Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 120

Chapter 109-2

+25 Pointe

Jake is recording everything on his tablet, narrating for his followers in that serious voice he uses

when he’s in front of the camera.

“This could be my room,” he says, panning across the second bedroom. “It’s got space for my desk and my supplies and I can put my drawings on this wall here.” He taps the empty wall for emphasis. “What do you think? Should this be my room or should I take the one with the bathroom

attached?”

The comments start rolling in immediately. I can see them on his screen from where I’m standing

in the doorway.

The one with the bathroom! You’re getting older, you need privacy!

But the other one is bigger for all your art stuff!

Jake, make your mom decide. This is too important!

I should be paying attention to the house. To the rooms and the layout and whether the closets are

big enough. But all I can think about is Friday.

Two days.

In two days, I have to meet Katherine Hale.

Ethan is downstairs talking to the realtor about the inspection and closing costs and all the

practical things that need to happen. His voice drifts up through the open floor plan, calm and confident, like buying a house is just another Tuesday morning task.

Meanwhile, I’m standing in what could be Jake’s future bedroom, trying not to spiral.

Jake lowers his tablet and looks at me. “Mom. You’re doing the thing again.”

“What thing?”

“The worry thing. Your face gets all tight.” He demonstrates, scrunching up his face in an exaggerated frown.

“I’m not worried.”

“You’ve checked your phone six times since we got here and you haven’t gotten any messages. That’s worry–checking, not real–checking.”

He’s right. This kid notices everything.

I put my phone in my pocket. “I’m just thinking.”

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< Chapter 109-2

“About Granny Kate?”

“About a lot of things.”

“Mostly Granny Kate though.”

I can’t argue with that.

+25 Point

He sets his tablet down on the windowsill and walks over to me. At six, he’s getting taller every day. Soon he’ll be too big to pick up. Soon he won’t want hugs in public. Soon he’ll be a teenager who rolls his eyes at everything I say.

But right now, he’s still small enough to wrap his arms around my waist.

“She’s going to like you,” he says into my shirt. “You’re the best mom. How could she not like you?”

“It’s more complicated than that, baby.”

“Why?”

How do I explain this to a six–year–old? How do I tell him that Kate Hale has standards I’m not sure

I can meet? That I don’t come from the right background or have the right education or fit into the

world Ethan lives in?

How do I tell him that I’m terrified of being the reason Ethan has to choose between his family and

us?

“Sometimes,” I say carefully, “people have ideas about what’s right for the people they love. And

those ideas don’t always match reality.”

Jake pulls back and looks at me. “You mean she thinks Ethan should marry someone fancy.”

“Something like that.”

“But you are fancy. You work at his company. You make all those pretty ads. You wear nice

clothes.”

“That’s not the kind of fancy she means.”

He thinks about this. I can see him working through it, trying to find the logic.

“Is it because you were married to Bad Dad first?”

The question hits harder than it should. I’ve tried so hard to protect Jake from the ugly parts of the

divorce, from the knowledge that some people will judge us for it. But again, this kid notices

everything.

He knows more than a kid should know at his age.

TUE

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