Willow watched as people milled around Blake’s backyard. Kids from school, parents, Blake’s team…the lawn was packed.
Luckily, it wasn’t too cool. The sun just poked through the clouds, taking the edge off the Idaho chill. She watched as the kids jumped in the bouncing castle. As they waited eagerly to have their faces painted. All of them were dressed as characters from Frozen. Especially Elsa. There were lots of her.
The yard buzzed with guests talking. Laughing. And then there was Blake. He was playing a game with some of the kids where they’d jump onto his back, and he’d fall flat on his stomach like he was in pain. The kids loved it.
Her heart gave a little kick.
Man, he was good with them. Not a surprise though, he was good at a lot of things.
A little voice whispered in her head that maybe it was time to let go of the fear of history repeating itself. To trust.
Her breath shortened at the memory of his hand on her wrist last night. At the way the pad of his thumb had stroked her pulse, touching her heartbeat.
Sucking in a deep breath, she rubbed her temple. The headache from last night had still been there when she woke. And now, in her first moment of stillness for the day, she was feeling it.
She needed to slow down. Rest.
Her gaze swept across to Mila, who was jumping in the castle with Courtney. They were holding hands, both with huge smiles on their faces, and Courtney was tugging her much higher than she would have gotten on her own.
“Hi!”
Willow jumped. Man, she’d been so deep in her own thoughts she hadn’t even noticed Grace come up beside her.
Grace’s brows lifted. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
Willow almost laughed at the woman’s words. Could you sneak up on someone in broad daylight at a busy kids’ party? “You don’t need to apologize, I was distracted.” Ha. That was putting it lightly.
Grace smiled. The woman was fairly new to Cradle Mountain, only having arrived a couple months after Willow. She was dating Logan and had opened her own business, McKenna Counseling. Willow really enjoyed her company. Any time she’d caught up with either her or Courtney—who owned and ran The Grind—she’d always been made to feel comfortable.
Grace nodded toward the crowd. “This party’s great. You’ve done an excellent job organizing everything.”
She’d do anything for her kid. Even stay up all night and recreate a cake that had taken her hours to make the first time. Not that she’d had to, thanks to Blake.
“Thank you, but as much as I’d like to take the credit, Blake did a lot.” The jumping castle. The face painter. The preparation of his yard with chairs and tables. It had all been him. “He made it a lot easier than previous years. Truth be told, I’m so used to doing everything myself that having someone else shoulder half the workload almost feels like a holiday.”
Grace’s brows pulled together. “It must have been hard doing everything on your own.”
“It was.” She nibbled her bottom lip. “Blake was away a lot before he went missing, but I always knew he was coming back. I craved his return.” It had been the only thing that kept her sane some days, knowing he’d be back. She still couldn’t believe she hadn’t realized what was going on in her mind sooner. “So when he disappeared…it wasn’t good. I sought help as soon as I could, knowing that I needed to be okay for Mila.”
Another twitch of Grace’s brows. “Grieving his loss while taking care of Mila must have been difficult.”
The hardest thing she’d ever had to do in her entire life. She’d never known pain like that before. It made everything else seem inferior.
Willow’s gaze tracked her daughter again. “Without seeking help, I would have broken. Mila needed me to be strong.”
Therapy and medication had helped, but the pain of Blake being gone had never disappeared. The hole in her stomach, the hollowness, had just become a part of her. A part that she’d learned to ignore by keeping herself busy.
“How are you doing now?”
Willow smiled as Mila fell onto her back in the castle. The smile on her face was like medicine in itself. She looked back to Grace. “I’m okay now. When Mila got her father back, it was like a gift we’d both always wished and prayed for, but feared we’d never receive. Now I just pray that those two are never separated again.”
Grace looked like she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth, then seemed to reconsider it, closing her lips and smiling instead.
When Willow looked away, her gaze caught on Blake. He wasn’t playing with the kids anymore. He was standing across the yard, his eyes dark as they looked her way.
She swallowed, remembering the moment he’d returned to her. There had been tears. And joy. But a part of her, a large part, had also felt fear. Fear of ending up back where she’d been when he’d left. That dark place that she thought she’d never tear herself out of.
When she told him that she couldn’t be with him, that she needed her own space, she’d seen the utter disbelief. The deep hurt. And maybe a little bit of challenge. Because there had never been a Willow and Blake without them being together.
She wrenched her gaze away, looking back to Grace. “What about you? Enjoying Cradle Mountain?”
The woman’s features smoothed. “I love it here. It’s funny how life works out. I was never planning to stay. Cradle Mountain was supposed to be a pit stop before I moved elsewhere. But here I am, making it my home.”
Willow nodded. Blake had hinted at something dark in Grace’s past, which had caught up with her in Cradle Mountain. He hadn’t given any details, and she hadn’t asked, knowing it wasn’t her business. “Fate has a way of throwing our plans out the window.”
She chuckled. “That it does. Hey, I wanted to mention that Courtney and I are having a girls’ night this Wednesday. It will probably just be drinks at home, so really low-key. Would you like to join us?”
Willow’s brows rose. “Really?”
“Yeah. Only if you want to and have time. I know you’re really busy, but Courtney and I would both love to get to know you a bit better.”
