a crib yet? Harper will have to start planning a baby shower. I love those,” Riley piped in, attempting to save the day.

“We’ll have to look around at cribs,” I said and put my hand on Charlie’s shoulder, trying to shake her out of her stupor.

“Make sure you go somewhere you can register for gifts. That way you don’t end up with eight breast pumps or something,” Riley suggested.

“Breast pumps?” Charlie stared at Riley with a confused look.

“Um, never mind,” I told her, and gave Riley my frowny eyes. These women were scaring the daisies out of this poor girl, and she was barely pregnant. Luckily, Jack interrupted us with plates of food for the new arrivals. Good, something for them to think about besides how to torture Charlie.

“I’ve got to get to work.” He sauntered to the door. “Nice seeing you ladies again. Harper?” he said as he put on his shoes and opened the door. Hmm, I guess that was my signal to follow him.

He shut the door behind us and pulled me into his body. “We need to stop making out in front of people.” Then he took my mouth in a rough kiss, telling me exactly how much he didn’t want to leave. Heat curled down my spine, and my body sizzled. He kissed me once more, gently this time and whispered into my ear, “I miss you already, and I’m not even gone yet.” My anxious heart jumped, and my stomach flipped, wishing he didn’t have to go. “Text me when you get to work. Don’t forget.” I nodded, and he gave me one last sweet kiss. “You’ll have time to drop off Ava on your way to work?” I smiled and nodded again, still breathless and slightly dizzy from his kisses. “You’re a life saver.”

The girls all ribbed me when I got back inside. Charlie and Riley went on and on about how hot Jack was and how hard it was to find a guy who knew how to cook. Roza said, “He cooks, but he also cleans up after himself.” I guess that was Roza’s way of saying she approved.

A few minutes later, Miss Ava woke up, all dreary-eyed and sleepy. She stumbled right to me and threw her body into mine. “Hi, missy. Did you have a good sleep?” I asked and kissed her warm, delicious head. She always smelled so good.

“Uh-huh,” she mumbled, rubbing her head into my shoulder while I snuggled her. “You want some cereal before you get dressed or after?”

“After,” she said and yawned her little girl yawn before jumping off my lap and heading toward her bedroom. Her bedroom. It was funny how quickly she became so immersed into my life.

“That little girl is really at home here with you,” Charlie said, giving me the side-eyed guilt treatment.

“I meant to tell you guys, but so much crap was flying around, I wanted my head to stop spinning first.”

“You’ve had your hands full, I guess. But you know we are all here to help,” Charlie said, and I couldn’t help it, but the tears started flowing. I should have asked for help, but even making the extra effort to reach out seemed like too much work.

“I know, and I’m sorry. There’s so much I should have done differently. Mom and Dad seemed pissed off last night, too.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes.

“No tears. We aren’t angry, just concerned you didn’t tell us. But now we know, and can I tell you something? Mom is out of her mind excited that she got to meet Jack’s mom, and she thinks Ava is the sweetest thing ever,” Charlie said with a huge grin. I smiled back and snapped up her hand.

“Ava has taken to you. She’s very easygoing kid right now. In a few years, maybe not so much,” Roza said with a smirk.

“What’s her mom like?” Charlie asked, curious to know the facts.

I cleared my throat and whispered so Ava couldn’t hear, “Um, difficult? And pretty. Looks like a beauty queen…fake you-know-whats.” I pointed to mine. “Eyelash extensions, hair extensions, and I’m pretty sure she must have had some injections. There’s not a wrinkle on her. You know,” I said, remembering the woman Jack was talking to last night at the restaurant, “maybe I should get some things done, too. Jack seems to like that kind of stuff.” Everyone burst out laughing. I glared at them as they continued to chuckle.

“Jack likes you for you. I don’t think he’d want you to change a thing. There’s nothing wrong with enhancing yourself. In fact, I intend on fighting aging as long as humanly possible. But if you ever saw the way Jack looks at you when you aren’t aware, you’d realize there’s nothing you could do to make him love you any more than he does. He’s already head over heels,” Riley said.

I sighed and hoped she was right.

“No, I’m sure she’s fine,” I told Jack on my cell phone, while cradling a crying Ava. “The doctor said she’ll need a few stitches, but a parent has to sign.”

In her usual zest for life, Ava had attempted to jump down the stairs on our way to the car. Attempted. It ended up being more of a tumble, splat. Try as I might, I couldn’t get the gash in her knee to stop bleeding.

I felt horrible as she cried and carried on, and finally I gave in and rushed her to the nearest clinic. They saw her fairly quickly but informed me that they still required parental consent as she was considered a non-urgent case.

Brooke was already on her way. I’d phoned her before we left and explained the problem. Amazingly, I handled everything quite well until I spoke with Jack and heard the concern in his voice.

“I can be there in twenty minutes,” he said, his voice cracking.

“We’ll be out of here by then. The doctor said it will take a few minutes, tops,” I said as my head started to pound. Holding my hand out in front of me, it shook uncontrollably.

“What happened?” Brooke burst into the room and spotted Ava. She ran over and snatched the phone out of my hand.

“And where were you? You’ve got your own personal nanny now, so you don’t need to be a father anymore?” she screeched into the phone. I was still in shock that she’d have enough balls to grab my phone away without being sure who it even was.

“Ha, that’s a laugh. Obviously, she knows nothing about looking after children. Your daughter is sitting here hurt and where are you?” she screamed before ending the call and sliding the phone onto the counter. “Come here, my baby, you poor girl. All cut up.” She plucked Ava out of my lap and onto hers.

