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Chapter 75; A second chance weekend
publish date:
2026-05-07 22:24:56
Latest chapter
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 200; Lasting Peace
The beach house had stopped feeling new.By the time the last box was broken down and carried to the recycling bin, the rooms had already taken on the shape of the people who lived in them. Emily’s door stayed half-closed most afternoons, music leaking out along with the sound of her laughing into her phone. Amie’s shelves held a careful mess of books and stuffed animals and the smooth stones she brought up from the beach. James’s room still smelled faintly of the pale paint they had chosen together, his crib already feeling smaller than it should. The kitchen collected coffee mugs and school notices and the small plastic cups Amie insisted on using. The wide windows kept the ocean in every room, a constant low presence that made the whole house feel like it was breathing.On a clear Saturday morning, Bella stood at the deck railing with a mug of coffee cooling in her hands and watched the three of them on the sand below. Emily walked ahead with her long teenage stride, phone in one ha
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 199; The house by the water
AlexI stood in the empty living room of the beach house and listened to the ocean.Two weeks had passed since the morning I realized I was no longer the same man who had once kept everything carefully contained. The years had changed me in ways I still sometimes struggled to name. I had been the steady one, the careful one, the man who built a company and raised a daughter and kept his feelings locked down because that was what survival looked like. Then Bella had walked back into my life, and every wall I had built had cracked open whether I wanted it to or not.I thought about the early days after she returned to Seattle the way I had tried to keep distance and failed. The night in the cabin when the storm and the wine and the truth had finally broken through. The months of secret meetings and quiet fear. The parking lot when she told me she was pregnant and I said the wrong things because terror had made me stupid. The long stretch of silence after she left. The drinking. The guilt
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 198; The quiet ones
BellaA year passed by fast. So fast I didn't even have enough time to really take note of the changes around our house until I did. It happened gradually. One ordinary morning I looked up from the coffee pot and realized the baby who had once fit in the crook of my arm was now a sturdy one-year-old with sticky fingers and a loud, delighted laugh. Amie was way over a year now, tall enough to reach the lower shelves and stubborn enough to argue with entire sentences. Emily had turned fourteen and suddenly seemed taller than I remembered, her legs longer, her voice lower, her attention pulled in a dozen new directions at once.We celebrated James’s birthday the way we had decided we would celebrate most things from now on quietly and only with the people who lived under our roof. No extended family. No friends. Just the four of us at the kitchen table with a small chocolate cake and one fat candle. Amie insisted on helping blow it out. James laughed so hard he tipped sideways in his hig
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 197; Choosing us
BellaThe weekend arrived with a soft sense of intention. I woke early, the house still quiet, and sat for a moment on the edge of the bed watching Alex sleep. His face looked peaceful, younger in the morning light.For weeks, my days had been filled with the children feeding schedules, tantrums that had finally softened, school drop-offs, laundry, and the constant mental list of needs. Somewhere in the middle of becoming the mother of three, I had started to notice the quiet distance growing between us. Not anger. Not resentment. Just the slow, almost invisible way a marriage can drift when one person is always managing everything else.I thought about the stories Alex had once told me, carefully, about the months after Emily was born. How Lauren had been consumed by new motherhood and how he had felt like a visitor in his own home. He had never said it with bitterness, only with a quiet sadness that still sat in his voice years later. I never wanted that for us. Before I was a mothe
Loving my fathers best friend Chaoter 196; Quiet strength
BellaMorning light filtered softly through the curtains when I woke up, the house still quiet in that brief window before the children stirred. I stretched carefully, feeling the familiar pull of my body after months of recovery, and for the first time in a long while the heaviness that used to settle in my chest was absent. Instead there was a steady calm. I could do this. Today I would handle everything alone, and the thought no longer made me anxious.James was the first to wake, his soft coos turning into determined cries from the nursery. I walked in, lifted him from the crib, and settled into the rocking chair. Feeding him felt natural now no frantic checking of the clock, no second-guessing whether I was doing it right. His dark eyes looked up at me with complete trust, and I smiled down at him, stroking his soft hair. When he finished, I changed him, dressed him in a little blue onesie, and carried him downstairs.Amie was already awake by the time I reached the living room,
Loving my fathers best friend Chaoter 195; Little steps
BellaThe weeks after James came home were a whirlwind of emotions, but the most challenging part was watching Amie adjust to her new brother. It had been about a month since we returned from the hospital, and while the house was full of love, it was also full of adjustment. Amie’s tantrums had been the hardest thing to witness. James arrival had turned her clinginess into something more intense fear, jealousy, and confusion all rolled into one.But I was determined to ensure that it all changed. It started with Mom’s advice. She suggested simple techniques to help both Amie and James feel secure. “Include her in everything,” she said during one of her visits. “Let her feel like she’s part of caring for him. But also give her special time with just you.”I took her words to heart. The first few days were the hardest. I would sit on the couch with James in my arms for feeding, and Amie would immediately crawl over, trying to push him away or climb into my lap. Her cries were heart-wre
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 5; The line we almost crossed.
BELLAThe office lights dimmed automatically after eight. Most people had gone home hours ago, laughing about happy hour plans, complaining about traffic, wishing each other good weekends even though it was only Thursday. But Alex and I were still here.The Thompson campaign deadline loomed like
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 4; Too close Too soon
BELLAMonday morning came faster than I wanted.I stood in front of the mirror in my old bedroom, smoothing the front of my charcoal pencil skirt for the third time. The white blouse was crisp, fitted just enough to feel professional without crossing into dangerous territory. I’d left the top but
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 3; The hug that lingered.
BELLAThe barbecue was in full swing now. Smoke curled up from the grill in lazy spirals, kids shrieked as they ran through the sprinkler, and someone had cranked the music just loud enough that conversations had to lean in close. I’d already eaten half a burger and two helpings of Mom’s potato s
Loving my fathers best friend Chapter 2; That first look
BELLAThe backyard smelled like charcoal smoke, grilled burgers, and sunscreen. Laughter floated over the music of some old jazz playlist my dad loved and kids chased each other around the patio furniture. I stood on the deck steps for a second, taking it all in, my navy dress fluttering against
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