Page 100 of Inevitable
He shook his head. “Because you’ve been an incredible mother to our daughter. You always seem to know exactly what to say to Wren.”
“It’s taken me thirteen years of practice to get to this point,” I reminded him. “Be patient with yourself, Colin.”
“I know that I can never be the parent you’ve been to her,” he said thoughtfully. “I just want to be there for you and Wren in the future. I want to make up for all of the times when I wasn’t there for you.”
I shook my head slowly. “You don’t need to make up for the past. You didn’t know about Wren. We just want you to be here now.”
“I’ll be here whenever you need me,” he confirmed. “You know I’m going back to California on Sunday, but I’ll probably be here more than you’d like. It’s going to feel like an eternity before you and Wren get to California for the holidays.”
We’d already agreed to spend the holidays together in California.
I wanted to remind him that the holidays weren’t that far away, but it was going to seem like forever to me, too.
It had been a magical summer, but I knew it was time for both of us to get back to the real world.
I had a daughter who was starting high school, and Wren had to be my priority.
I had to get her back into her usual routine.
It wasn’t going to be easy for Wren to be without her father after spending time with him, so I was going to have to be strong.
I wasn’t going to be able to just wallow in my misery and loneliness once Colin had returned to his home in California.
We’d argued about him paying regular child support, but I’d lost that battle.
He wanted to do his fair share, so I’d put that money into an account for Wren for her future needs once she became an adult.
Hewasa father who had never known about his daughter, and I couldn’t stop him from doing what he felt was his responsibility.
If I was in his position, I’d probably feel the same way.
He was a man who needed to contribute somehow, and it would kill him not to feel like he was providing for his daughter.
I’d be lying to myself if I tried to pretend like I didn’t want a future with Colin.
I wanted that so badly that my heart ached to be with him.
But it was way too early to talk about that.
He’d only been back in my life for a short amount of time.
I loved him and that was never going to change, but I wasn’t sure he felt the same way.
I knew he cared about me and Wren.
I knew he wanted our relationship to continue in the future.
But we’d never talked about being together for the rest of our lives, and logically, it didn’t really make sense to talk about that at this point in our relationship.
I’d probably figure out a way to move to California if I knew that was what he wanted, but he still hadn’t said a word about Wren and me moving closer to him.
“It’s not Sunday yet,” I reminded him as I crawled on top of him and looked down at the man I was going to miss like crazy.
He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist. “It’s only a few days away,” he answered.
My heart squeezed so hard inside my chest that I felt like it was going to explode.
I knew that, but I wanted to forget that he was leaving until I had to be without him again.
