“Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
She shrugged. “I can take a day off. It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal,” I said, looking her in the eye, trying to wrap my head around how much she’d done for my mom since my father and Cory died. She’d always been around, always been a surrogate aunt, the woman I saw just as much as my mom, who I knew cared just as much about me as she would someone actually related to her. And as one did with family, I’d taken her for granted. I probably still was. But I didn’t want to. “Thank you.”
“Tell you what,” she said, reaching a hand out to mine, giving it a squeeze, then pulling away. “Why don’t you take McKenzie?” My eyes snapped up to meet hers, surprise coursing through me, followed closely by panic. “She could drive you there, you could rest, and then you could both come back tomorrow morning.”
She was looking at me, her eyes never wavering from mine, but it was almost as though she was trying to say more with her eyes than her words. She was smiling, just slightly, and I was utterly confused.
“You want me to take McKenzie with me?”
“I want you both safe and happy,” she replied with honest sincerity.
I wasn’t brave enough to ask her to confirm, but it was that moment where I suspected Mrs. Harris knew I was in love with her daughter.
“McKenzie can get you there safely, and I trust you to make her happy.”
Fuck. She definitely knew. I opened my mouth to—I didn’t know—explain myself? Defend our relationship? To convince her that it definitely couldn’t be what she thought it was, but she held up her hand and stopped me.
“It’s okay, Hayes,” she said softly.
“We’ll be back tomorrow morning,” I said, trying to reassure her but I wasn’t sure of what. She’d basically just told me she trusted me with her daughter, but for some reason that wasn’t enough. I wanted to prove to her that I was best for McKenzie. That no one could love her the way I did. In that moment, something inside me snapped and no matter what happened next, I wasn’t going to let her mother think any less of our relationship. “Look, I love her, Mrs. Harris. I’ve loved her for a long time. This isn’t something either of us fell into lightly, and she was never unfaithful to Cory.”
She reached her hand out to me again, but this time leaving it there, gently rubbing mine. “Sweetie, I know you and I know my daughter. Neither of you would do anything to hurt people you care about. If you love her like I think you do, then you want her to be as happy as I do, and she’s happiest with you.”
“You can’t tell my mother.”
She slowly pulled her hand away. “I agree that right now is not the best time for your mom to hear about the two of you, but when she does find out, it shouldn’t be from me. You should be the one to explain to her how you feel about McKenzie, but not until she’s mentally well enough to think clearly about what this all means.”
“So you won’t tell her?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think it’s best for her right now.”
I let out a huge sigh of relief. Not only was it a relief to hear that she wouldn’t tell my mother, but the feeling of weight lifting off my shoulders, the release of tension now that somebody knew about us, was incredible.
“Thank you,” I said, and it might have been the most sincere thing I’d said to anyone. I was thankful for her compassion and her understanding, for not judging us or trying to convince us that what we were doing was wrong. “Your support means the world to me.”
“Just take care of my girl. Be good for her.”
I nodded. It was all I could do.
Ten minutes later I was knocking on Kenzie’s bedroom door, both anxious about the night away from my mom, but also elated to have some sort of stamp of approval from her mother. Her bedroom door opened and I watched the surprise sweep over her face as I moved into her room, forcing her to step back.
“Hayes,” she managed, but that was all she got out before I pulled her into me and then spun around to press her back against the door.
“Pack a bag,” I said, my eyes meeting hers, my hands coming to rest on her waist. “You’re coming with me to Bellingham.” Her eyes went wide. “My meeting is tonight. Soon, actually, so we need to get a move on. But your mom suggested you come with me.”
“My mom?” she was just as shocked as I had been at the suggestion.
“She knows,” I whispered, moving my face into her neck, trying to breathe in the scent of her. “She figured it out and she’s all right with it.”
“She knows?”
I nodded my head, my nose moving along the skin of her neck, and I could feel her shiver slightly against me from the touch.