With no warm, squishy child to hold on to, I felt my resolve weaken as Brooke’s words sank in. I was a crappy caregiver. What if I’d made Ava hold my hand instead of just letting her run? Doubt clouded my brain, and worry snaked through me. A few tears fell while I thought of all the things I could have and should have done.

Brooke looked up and witnessed me wiping my eyes. Her shoulders slumped, and she cleared her throat. “I’m not blaming you. Things like this happen, even with me.”

Her unexpected kind words made me cry even harder. “You just said it was my f-f-fault,” I sobbed and pulled a tissue out of the little square box in the office.

“I exaggerated. I wanted Jack to feel bad. You’ve been watching her too much lately. He’s her father after all,” she said and stroked Ava’s head.

“But I should have been watching her more closely.” I blew my nose, and Ava snuggled into her mom even further.

“Just last week, she fell off the kitchen chair at my house. I was three feet away, and there was nothing I could do. She just went down.” Brooke switched Ava so she was facing the other way. “Look, I’ve got this. You’re probably already late for work as it is. Thanks for bringing her in. I’ll text you when we’re done and let you know how it went,” she said and gave me a half-smile. That was a kind way of letting me off the hook. Not her usual way of dealing with me, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“I hope you feel better, sweetie,” I said to Ava and stroked her sweaty little head. She nodded but didn’t look at me. My throat clenched, and sorrow closed up my throat. Before I left, I turned to Brooke and said, “I’m sorry.” Then I took off before her goodwill ran out.

True to her word, a half hour later, Brooke texted me a picture of Ava grinning ear-to-ear with a lollypop in her mouth. She was also sporting a large gauze Band-Aid on her knee.

It made me cry all over again, but I also got a warm, fuzzy feeling from seeing Ava mended and happy and also from Brooke’s thoughtfulness at sending the picture to me.

“Who’s this?” I asked John while I ate the deli wrap he brought for lunch. My finger pointed to a picture of a much younger John and Elaine with another man standing in front of a building. Three big smiles and John was holding a…key? I scrunched my eyes together to look closer.

A nostalgic look crossed his face. “That’s Bill. Before I entered corporate law, we started a children’s advocacy office.”

“What’s that?” I asked, curious, but knowing nothing about the law.

“Basically, we fought for children’s rights. Bailed some little shits out. Some went on to do great things. Some went on to do more bad things.” He sighed but kept staring at the photo. “It was a different time. We were idealistic, you know? Saving the world, one kid at a time,” he said, stroking the picture with his finger.

“But you left?”

He looked up at me with glossy eyes. “I left.” The regret in his eyes hit me right in the heart.

“Can I ask why?” I knew it cost him to recall it, but I wanted to know what was affecting him so profoundly.

He sat back and ran his hands through his hair. “I had three young kids to feed, and it was hard always living paycheck to paycheck. Elaine was helping out with office stuff and mothering our kids. She was tired. The woman never complained—she always had a beautiful smile on her face and supper on the table. I don’t know how she managed.

“One day, I received an offer from a big law firm for a crazy amount of money, and I took it.” He rested his chin on a fist as he remembered. “Elaine didn’t want me to take the position. She said I should stay and do the work we’d always planned on. The woman was running herself ragged, whether she admitted to it or not. And it was…” He stopped for a moment to get his emotions under control. “My fault. I had a law degree, for God’s sake. I knew what kind of money my peers were making, and it just made more sense to leave.”

Hmm. It might have made more sense, but I didn’t think that was the best decision. And I swore I could see him replaying the last few decades in his head, but this time as if he’d stayed being a child advocate.

“That’s not the work you wanted to do, though,” I said, trying to drive my point home. For a second, he sat up like he was going to bring out the asshole again, but he backed down. He was looking for someone to blame for how he was feeling, but he knew in his heart it wasn’t me.

“No. It wasn’t. Look, the kids don’t know this. Christ, nobody but my wife knows this,” he said and looked down at the floor, choosing his words carefully. After a minute, he looked up. “I had a rough start to life. I continued on that path for a while, until someone I hardly knew,” he pinched the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat, “until someone I barely knew helped me out. That man changed the direction I was going in. He took the time to guide me and…it…he saved me from myself. That made me want to work hard and achieve what he had, so I could someday, maybe, do the same thing for some poor, stupid kid.”

I wanted to say so much. But at the same time, I knew whatever was going on in his head was a hundred times more powerful than anything I’d ever say. Fixing his current circumstances was going to take some real soul-searching on his part. This wasn’t anything I could do for him. It was up to him.

“Mind if we cut our lunch short? I need to do something,” he said and stood up, brushing off his slacks.

“Of course, no problem.”

He turned to leave, but then he hesitated and circled back. “Harper, thank you for listening. These last few weeks have been the worst in my life, except for you and your kindness. I hope you believe me when I say again that I’m sorry for how I behaved when we first met. There’s no way to take back what I said, and I’ll regret it forever. My son is one smart man to land you. I only hope he knows what he has and isn’t as stupid as I was to let the love of his life slip through his fingers.”

That was all I could handle. Warmth filled my chest, and hope fluttered inside of me. Tears ran down my cheeks before I got to him. I wrapped my arms around him, not caring if he would be receptive or not. He was, though, and not all the sniffling was me. “I’ve had a good time getting to know you better, too. I only wish it was under better circumstances,” I said and pushed back a bit. My thumbs wiped a few tears off his cheeks. We were so in the moment, neither of us heard Jack walk in.

“What the hell is going on?”