Willa:Oh. My. God.
Knox:I know. It’s a lot. But don’t freak. Please. I just felt bad the other night that you had to lug all of that stuff over, so I wanted to pick up a few things.
Willa:A few things, sure. Not a freaking crib!
Knox: Is now a bad time to mention there’s a crib, a changing table, a swing, a bouncy thing, a shit-ton of clothes, and one of those shelves with the colorful boxes? Oh, and a rocking chair, but that’s being delivered.
Knox: Whit and I may have gotten a little carried away.
Willa: Wow…
Willa: Your room is pretty big, but how are you going to fit all that furniture in there? Or is the crib a Pack ‘n Play?
Knox: We have one of those in the cart too. But it’s for the downstairs.
Knox: And the furniture isn’t in my room...it’s in Rose’s.
Willa: Uh, what?
My phone rings and I pick it up, expecting Willa to be laughing at my insanity. Instead, she’s sobbing.
“You can’t take her, Knox. I won’t let you take her from me.”
“Whoa, what?”
“You have money. I know that. And I don’t. But I have the texts. And I will fight with everything I can if you sue for full custody. I’m her mother and—”
She’s talking so fast and sniffling so loud, and Jesus, I fucked up again.
“Willa, no. I would never—”
“If you—”
“Willa. I won’t take her from you.” I say the words plainly and clearly, and there’s silence on the other end, so I keep going. “I’m so sorry. Look, I’m not suing you for custody. I
would never do that. I want to see her, yea, but you’re her mom. You’re all she’s ever known. I will never take her away from you. I swear.”
I can hear her breath returning to a normal pace.
“Jesus. I’m so sorry. I got excited. And Whit’s like a damn golden retriever, so he got carried away, too. I never meant to imply that I would take—God, I can’t even say it. Willa, I get that there are reasons you don’t trust me—reasons we still need to talk about—but you have to believe I’d never betray you like that.”
Her voice is small on the other end of the line. “I... Just, when you said she had her own room. Oh my God, Knox. I think my heart stopped beating.”
Fuck, I wish I was there to hold her, to look her in the eyes, and lay her hand on my heart, so she’d know I’m not bullshitting her.
“That’s on me. I’m such an asshole. There’s an empty room right next to mine. It’s a little smaller, so no one claimed it. There’s an extra room on Booker’s side of the hall too. We just live in a huge-ass house. I swear, I’m not plotting to ruin your life. God, I would never do that, Willa.”
She starts to say something but stops. “It’s been a long day, and I’m still at work. I should go.”
Shit. I fucked this up. Talking to Willa was the highlight of my day and within five minutes, I brought her to tears.
“Yea, no, absolutely. Sorry. Are, um… Are we still on for tomorrow? I messed up tonight, but I really want to see you and Rose.”
“Yea, that’s fine. You know where Ian lives? It’s the Poplar Lane Apartments, 6C.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
“Goodnight, Knox.”
