I walked briskly down the block, determined to leave Knox in my rearview mirror just like my ex-fiancé.
A man doesn’t go all in with a woman, it’s for a reason.
Maybe he’s looking for something better.
My chest physically ached as Knox’s words about Warner echoed in my head.
Was there someone out there who would find me to be enough? Not too much or too little, but the person they’d been waiting for their whole life.
Tears burned my eyes as I turned the corner at a jog.
I blamed them for not seeing the woman who stepped out of the storefront.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, a split second after barreling into her.
“Ms. Witt.”
Oh dear God, no.
Yolanda Suarez, stern caseworker who had never once seen me at my best, looked nonplussed at the full-body contact.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
The lie was on the tip of my tongue. So familiar it almost felt true. But it wasn’t. Sometimes the truth was bigger than any intention.
“No, I’m not.”
Ten minutes later, I stared down at a heart drawn in the foam of the latte in front of me.
“So, that’s everything. I pretended to be in a relationship with a man who told me not to fall in love with him and then I did. My ex-fiancé showed up at my job and caused a scene. Someone broke into our house, and no one is sure if it was him, Tina, or a random criminal. Oh, and Waylay tried to get revenge on a mean teacher with field mice.”
Across from me, Yolanda picked up her green tea and sipped. She set the mug down. “Well, then.”
“Brought you some cookies,” Justice said, looking mournful. He slid a plate onto the table near my elbow.
“Were these hearts?” I asked, holding up what was clearly one half of a pink frosted heart.
He winced. “I broke ’em in half. Was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”
“Thank you, Justice. That’s so sweet of you,” I said. Before leaving, he squeezed my shoulder, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying.
“Basically what I’m saying is I’m a big enough mess that I can’t hide it, and you deserve to know the truth. But I promise you—even though my life doesn’t look like it—I am extremely organized, resourceful, and I will do whatever it takes to keep Waylay safe.”
“Naomi,” she said, “Waylay is lucky to have you as a guardian, and any court in the state is going to come to the same conclusion. Her attendance at school is improved. Her grades are up. She has real friends. You’re making a positive impact on that little girl’s life.”
For once in my life, I didn’t want a gold star. I wanted someone to see me. Really see me for the hot mess I was. “What about all the things I’m doing wrong?”
I thought I detected a hint of pity in Mrs. Suarez’s smile. “That’s parenting. We’re all doing our best. We’re exhausted, confused, and feeling like we’re constantly being judged by everyone else who looks like they’ve got it all figured out. But no one does. We’re all just making it up as we go.”
“Really?” I whispered.
She leaned forward. “Last night I grounded my twelve-year-old for three days because he was on my last nerve before he told me that he liked his friend Evan’s mom’s meatballs better than mine.”
She took another sip of tea. “And today I’ll apologize and unground him if he cleaned his room. Even though Evan’s mom gets her meatballs from the freezer section of Grover’s Groceries.”
I managed a tremulous smile. “It’s just life is so much harder than I thought it would be,” I confessed. “I thought if I had a plan and followed the rules, it would be easy.”
“Can I give you some advice?” she asked.
“Please do.”
“At some point, you have got to stop worrying so much about what everyone else needs and start thinking about what you need.”
I blinked. “I would think selflessness was a good quality in a guardian,” I said with a defensive sniff.
“So is setting an example for your niece about how she doesn’t need to turn herself inside out to be loved. How she doesn’t need to set herself on fire to keep someone else warm. Demanding to have your own needs met isn’t problematic—it’s heroic, and kids are watching. They’re always watching. If you set an example that tells her the only way she’s worthy of love is by giving everyone everything, she’ll internalize that message.”
I dropped my forehead to the table with a groan.
“There’s a difference between taking care of someone because you love them and taking care of someone because you want them to love you,” she continued.
There was a big difference. One of them was genuine and giving, and the other was manipulative, controlling.
“You’re going to be fine, Naomi,” Yolanda assured me. “You’ve got a big heart, and sooner or later, once all this drama is over, someone is going to look at you and recognize it. And they’re going to want to take care of you for a change.”
Yeah, right.
I was realizing that the only person I could count on in this life was me. And Stef, of course. But him being gay definitely put a damper on our romance.
“About Knox,” she said.
I picked my head up off the table. Just hearing his name was a jagged splinter in my heart.
“What about him?”
“I don’t know another woman in town who wouldn’t have fallen under Knox Morgan’s spell given the time and attention he gave you. I’ll also say this—I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you. If he was faking those feelings, someone needs to get that man an Academy Award.”
“I’ve known him for a good, long time. And I’ve never known him to do anything he didn’t want to do, especially when it comes to women. If he willingly agreed to the guise of a relationship, he wanted it.”
“It was his idea,” I whispered. A spark of hope lit inside me. One I immediately extinguished.
A man doesn’t go all in with a woman, it’s for a reason.
“He had a shit time with his mom’s death and everything that came after,” she continued. “He didn’t have the happily ever after example you grew up with. Sometimes when you don’t know what’s possible, you can’t hope for it yourself.”
“Ms. Suarez.”
“I think at this point you can call me Yolanda.”
“Yolanda, we’re practically the same age. How do you have all of this wisdom?”
“I’ve been married twice and have four kids. My parents have been married for fifty years. My husband’s parents have been divorced and remarried so many times neither of us can keep count. If there’s one thing I understand, it’s love and how damn messy it can be.”
* * *
“Hi, sweetie. How was lunch?”My mom was dressed in a dirt-streaked t-shirt and sun hat. She had a glass of iced tea in one hand and a gardening glove on the other.
“Hi, Mom,” I said, trying to keep my eyes averted as I headed for the front porch. Amanda Witt had a keen sense of when something was wrong with someone, and this was not a conversation I felt like having. “Where’s Way?”
“Your father took her to the mall. What’s wrong? What happened? Did someone choke on a breadstick at lunch?”
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
“Did something happen with Knox?” she asked softer now.
I tried to swallow around the lump in my throat, but I was choking on unshed tears.
“Okay. Let’s go sit down,” she said, guiding me down the hall to the bedroom she was sharing with my father.
It was a bright, pretty room done in creams and grays. There was a large four-poster bed and windows that overlooked the backyard and creek. A vase of fresh flowers sat on a table tucked between two armchairs that occupied the space in front of the windows.