Hunter’s eyes widened. I looked at him. He looked at me. Panic. Pure panic.
“Oh,” I said. “That’s really sweet, but I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not intruding. You’re basically my big sister,” she said, and my heart cracked because it was the truth. I’d known Isla for most of her life and loved her too.
Behind me, Taylor’s door opened.
Taylor leaned into the hallway. “Did someone say movie?”
Isla lit up. “You can come too!”
Taylor’s eyes flicked to me, then Hunter, then back to Isla.
A slow smile spread across her face. “I love movies.”
Hunter looked like he wanted to throw himself down the elevator shaft.
“What are we watching?” Taylor asked.
“Moana,” Isla said. “Or Tangled. I’m deciding.”
Taylor nodded seriously. “Huge decision.”
Isla turned back to me. “So, you’ll come?”
There were at least ten reasons to say no. Hunter’s hand tightened around the grocery bag. But Isla was looking at me with open, easy excitement. Not suspicion or pressure. Just a ten-year-old girl asking someone she trusted to watch a movie. And for one second, I let myself imagine it. Sitting on Hunter’s couch with Isla curled under a blanket. Taylor there as a buffer. Hunter nearby, awkward and careful and probably silently panicking. Not a family, but maybe a glimpse.
I smiled. “Sure. I can stay for a little.”
Isla grinned. “Yes.”
Taylor stepped out fully and locked her door. “I’ll bring popcorn.”
Hunter finally found his voice. “Great,” he said.
It was the least natural word any man had ever spoken. I looked at him and bit back a smile. He gave me a warning look. For once, we were not sneaking into Hunter’s condo. We were walking in together, with Isla leading the way and Taylor talking about popcorn like this was normal. Somehow, that felt more dangerous than anything we had done in secret.
CHAPTER 24
Hunter
My heart was completely wrecked. There was no other way to put it. The more time I spent with Catherine, the more impossible it became to pretend she was only a complication. She was smart, funny, stubborn, warm, sharp when she needed to be, soft when it mattered, and somehow completely unafraid of all the parts of my life that should’ve sent her running. The fact that my life came with homework folders, lunch orders, practice schedules, bedtime routines, and a ten-year-old girl who had once asked me if I could please find her a mommy like I was ordering one off a menu. Catherine should have been terrified of all that.
Instead, she walked into my condo with Taylor and Isla like this was normal. Like she had not slept in my bed the night before. Like I had not woken up with her wrapped around me and spent the morning trying to figure out how the hell I was supposed to keep pretending this thing between us was manageable. Now she was in my living room. With my daughter. And I was low-key freaking out.
Isla sat in the middle of the couch with a blanket over her lap, Catherine on one side and Taylor on the other. My daughter had positioned them that way herself, like she was hosting a very official meeting of the girl committee. She had already rejected three movie options.
“Tangled has better hair,” Isla said.
“But Moana has better songs,” Catherine said.
Isla turned to her. “You like Moana?”
“I love Moana,” Catherine replied. “My fifteenth birthday was a Moana watch party.”
“That’s amazing.”
“It was. My mom made cupcakes with little ocean waves on them, and my dad pretended not to cry during the grandmother part.”