Page 60 of Single Glance

She shook her head as she toyed with the edge of her blanket. “When I met your father, I had that same sparkle in my eyes. I thought it was the start of our lives. He came from money, someone who’d make life worth living.” She darkly chuckled. “Instead, he took off, left me alone with no way to get in contact.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

She smirked. “You’re the same as me, Hadley. You always had stars in your eyes. I saw it with that boy from high school, and look how that turned out. And what? Now you have some new man, and you think you’re going to run off into the sunset like those books you used to read?” My mother laid back onto her pillow, her eyes slowly drifting off to sleep. “Don’t make the same mistake as me, Hadley. Get out before you’re trapped. Don’t shape your life around a man. It’ll only end in heartache.”

FORTY-FIVE

I stared through the windshield of my truck, waiting as the clock ticked down. There were only a couple more minutes until Emilia got out of school, but the quiet was too much. A country song hummed on the radio, and parents chatted in the other pickup line, but none of it was enough to soothe the ache in my chest. I’d spent the last couple of years alone, but I’d never been this lonely, not since Hadley walked out the door without a promise to return.

Fuck, I missed her. For too long, I took her presence for granted, not realizing how much I needed her in my life. She was the warmth, the reason for most of my smiles, and the person who mattered most, alongside my daughter.

The sound of giggles broke through the noise of my truck, and my eyes darted up, finding a hoard of kids exiting the school. It took a couple minutes, but Emilia came running outside, beaming when she saw me waiting. I hopped out of the truck, moving to the passenger side. She ran over to me and jumped into my waiting arms.

She pulled back, pressing her small hands into my cheeks. “Daddy! You don’t have a game today?”

“Not tonight. Mommy and Adam are at the house, but I wanted to grab ice cream with you before heading back. How does that sound?”

“Perfect.” She smiled. “With extra sprinkles?”

“If that’s what you want, Ems."

I lifted her into the back seat and buckled her into her booster. After I climbed into the driver’s seat, I grabbed my phone, opening my music streaming app to pull up Emilia’s favorite playlist. But as I pressed the button, a call came through the speakers. My heart pumped a little faster when I saw Hadley’s name. It had been five days since we’d spoken, five days since she walked away from me. All I wanted was to run to her, but she’d made it clear she didn’t want that. Right now, she needed to focus on her mother, and I’d be a distraction.

I cleared my throat as I pressed the answer button. “Hey, Hadley.”

“Cam…” she said, her voice almost pained. It broke my heart to hear her whisper my name like that, giving me hope she missed me just as much as I missed her. “Ho-how are you?”

“Not that great,” I admitted. “Missing a certain menace in my life.”

“I miss you too. So much.” She sighed, and the defeated sound broke me. “Are you with Emilia?”

“Yeah,” I said, looking into the rearview mirror and motioning for Emilia to unbuckle and come closer. “Just picked her up from school.”

“Hi, Auntie Hadley!” My daughter beamed up at the screen. “Daddy’s taking me for ice cream.”

“That sounds incredible, Emilia Bedelia. Are you going to get strawberry or cookies andcream?”

“Cookies and cream,” my daughter answered. “With lots of sprinkles.”

“Man, you’re making me jealous, kid. All I’ve been eating is hospital food, and trust me, it’s not the best.” She huffed a humorless laugh through the phone, and I gripped the steering wheel, wishing I had her in front of me right now. “How’s Laila?”

“She’s good,” I said. “Emilia’s been taking great care of her. I’ve been sneaking pieces of meat into her bowl, so I’m taking your place as her favorite.”

“I’ll remember that,” Hadley mused. As I started to tell her how much I missed her, another voice broke through the line, more urgent and hushed. Hadley groaned. “Cam, can I call you back later? The doctor has an update for us.”

“Any time, Hads. I’m here whenever you need me.”

Without another word, the line clicked off, the silence deafening. I dropped my head and ran my hand over my face. The distance never felt like a bigger hurdle, as if every day Hadley was gone, she slipped further away from me.

Emilia climbed into the front seat and sat on the center console. She placed her head on my shoulder, her soft sigh echoing my own. “I miss Hadley, Daddy.”

“Me too, kiddo.”

She looked up at me, her brown eyes wide, blinking back tears. “Do you think she’ll come home soon?”

I pulled a breath through my teeth, warring with the choice to lie to my daughter or tell her a heartbreaking truth. I didn’t know if Hadley was coming back. If her lack of communication was any sign, then she wouldn’t be returning soon. She’d left everything behind, including us, and it stung more than I ever thought it would. How dareshe make me fall in love with her, only to disappear from my life?

From our limited conversations about her mother, I’d figured out they had a complicated dynamic. The woman seemed like a narcissist, using her daughter as more of a bargaining chip than her pride and joy. I reached my arm around Emilia, holding her close to me. My heart broke for that younger version of Hadley, the one who dreamed of having a family, only to have the door shut on her every time. Despite all the harm her mother caused, she still opened up to us—let us into her world and her heart.

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