Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 121

Chapter 110-1

(Sabrina’s POV)

I pull him back into a hug before he can work himself up more. “Thank you for defending me.”

“I’m serious, Mom. If she’s mean to you, I’m going to tell her she can’t be my Granny. Ethan will too. He loves you.”

“I know he does.”

“Then why are you scared?”

Because love doesn’t always trump over family. Because I’ve seen what happens when someone has to choose. Because Dustin chose Jessica over me and if Ethan has to choose between Kate

and me, what if he-

No.

I stop that thought before it can finish.

Ethan isn’t Dustin. This situation isn’t the same. I know that.

But knowing it and believing it are two different things.

“I’m not scared,” I tell Jake. “I’m just nervous. There’s a difference.”

He doesn’t look convinced, but he doesn’t push it either. Instead, he picks up his tablet again.

“I’m going to make Granny a drawing,” he announces. “Something really nice. With colors and

dinosaurs. Everyone likes dinosaurs.”

“I’m not sure Kate Hale is an everyone.”

“Then I’ll make it extra nice.”

We finish touring the house. Jake decides on the bigger room without the attached bathroom

because “art is more important than convenience.” We go back downstairs where Ethan is still

talking numbers with the realtor.

He looks up when we come in. His eyes go straight to my face and I know he can see it–the

anxiety I’m trying to hide, the fear I can’t quite shake.

“We’ll take it,” he tells the realtor. “Draw up the papers.”

The realtor beams and starts talking about timelines and inspections and all the steps that come

next. But Ethan is still looking at me, and the reassurance in his gaze that makes me feel like

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maybe I can actually do this.

Maybe.

+25 Points

We leave the house an hour later with paperwork and a tentative closing date and Jake’s head full

of decorating plans. In the car, he immediately pulls out his tablet to tell his followers about the

house.

“We’re moving!” he announces to the camera. “It’s got a huge backyard and my room is going to have all my art stuff and there’s even space for a dog if Mom ever says yes.”

I catch Ethan’s eye in the rearview mirror. He’s smiling.

“Don’t get your hopes up about the dog,” I tell Jake.

“Why not? We’re getting a house. Why not a dog too?”

“Because a house doesn’t need to be walked three times a day.”

“But a dog would be good for family bonding! I researched it!”

“Of course you did.”

When we get back to my place–the house I won in the divorce against Dustin–Jake runs upstairs

to work on his drawing for Kate. Ethan follows me into the kitchen.

“You need to talk to Sophia,” he says.

“How did you-”

“You’ve been wound tight all morning. The only person who can untangle you is Sophia.”

He’s not wrong.

I pull out my phone and text her: Emergency. Need you. Now.

She responds in three seconds: On my way. Wine or coffee?

Both.

Twenty minutes later, Sophia is in my living room with a bottle of wine in one hand and a box of

pastries in the other.

“Retail therapy,” she announces. “We’re going shopping.”

“I don’t need-”

“Yes, you do. You need an outfit that makes you feel like you can conquer the world. Or at least

convince one very particular grandmother that you’re not a disaster.”

TUE

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