Page 90 of Moms of Mayhem
Emmy’s neighbor stood on their front stoop, staring at me with a shovel in hand. I hadn’t noticed him when I’d left her house a few minutes ago, but the imagery of this situation was comical.
My hands shook as I reached forward to knock on the door, unease getting the best of me. Emmy and I hadn’t talked about what was going on between us, and she seemed hesitant about telling Jace we were anything more than family friends.
But there was a kid upstairs devastated that his father was a piece of shit and didn’t care about him, and I was here, standing outside, very much caring about him.
With one last exhale, I reached forward and rapped on the door, then backed up enough they’d be able to see me from Jace’s window.
The curtains parted, and Emmy’s face stared out in confusion seconds before Jace’s appeared next to hers.
“Wake up, sleepy head. Time to skate.”
The front door swung open a minute later, and Emmy stepped out onto the porch, her hair still a little wild fromsleep. My hoodie swallowed her frame, the sleeves covering her hands, and I had to force myself to look her in the eyes instead of letting myself remember exactly what she looked like splayed out for me to devour.
She looked up the stairs, then back to where I stood on the stoop. “How are you outside?”
“I flew,” I said, straight-faced. “You liked that bat-boy book, right? Thought it might give me a better chance.”
She pulled her lips into her mouth, holding in a laugh, but just shook her head.
Before either of us could say more, Jace appeared behind her, ruffling his wavy hair. “Dude. What are you doing here? I told you I wouldn’t be back today.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets and did my best to play it cool, even though I was sweating under the hoodie like I’d just run a damn marathon. “Oh, really? Must have gotten my days mixed up.”
Emmy’s eyes narrowed. Jace didn’t look convinced either, but he shrugged.
“It is New Year’s, though, so I thought I’d let you sleep in. You want to come skate or not?” I nodded toward the truck idling in the driveway. “Pond’s waiting.”
Jace lit up like someone had flipped a switch, and I could practically see the tension drain from his shoulders. “Yeah, give me two minutes.”
He disappeared inside, and suddenly it was just Emmy and me. The wind bit through my hoodie, but I didn’t mind. Not when she looked at me like that—still a little stunned, like she hadn’t decided whether she wanted to kiss me or kill me.
“Good morning,” I said, smiling just enough to keep things light.
She folded her arms across her chest, probably more for warmth than anything else, but it gave her a look of wary suspicion I’d seen that first night back in town, and it was still just as adorable.
“Beckett…”
“I know,” I said quickly. “We need to talk about this, whatever it is. But I could hear him talking, and trust me, that boy just needs someone to show up. I may not be able to do it every time, but today I can. Today, he can see with his own eyes just how much he means to me. Just how much I care. So”—I held my hands out to the side, hoping she knew I wasn’t talking about just Jace—“here I am. If you’ll have me.”
Her expression softened a little, and I threw in my last-ditch effort. “Come with us. I know you don’t want to leave him after this morning, and Mom would love to see you.”
Her brows rose. “Skate? With you two?”
“Yeah. Come hang out. We can have lunch later. And maybe it’d be nice for Jace to see he’s not the only one with complicated parents. That having a mom who shows up every single time is pretty fucking cool, even if your dad suffers from excessive nose hairs and an inflated ego.”
Emmy smirked, bringing the sleeve of my hoodie up to her mouth. When she didn’t answer right away, I kept going.
“Ty’s coming too. You can sit with him and silently judge me together. He lives for that kind of thing.”
That earned a reluctant snort from her, the corner of her mouth pulling up. “Ty’s going?”
“Wouldn’t be a proper public shaming without him,” I said. “But seriously, come. You don’t have to skate. Just be there.”
Her eyes met mine, and there was something soft andsearching in her gaze, like she was measuring the cost of saying yes.
“I’d like that,” she said quietly. “Just let me get dressed.”
And just like that, I breathed a sigh of relief.
