Page 47 of Falling for Keeps

“Jen sent her a package, so I let her open it. I didn’t even think about waiting for you.”

“Of course.” Trepidation builds in my shoulders, making them tense. “It’s her mom.”

“Well,” Mom laughs, an awkward, empty sound, and tucks some of her faded blonde hair behind her ear. It’s long, trailing over her shoulder, and despite the lines fanning from her eyes and mouth, she looks so much like Maven. Penny is a tiny version of them both, and I wonder if she’ll look like this when she’s grown. “Jen sent her a phone.”

My thoughts skitter to a halt. “She what?”

“A phone. Pen opened it up, and it works. The only number saved in it was her mom’s, so she’s been calling her since we got home. Jen hasn’t answered yet.”

I close my eyes and breathe through my nose, counting backward from ten until my anger is under control. “She has no right. Literally, Mom. She signed all those rights away, then handed me Penny and disappeared. I just can’t…I don’t understand. How is she even paying for this?”

“Alimony,” Mom says acidly. “You’re certainly giving her enough.”

“Only for three years,” I remind her. “It doesn’t give her a right⁠—”

Nope. I can’t trash talk the mother of my child like this. It’s a conversation that needs to happen between Jen and me.

Mom puts her hands on my shoulders and squeezes lightly, her hazel-green eyes boring into me. She is so level-headed and wise. I’m waiting for the advice that’s going to fix everything, but all she does is shake her head slightly. “You’re a good man, Carson, and a good dad. It’s hard navigating single parenting, but you are doing a fantastic job.”

Emotion rises in my throat. This, from the best single parent on the planet. It means more to me than she can know, even if I question the truth of it. She is my mom, so she’s pretty biased.

“What would you do?” I ask.

She squeezes once more before releasing my shoulders. “I don’t know. This isn’t really something I had to deal with. Your dad just split, and it was a different world then. Maybe things would have been better if communication was as easy as it is now.”

She talks like I was a medieval kid relying on carrier pigeons, but phones were still a thing when I was growing up. Most kids even had them by the time I was in high school.

“I’m going to call her.”

“Okay.” Mom nods. “I’ll check on Penny.”

“Thanks.”

She leaves, and I wait until the door closes before calling Jen. It rings until it goes to her voicemail, so I close my eyes and breathe through my nose.

Beep.

“Hey Jen, it’s Carson. Just wanted to talk. If you could give me a call, that would be great. Thanks. Bye.”

I hang up and turn my volume up loud so I don’t miss her call whenever she deigns to respond. Then my eyes immediately track Emma. I need to check on the chairs. This is business. Purely business.

Me wanting to cross the road has nothing to do with needing a distraction or how much I enjoy chatting with her or how cute she looks in an oversized UVM crew neck and messy hair. Her glasses slide down her nose while she concentrates on the bottom of the chair she’s working on.

“These look amazing,” I say, admiring the finished chairs all lined up on one side of the driveway. Her Corolla is parked in the street to make room for the project, and she looks nearly finished.

Emma wipes at her forehead with her wrist. “They’re pretty much done. Just need to reconnect the last few cushions.”

“Is the color…”

“Yeah, the wood is different.” She pulls a face. “I sanded the frames down and stained them. I had some leftover from a different project and they kind of needed a refresh.”

“This is too much.”

Her eyes cut to me. “The stain didn’t cost me anything. It was in my shed.”

“It’s the time, Emma. It’s too much.”

Her cheeks glow pink, giving color to her skin and making her eyes bright. “You don’t have to pay me back by working the same amount of time. I know how busy you are, and I don’t have high expectations.”