He'd gone back to Ava. He'd told himself every morning that forward was the only direction that mattered. He brought the tea into the living room. Sophia looked up. "Thank you.
Don't thank me yet," he said. He sat in the armchair across from the couch, not beside her, not close. Exactly far enough to make the point without being cruel. "Start talking." She wrapped both hands around the mug.
I didn't plan to come back here. I believe that I was in Atlanta. I had a job, office management. It was a good position. I had an apartment.
I had things figured out mostly. She paused. Then the company restructured in February. The whole department I was managing got eliminated. I lost the job.
Then the apartment. Then she stopped again. Looked at Noah. Things got very bad very fast. James listened.
He was good at listening. People sometimes mistook his silence for coldness, but it wasn't coldness. It was the discipline of a man who had learned that every problem was better understood before it was solved. I tried other jobs, Sophia continued. I tried three different cities.
I had some help for a while and then the help ran out and I was James. I was out of options. I was genuinely out of options. She looked at him. I know what this looks like.
I know it looks like I only came back because I need something and you have every right to believe that. What do you want me to say to that? Nothing. I'm not asking you to tell me it's okay. I'm asking you.
I'm asking you if there is any version of your heart that has enough room to let me and Noah stay somewhere safe for a few weeks while I get back on my feet. The word weeks hung in the air. James looked at this woman. This woman who had been in his future once who had sat at this same table. No, not this table.
He'd bought this one after she left. Who had sat in this kitchen and talked about where they were going to be in 10 years. Who had laughed at things he said that weren't even funny just because she found him genuinely amusing and that had always undone him more than the beautiful things. "Noah's father?" James asked.