“There’s an envelope in my purse,” she says quietly, her fingers squeezing mine for a moment before she releases them. “For you.”
I don’t give a shit about an envelope right now. I want to talk about why she put me on her arm.
“It’s something I should have done a long time ago.”
What the hell is she talking about?
“Take it out,” she urges again. “Please.”
So, I unzip her bag and, sure enough, there’s an envelope sitting on top. With a Brown County Circuit Court logo in the corner.
The only other times I’ve been presented with a Brown County envelope, it was by the mailman and it contained child support and custody orders, neither of which Hayden and I have ever had an issue with.
I tug out the documents, flip them open to the first page, and seven words immediately jump off and lodge in my throat: Petition for Name Change of a Minor.
Holy shit.
“He should have always had your name, Jesse. One look at you holding him in the hospital and I knew you were committed for the long haul.” She pulls in a shaky breath, tears slipping down her cheeks. “You are the best father I could have ever wanted for him. He is yours as much as he is mine, and I want you to know that.”
“I…” I clear my throat three times before I can get another word out. “I don’t know what to say.” I’ve wanted this for a long time, but never made a fuss because I didn’t want to push her for anything that might have pushed her away.
“Just promise you’ll tell me with him. He’s going to have some new letters to learn now.”
A throaty, emotion-clogged laugh rises in my throat and I sniff. “I’ll work with him every damn day.”
“Oh, I know you will.” She smiles softly and I get to my feet, pulling her against me. “Happy early Father’s Day, Jesse.”
“Thank you,” I murmur against her lips, wishing we were at home, so I could do a hell of lot more than kiss her.
“Thank you.” Her hands lift to my back, careful of her arm, and there’s a tenderness in the way her fingers slide over my T-shirt and hold me just as close that makes all of my reservations disappear.
She wouldn’t want to give our son my name if she didn’t really want this.
“You fuck up my work, Enders, and I’ll fuck up your face.”
Son of a bitch.
I growl beneath my breath as Drew appears in the door.
Hayden shakes in silent laughter, dropping her forehead to my chest. “Busted.”
“Uh huh.” Drew smirks. “But don’t worry. I’m used to it. My work tends to get people hot and bothered like that.”
Jesus Christ. Rolling my eyes, I step back and let my man do his work and, a half hour later, just after eleven p.m., we’re in my truck and halfway home.
“I can’t stop looking at it,” Hayden murmurs, holding her arm up every now and then, trying to see her new ink in the dash light. “I’ll have to run to the store in the morning for ointment.”
“I have some. I can swing by my place to grab it before I drop you off.”
“Oh, that’d be awesome. Thank you.” She’s quiet for a few moments, her hands folded together in her lap as Morgan Wallen sings “Sand in My Boots” from the playlist on my phone. “And thank you again for tonight, too. I appreciate you calling in the favor and coming along. Now I owe you.”
“No, you don’t.” I shake my head. “You made my whole fucking year tonight, babe.”
“I’ve wanted to do it for a long time,” she says. “But Lane convinced me it would be better if Jett and I had the same last name. That it would be less confusing for him when he got older. I suppose you could have argued the same point.”
I can’t say it didn’t bug me every now and then, especially knowing her name would eventually change. “But you weren’t going to be Hayden Foss forever.”
Her hands twist in her lap, her focus unwavering from the road ahead of us. “Yeah.”
“Did you two ever set a date?”
Her chin lifts ever so slightly. “No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.”
I don’t buy that for a second. “Did you have a dress picked out? I mean, most girls have one picked out by the time they’re ten. You probably did, too, yeah?”
She wets her lips and swallows. “I fantasized when I was younger, but…”
“But what?” I have no fucking idea why I’m egging this on, because I sure as hell don’t want to hear about her plans to marry someone else. But something about the look in her eyes says I need to hear it.
“But I never went shopping for one. I never…” She runs a hand along the side of her face, almost in frustration, and tucks her hair behind her ear. “I never had time. I was too busy being a mom. And working. And just trying to keep it all together.”
I open my mouth to say God only knows what, but she then shakes her head and gives a short, almost crazed laugh.
“That’s not true.” She shakes her head. “That’s not even a little true, because I love my job. And being a mom? It’s never been hard. Because you never made it that way.”
She turns to me with a clarity in her eyes I haven’t seen since she came to Cole Creek five summers ago.
“I never bought a dress or picked a date or even thought about the cake or flowers or any of it…” She breaks off with an almost desperate smile, her nostrils flaring.
“I never did any of those things with him… because I’m in love with you.”
Chapter 26
JESSE
My hands tighten around the wheel as I bypass my road and continue toward the lake.
Hayden frowns when she realizes. “I thought we were stopping—”
“Changed my mind,” I say coolly, though I am anything but.
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “I know it’s a lot to hear in one night. I…” She blows out a breath and deflates back in the seat. “I’m just… I’m sorry.”
So am I. But not for the reasons she thinks I am.
We pull into her driveway a minute later and she hesitates as I put the truck into park and kill the engine.
“It’s okay if you need some time to process this. Or if maybe it’s just too much altogether…” She pushes a hand back through her hair. “But I had to tell you. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”
I lift my chin toward the cabin and clear my throat. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
She swallows loud enough that I can hear it in the darkness and then nods. “Okay.”
I follow her inside, watching as she sets her purse on the counter and bends to undo her sandals with trembling fingers. “Do you want something to drink?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Are you hungry? Do you want—”
I snag her hand and tug her to me, her sudden intake of breath the only thing between us.
“You love me,” I say hoarsely, my hands sliding to her ass and holding her still against me as the fear in her eyes turns to lust.