Her lips tugged up. She’d never had many friends. It was just one of the reasons she hadn’t hesitated to follow Blake to Cradle Mountain. Working, studying, and being the sole caregiver for Mila left her little time. “I’d love that.”
Grace’s eyes lit up. “Great!”
Suddenly, Mila catapulted herself into Willow’s legs. When she looked down, all she saw was white. The kid was dressed as Olaf but was looking more like a cloud from this angle.
Laughing, she bent down to pick her up. “Hey, baby, are you having fun?”
Mila’s orange-painted nose wrinkled.
Willow frowned, pushing some hair back into place that had escaped her headband. “What’s wrong?”
“I fell out of the jumping castle and hurt my knee.”
Willow followed her gaze, spotting the specks of blood.
“Oh, no. We can’t have a grazed knee on a birthday, can we? Should we ask Daddy if he has some Band-Aids?”
Her eyes lit up. “Frozen Band-Aids?”
Ah, yes. Frozen Band-Aids. She was pretty sure Blake wouldn’t have any, but luckily, she kept an emergency stash in the car. It had been the first addition to the new car.
She pressed a kiss to her daughter’s head. “Sure, baby. You play with your friends and I’ll go get them.”
Setting Mila back onto her feet, she went into the house, grabbing her car keys before heading out front. She’d parked in the driveway, whereas everyone else had parked on the street. Opening the passenger-side door, she grabbed the small first-aid kit from her glove box. She’d quickly come to realize it was mandatory in Mom life. Even something as innocent as a park play could end in tears.
Rummaging around, it took less than a few seconds to find the box of Frozen Band-Aids. Next would be finding an Olaf one. Opening the box, she grabbed a couple out and held them up to the sun. It was at about the fifth Band-Aid when she spotted him.
“Gotcha, Olaf.”
Willow was just closing the car door when something across the street caught her eye. Frowning, she took a small step forward.
Strange. No one seemed to be there. But something had definitely moved.
She was just taking a second step forward when a hand touched her shoulder.
Turning, she saw Flynn behind her. “Hey, Flynn. What are you doing out here?”
A frown creased his brow as he shot a quick look over her head toward the street. “Just saw you come out here and wanted to know if you needed help with anything. Everything okay?”
She nodded. “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m just grabbing a Band-Aid for the birthday girl. Although for a moment, I thought I saw someone,” she waved her hand, “somewhere. But I guess I’m just tired.”
And to be honest, her head was aching more by the minute, both due to the lack of sleep and the way she’d been go-go-go all day.
Flynn glanced back across the street. His expression had her pausing. It was the same one that Blake often wore. Intense. Hard. Eyes of steel.
Blake sipped his drink. It was yellow and sweet and tingled on his tongue. It was terrible.
But the drink wasn’t what had his stomach in knots. It was Willow’s words.
“I always knew he was coming back. I craved his return.”
The familiar pang of regret clenched at his chest. He’d seen her anxiety each time he left. Felt her desperate need to have him stay. And he hadn’t done a goddamn thing about it. Nothing. She’d had to deal with her postpartum depression on her own. Then he’d disappeared, and she’d had to grieve his loss and care for their daughter while shouldering every responsibility for her household and small family.
His insides knotted tighter, a sick churning in his gut.
He watched as Mila ran up to Willow, and she swung their daughter into her arms.
“You look pained.”
Blake heard Logan, but he didn’t look his way. His eyes remained on the two people who always commanded his attention. “I am. How do I get her to trust that I’m not going anywhere? That I’ll be there for her in the dark days as well as the good ones?”
“I’m not an expert on the topic,” Logan said quietly. “But don’t they say time is the cure for most things? It might take a while, but eventually she’ll learn to trust.”
Logan was right. Willow’s trust had been fractured, and he needed to rebuild it. Needed to help her rebuild it.
His eyes tracked her all the way into the house before she disappeared.
“Don’t give up.”
Blake tugged his gaze away, giving Logan’s shoulder a squeeze before heading toward the house. He placed the sugary crap he’d been drinking in the trash before stepping inside. When he didn’t see Willow in the house, he headed out the front. She was standing by her car with Flynn.
“Glad you’re okay,” Flynn said, his gaze skittered across the road. Scanning.
Blake followed his line of sight, seeing nothing out of place. When his friend left, Blake approached Willow. Just like always, the soft pitter-patter of her heart sped up a fraction.
“Everything all right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, Mila just needs an Olaf Band-Aid.”
He chuckled. Of course. He needed to get some of those. Giving a small nod, he was about to turn when Willow’s hand touched his arm.
Her gaze darted between his eyes. “Before you go, I wanted to say thank you for coming over last night. For helping this morning. For everything you do for Mila and me.”
“We’re a team, Willow. You don’t need to thank me for doing my share of the parenting duties.”
When she stepped closer, he froze. The woman never initiated affection. Not anymore. So when her fingers touched his neck, tugging his head down, and her lips pressed to his cheek, his chest rumbled with fire.
Her kiss burned him. Stripped him. Destroyed him.
When she pulled away, she smiled, then brushed past him and back into the house.
Yet again, Blake made that same promise to himself that he’d been making for months. To get her back…not part-time, not as a co-parent. But as completely his.
