Page 136 of Where We Stay

I walk past her and open the rear door of the truck.

“Dean—” she tries again.

“Goodbye, Courtney,” I say, leaving no room for another argument.

She finally walks away.

I carry Aspen inside and tuck her into bed, somehow managing not to wake her.

The second I close her bedroom door, my hand goes straight to my phone.

Blair.

She’s the first person I want to call.

But I stop before pressing her name.

I don’t know why Courtney is really here yet, and I’m not dragging Blair into this mess until I do.

Instead, I open the group chat with Knox and Logan.

ME: Need you both. My place. Now.

I need to figure out what the fuck is going on.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Knox and Logan are sitting at my kitchen table while Aspen sleeps down the hall.

“What does she want? Money?” Logan asks, squeezing his beer bottle hard enough that I’m surprised it hasn’t shattered.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” I take a long drink from my own bottle.

“I say you tell her to fuck off,” Knox mutters. “Pen deserves better than having someone walk in and out whenever it suits them.”

His expression tightens as soon as the words leave his mouth.

“Sorry,” he adds. “I’m a little worked up.”

“I get it,” I assure him. “But if Courtney genuinely came back for Aspen, I need to hear her out.”

Logan studies me from across the table. “Do you really think that’s why she’s here?”

“Honestly? I have no fucking idea.”

“She’s had three years to build some kind of relationship with her,” Logan points out. “Instead, she calls for five minutes whenever she feels like it, and most of the conversation is about wherever she happens to be.”

“I know.”

“Then don’t let one night on your porch erase everything that came before it,” he warns me.

I stare down at my beer.

Part of me agrees with them. Maybe Courtney wants money. Maybe something happened and Hartwell is simply the easiest place for her to land.

But she’s still Aspen’s mother.

“One day Pen might ask whether I gave her mom a chance,” I explain. “I need to know I made the right decision for her, not the easiest one for me.”