“What are you going to do while I’m with Dad? Do you want to stay with us too?” He gasps. “Can everyone stay?”
“There’s not enough room for everyone, Jackson,” she says. “Besides, you’re staying so you can spend time with your dad. You know how we have mom and Jackson days when it’s just us? You’re having a dad and Jackson day.”
“Okay. Are we there yet, EJ? Oh! There’s Dad’s house! We’re here!”
His excitement matches Henry’s as we head inside for a few minutes. Raelynn seems to inspect the place, even though she’s been here before. I grab her hand before she can walk to the bedroom for further inspection.
“Don’t delay the inevitable,” I whisper. “He’s okay.” I nod to where Jackson has settled in on the floor with a toy he grabbed from the corner.
Raelynn sighs. “Come tell us bye, Jackson.”
And that’s when it really hits Jackson that he’s spending a night away from his mom. His eyes water as he walks over to Raelynn and he’s crying by the time he throws his arms around her neck.
“I changed my mind,” he cries. “I don’t want to.”
I glance at Henry, who looks crushed.
“Oh, come on now, baby. Where’s my brave Jackson? You’ve been excited about staying over here with your dad. We’re not that far away, remember? And you have fun with your dad, don’t you?”
“But you won’t be here,” he hiccups.
“Your dad will be,” Raelynn says, hoping that will help. “And you can call me whenever you want, but I think you’ll be having too much fun to want to call me until it’s bedtime. Why don’t you spend the day with your dad and try spending the night? If you still don’t want to after you’ve tried, then I’ll come back and pick you up, okay?”
Jackson nods, accepting this offer. He kisses Raelynn on the cheek, hugs her for about a minute longer, and then decides to do the same to me and Bree. Once we reassure him that he’ll also be able to talk to Bree and me, he seems satisfied enough that we can leave.
Raelynn starts crying the moment we pull out of the driveway. “I’m fine,” she insists. “Just need to let it out. God, this is too hard. I think he’ll be able to make it through the night. Henry will be able to calm him down, which is great, but at the same time, this is too much. How is my baby not sleeping in the same house as me tonight?” Raelynn wipes her tears. “I hope he has a blast.” She takes a deep breath. “Okay. My breakdown is over.”
I laugh. “Good.”
She uses the rest of the ride home to actually calm down and get herself together. When I park in the garage, she looks at me. “What are we supposed to do without him today?”
“I have a bit of an idea. Let’s go inside.”
Once we’re inside and Bree is in her pack ?n play, I grab Raelynn’s hand and we sit on the couch, facing one another. With a deep breath, I begin on the path that will hopefully lead us closer together.
“Raelynn, you’re fired.”
Her hand immediately yanks from mine.
It’s official. My worst nightmare has come true. Elias unexpectedly pulled the rug out from under me without any rhyme or reason. Stupid tears fall once again today before I can stop them. How could it be that he’s just like Henry? It doesn’t make sense. How could I be so stupid as to fall for someone who could destroy me once again? Only this time, it’s so much worse.
“How could you do this to me?” I ask. “Why? I don’t understand. I thought—”
As I stand, Elias grabs my hands and makes me sit back down. He cups my face and places his thumbs over my mouth to shut me up. “Trust me, Raelynn,” he says. “Let me finish. This is a good thing.”
My eyes nearly jump out of their sockets. “Good? You just fired me!” I yell around his thumbs.
“Because I want you to be my family. I want you to be all family, Raelynn.”
“Explain,” I demand because this doesn’t make any sense to me. He’s jumping around all over the place. My heart slams in my chest and feeling it pulse and beat throughout my entire body from the panic attack he’s giving me distracts me from what he’s saying. I can’t think clearly.
“This isn’t going so well, so here.” He pulls a folded piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to me. “Read it. It’s a to-do list of sorts. Or maybe it’s a list of goals. Either way, read.”
My hands tremble so much it takes me a minute to unfold the paper and see his handwriting. The first thing is something he’s already done. “Fire Raelynn.” I shake my head, but keep going. “Regain her trust.” Kind of hard to do when he’s fired me! “Make her and Jackson my family. Move her into my room. Get her to fall in love with me. Help her discover her dream and make her go after it. Ask her to be my wife and Bree’s mom.” My voice cracks as I look up at him. “You want me to be a mom to her? And your wife?”
“One day, yes. But I already think you’re a mom to her.” He grabs my knee and squeezes. “I want you in my life and in Bree’s life forever. I want her to call you mom, for Jackson to be her stepbrother, and for us to be a family. And the only relationship I want with you is a romantic one. That’s why I fired you because I didn’t want that to confuse things or get in the way or make you ever feel obligated to stay if you needed space.”
That sounds really nice, but... “What about Bree? If I’m not working for you...” My voice trails off as I glance over at the little girl playing by herself.