Page 310 of Safe With You

“I believe you.”

“So come with us later.”

I looked at him. “With you and Mila?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“I’m taking her to the park, then she’s already informed me we’re getting ice cream.”

“She informed you?”

“Apparently I agreed to it yesterday.”

I smiled. “Sounds official.”

“Very. Come with us.”

“With you and Mila?”

“You already asked me that.”

“I’m making sure.”

“I’m still saying yes.”

The question rose before I could stop it.

“Are you sure?”

Ellis looked at me.

I already knew the answer in his face.

“How many times do I have to invite you before you believe me?”

I reached for my mug.

“Yeah. I’ll come.”

His smile softened. “Okay.”

And just like that, the conversation moved on.

Just coffee on a Saturday morning and plans for later.

Twenty minutes ago, I woke up and touched an empty side of the bed and convinced myself it meant he’d gone.

Now Ellis was standing barefoot in my kitchen, complaining because I wouldn’t let him pour half the sugar bowl into his coffee, and asking me to spend the rest of the day with him and his daughter.

Maybe learning didn’t always mean the fear stopped showing up.

Maybe it meant I stopped letting it answer for me.

By the time I pulled up in front of Ellis’s house, it was almost two-thirty.

I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat and got out. I was halfway up the walkway when the front door opened.