Page 19 of Willow Vale

There was a pang in my heart as I listened to them laugh together. Forgetting the world around them. I’d never seen Delilah like this. Free and happy. It hurt me to admit that because it was true.

Delilah wasn’t happy when she was a kid, and who could blame her with the type of family she’d been born into? It took her a long time to really trust me or my own family. To feel safe enough that she could be herself and speak her mind when she wanted something.

Only now…

River might be her brother but there was no doubt in my mind, seeing them now, that she was also his mother in every way that counted. She was his safe space, and she created it knowingly because she knew exactly how it felt to not have that as a kid.

It broke something in me to know that she suffered somuch for so long. Only now, I think she was better at hiding it.

She closed the door, turning with a brilliant smile as she pushed the wild dark curls out of her face. Her smile instantly dropped when she found me standing there, unable to tear my eyes away from her.

I cleared my throat at the same time she dropped her gaze. “Let’s give this a go,” I said, before hooking the cables to the batteries. Once I finished, I stepped back. “We’ll give it a few minutes then I’ll try switching the ignition on.”

“Sorry for putting you out.” I looked over my shoulder to see Delilah had her arms wrapped around her waist, worrying her bottom lip.

I sighed. “Relax, Delilah. It’s not like I’m giving you my kidney.”

“Hilarious,” she said sarcastically which made me crack a smile. “I thought Finn was supposed to be the funny one.”

“Don’t say that to him. He does not need the ego boost.”

Silence stretched for a full minute after that.

“You should go wait in the truck. You don’t need to stay out here with me.”

“And leave you to do all of this yourself? I’d rather be here in spirit than watch you do all the work. It’s bad enough I almost broke your nose andactuallybroke your phone.”

I grinned. “You do seem to know how to make my days interesting.”

“Like old times, I guess,” she said.

This time my voice came out as a murmur. “Like old times.”

Delilah peered into the Bronco to check on River, and I spotted him playing with two toy cars, making them crash into each other and mimicking an explosion.

“You’re really good with him,” I said before I could think better of it.

She blinked up at me. “I try to be. Most days I think I’m just one big mess.”

“River seems happy. So do you. If it works it doesn’t need fixing, right?”

She looked at me then.Reallylooked at me. Her eyes warmed the longer she took me in as if she were seeing me for the first time.

If only she knew I never once stopped seeing her.

“I—I guess you’re right. Thanks for saying those things.”

I shrugged. “I have no reason to lie. About what happened at the bar…” I should leave things as they are. But I didn’t want to. I must really be a glutton for punishment because now that I had her here, and she wasn’t running for the hills at the mere sight of me, I wanted to be as honest as I could be. That is if she’d allow me. “I’m sorry. I was an asshole, and you didn’t deserve that.”

Delilah paused before speaking, her voice so soft I almost didn’t hear it. “I can’t say I blame you. We didn’t exactly end things on a friendly term back then. It was bound to be awkward working together.”

“Does it have to be?” I asked her, and she frowned. I leaned against my truck. “What if we don’t make it awkward from now on. What if we start over?”

Delilah hesitated before giving me a sad smile. “You always did that.”

“Did what?”

“Fixed things. It didn’t matter what anyone said, you still stubbornly tried your best to fix something until you proved everyone wrong. Do you remember Victor Ward?”

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