Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

RYDER

T he next week, I spent almost every evening with Violet, even if it was only a walk through the neighborhood when we stopped to talk to George. If he thought it was odd I was spending so much time with Violet, he didn't mention it.

Without Faith in the house, we'd had sex on the couch, the kitchen counter, and in the shower. We had to be careful when Faith was home. It was like we were making up for lost time when she wasn't. There was an urgency to our coming together, almost as if we knew it couldn't last.

Violet fit into my life in a way I never thought a woman would. She respected my job, never complaining when I said I was working late, and didn't ask for more details than I could give. She accepted that I couldn't talk about it.

Any time I had to work late, I sent her something: a text, a meal, or flowers. I hoped she didn't see it as an apology because it was my way of taking care of her.

Faith asked about Violet when we had our nightly talks on the phone. She seemed pleased that I was hanging out with her, which I took as a good sign.

On Saturday, I couldn't wait to take Faith to the festival. Violet left early to set up, but I was taking my time this morning. We made waffles, topping them with ice cream and sprinkles. Something I never thought I'd enjoy.

But Faith's delight was the only encouragement I needed. I was out of my routine now that I was seeing Violet so much. I needed to get back to my daily runs and eating healthy.

But I couldn't bring myself to feel bad about the departure from my usual routine because I was happy. I couldn't remember back to how I felt at the beginning of my relationship with Stacy, but I didn't think it was this amazing.

It felt good to get back to what made me feel good.

I cleaned up the kitchen while Faith ran upstairs to get ready for a day at the farm. I never thought I'd look forward to something so much. I liked when Violet and Faith were at my family's farm. Especially after not being able to visit often, unable to share it with the people who were important to me.

Stacy wanted nothing to do with the farm, but Violet was part of the festival.

It was part of Charlotte's plan to increase awareness of the farm. The Monroes had upped their marketing for the past few years, so I wasn't expecting miracles. But any uptick in profit would please Dad and the others. Maybe not Teddy. He was going to look for any reason to say we shouldn't have hired Charlotte.

But I liked her already. I loved that she was using the charm of the farm to bring in more customers. She was building a brand for the family business. I couldn't find fault with it. But the results would tell the real story.

When Faith jogged down the stairs a few minutes later, I was just finishing wiping the counters. I threw the dishcloth in the laundry room and washed my hands.

"Are you ready to go?"

Faith nodded, earbuds in her fingers.

"Let's keep those here today, okay? I want to talk to you in the car." I didn't have anything in particular to talk to her about.

Her nose scrunched up, and I waited for the eyeroll or the complaint, but instead, she said, "Fine."

She placed the earbuds on the counter, and I put my hands on her shoulders to steer her to the front door. "I'm looking forward to the festival."

"Is Santa going to be there?" Faith asked as she got on her coat.

"I know Charlotte wanted to do pictures, but I'm not sure she was able to find someone to play Santa." Thanks to Stacy not wanting to lie to our kid, Faith knew that Santa wasn't real. I hated that she'd done that. I got that she didn't want to lie to her, but then Faith had missed out on the magic of it all. If I had other kids, I vowed to lie to them about Santa for as long as I could.

In the truck, I glanced back at Faith, and she looked worried about something; her forehead was wrinkled.

"What's up?"

"I don't know anyone at the festival."

"I'm sorry about that. But you'll have your family." She'd have Izzy but she was a bit younger than her. Maybe she was looking for someone her own age.

"Is it possible for me to go to school here?" Faith asked hopefully.

I shook my head. "Mom and I thought it was best for you to stay in your childhood home and go to the same school. We didn't want you to have to find new friends and deal with another transition." That's not exactly how it had gone down. Stacy assumed Faith would stay with her. She hadn't even anticipated I wouldn't agree.

Any good parent would want to minimize the transition in a divorce, but I wasn't sure what to do in this situation. Hopefully, it was a passing thing.

Faith pouted. "Why do you decide everything?"

"We're your parents. We make the adult decisions." Although I'd mention it to Stacy, I didn't expect she'd be open to the idea of Faith living with me.

