When 20-year-old Kara Bennett moves to Boston to escape her post-high school drama with her daughter, she didn't expect to fall straight into it in the form of Austin Mayer.
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All Kara Bennett...
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MONTHS SLIP AWAY INTO A MOMENT IN TIME, YET SECONDS STRETCH INTO CENTURIES.
So many things happened in the last two months, but at the same time, nothing happened at all. I was living the Hannah Montana life, being the happy mother, sister, and friend pretending that everything was perfect. Nights, though, were filled with nightmares, worries, and no messages from Austin Mayer.
They say time heals all the wounds, but I didn't know where I exactly bled. A part of me believed he made up his mind, chose Mila over me, and left the shit out of this town. He chose not to confront me. It was something he would do—or wouldn't. As days passed and blurred into months, I couldn't be sure about that. It was something time did — it put doubts into your mind and shook it like a mixer that you were never at the beginning point. I struggled to guess what Austin would do. Because there was another part of me, the optimistic, head-over-heels-with-him that could never believe that he would betray me like that.
Wherever the hell you are, Austin Mayer, if you plan to come back, you'd better have a solid explanation.
My life changed completely.
Lucas first earned my trust, we became friends, then he was ready to meet Sophie. Fifteen days after our first conversation with him, he met his daughter. I was nervous about how Sophie would take it, or if I should have introduced him as a friend first. But I knew that being upfront about who Lucas was would be better and easier for both of them.
Sophie's eyes were stuck in my mind even now. Though she was so little, her eyes lit up with the mention of her father. She smiled at Lucas, said hi, shook his hand with her little hand, and let him hug her when he asked. She had no idea what a father meant, or what change it would make in her life, but she was happy. And automatically her happiness rubbed on me.
Lucas was the guy — and the father — he said he was. He cared about Sophie and did his best to understand her, get along, and spend time with her. Watching them hanging out did funny things to my heart.
Lucas said we should make a tradition. He read in a psychology book that making family traditions tighten the bounds, and it was a great idea. Thus, we marked Tuesday evenings as pizza nights.
This was our second pizza night, and I was the host. This time, it was special, too because Lucas was going to bring his long-term girlfriend along. He said he wasn't sure if it was a good idea because he didn't want to damage the parent image in Sophie's mind, but I insisted he should introduce her to us.
Lucas and I were never going to be a couple, but we were always going to be Sophie's parents, supporting her. I wanted Sophie to grow up knowing she had two parents who loved her immensely but were not involved romantically. It was natural for Lucas to have a girlfriend or a wife, just like I would have one. If she grew up accepting that, it would be healthy.
