I nodded. “That makes sense.”
I would definitely want to give my child the most stability possible. I felt that we could raise a kid if we weren’t together, but it would be better to figure all of that before our kid got here.
“Would you want to come to New York?”
“Yeah, I could.” I could sense some hesitancy.
“Is everything okay?”
“I just… I don’t mind shutting the bakery down for a few weeks and going to the city, but I’m not sure if I could move there full-time. As weird as it may sound, Sewanee is my home. I spent so long wanting to get away, and now I don’t want to leave.”
I had a feeling Chloe was really connected to Sewanee. I didn’t want to force her to do anything, but at the same time, my work was in New York.
“Well, it’s possible for me to work remotely more often. If I found a competent business manager, I could be a little more hands-off. Of course, I’d have to go in from time to time, but living in the city isn’t totally necessary.”
I hadn’t ever thought I’d move back to Sewanee. It had been in my rearview mirror for so long… It was kinda hard to think of it any other way.
“What about traveling for a little bit? It could be nice to get out of town in general. And I’ve been so caught up with working – maybe we could both use something different.”
Chloe seemed to consider what I was saying. “Yeah, that sounds nice. If Sewanee was our home base, I could get behind that. But, I mean, it’s more when the baby comes, I want a solid center so that they feel stable and all of that.”
“Of course. I know we’ll figure it out. Plus, there’s no rush. We can take this step by step, starting with the next few weeks. And we can figure out the rest as we go along.”
“Yeah, okay. I like that.”
While we weren’t totally on the same page, it looked like we both had room for compromise, which was good, and I was feeling more hopeful. We finished up breakfast and decided to take a shower next. I helped Chloe out a bit, washing her back and bending down to get her feet and legs.
“How have you been doing this by yourself?”
“I’ve managed. I’m not that big… yet. Plus, I bought a shower chair to help me reach my feet and legs.”
Hearing how Chloe had to maneuver being pregnant alone made me feel terrible about not being there for her. But, I knew there was no use wallowing in the past. I was there now, and I would make sure to work hard to make out relationship better.
We finished up in the shower and decided to lie in bed for a bit. It felt really nice just to be with Chloe. We talked about nothing in particular, just chatting about whatever. I told her about my company, why I started it, all that stuff. She told me about the bakery.
I noticed it was getting kinda late.
“I should probably get back home. My grandmother must be wondering where I’ve been. She’s also probably wondering how this worked out.”
We got out of bed, and I started getting ready to leave.
Chloe smiled at me. “I’m guessing she knows it went well. She seemed pretty confident we’d eventually work out.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I went to ask her for advice, she told me you’d be a little stubborn, but if I put in a little elbow grease, I had a good chance of getting through to you.”
That sounded like Grandma Lucy. I was just more surprised that the two of them had spoken. The more I thought about it, the more I worried about what Lucy could have said. Chloe must have seen my worried expression because she laughed. “Don’t work. She didn’t expose all of your dirty secrets.”
“I’m sure now that we’re together, she will.”
“I’m excited to hear it.”
“She’ll probably gloat about how right she was. Unfortunately, my grandmother is not a humble soul.”
We laughed as we walked out of the door. However, our laughter died down when we got to Chloe’s SUV. It was wrecked, and Chloe gasped at the sight of her battered car. It was horrible. The windshield was cracked, tires slashed, the head and taillights were broken. Whoever did this really wanted to scare Chloe… or me.
“Oh my goodness….” We were both totally stunned.
“Do you think someone’s trying to extort me? Maybe scare us into turning over some money?”
Chloe shook her head. “I think it’s Tyler. Honestly, I’m pretty sure this was him.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “You don’t know how bad he can get. He really… changed. He was always kind of a jerk, but… yeah….”
I wasn’t totally sure if this was really Tyler’s work, but I also wouldn’t put it past him to do something like this. He has seemed really aggressive in the few interactions we’ve had, and hearing about his arrest and conviction proved to me just how violent he could be.