Or maybe she would. I never thought she'd discourage me from seeing my family or ask for a divorce, but she had. "I'll talk to your mom about it."

"Yeah?" Faith asked.

"She should know that you're unhappy."

"I don't like going back and forth, and Mom's going to move in with Phil and his kids."

I frowned. "She said that?"

Faith nodded. "She asked me how I felt about it."

My jaw tightened. "What did you tell her?"

"That I wanted to stay in our home or move with you. I don't want three brothers."

It would be a big adjustment for a single child, and it was quick. We'd talked about keeping her life the same for as long as possible. This wasn't what we'd discussed. Maybe Stacy was just feeling out how she felt about it, and it wasn't an immediate thing.

"We're already spending the weekends over there."

"Why isn't Phil moving into your house?" I asked , hating that I was even having this discussion with her. I'd prefer if I could just not know what was going on with Stacy but it involved my daughter.

Faith let out a sigh. "Phil's house is bigger. He has four bedrooms."

And with four kids that would make more sense.

Her lips twisted. "I'm not sharing a room with any of those boys."

"You shouldn't have to." The boys should share.

"What if Mom has another baby?"

"Are they talking about that?" I looked at her in the rearview.

Her expression was pensive. "They asked us if we'd want another little sister or brother."

I raised a brow. "Do you?"

"Not now. Everything is changing."

A boyfriend with three kids. If that's who Stacy wanted, it shouldn't matter. But I would think she would take things slower to ease the transition. It sounded like she was moving full speed ahead, irrespective of her daughter's concerns. "I'll talk to your mom." My standard answer for everything these days. "Try not to worry about it and enjoy the festival."

"Okay." But talking about the situation had put her in a sullen mood. I didn't want to blame Stacy, but it was her fault.

We got into a line of cars pulling into the farm, and I was pleased to see how many people were here.

Faith gazed out the window. "Wow. It's busy."

I whistled at the number of cars parked in the field. "Charlotte must have done a great job with marketing."

"I think people want to do holiday stuff, and this is new."

I met her gaze in the rearview. "I think you're right."

She smiled, pleased that I'd agreed with her observation.

I wanted to make her forget all of the stuff that was happening at home, and to just enjoy her time here.

"I want to do these kinds of things with Mom. Just her, not Phil and his kids," Faith said.

"You don't get to do things like this?" I asked her, curious about her time with Stacy.

"She works and hangs out with her friends or Phil afterward."

"She leaves you at home alone?" She could be left at home alone, but I didn't like it if Stacy wasn't spending any time with Faith.

Faith shrugged. "I'm old enough."

"That doesn't mean you should have to." Especially if it was just so Stacy could go out. It was starting to sound like Faith wasn't her priority. Stacy was acting like she was a single woman with no responsibilities. She wanted Phil, and she didn't care about the four kids who were involved.

I parked in a line of vans, trucks, and SUVs. Then we followed groups of families headed toward the barn where the festival would be.

"This is going to be so much fun," Faith said when she saw the sign for the festival that read "The Calloways Welcome You to Pine Valley Farm," bookended with two wreaths.

Charlotte was handing out raffle tickets with Daphne and Fiona at the entrance. Then there were two rows of tables with vendors selling their wares: wreaths, poinsettias in hand-painted pots, wooden Christmas decorations, deer and Santas, Daphne's pies where Cole was manning the table, and other baked goods.

"This is bigger than I thought it would be," Faith said.

By the barn, a stage was set up, and a band was warming up to play, and there were food trucks on the other side with picnic tables and hay bales arranged for people to sit and eat.

"Charlotte went all-out." I searched the grounds for Teddy but didn't see him. A sign that said Santa Coming Soon pointed inside the barn.

"Do you think Uncle Teddy is playing Santa?" Faith asked in a hushed tone of a voice, as if she understood how crazy that would be.

I chuckled. "If anyone could get him to do it, it would be Charlotte."

Faith smiled. "I'll have to get a picture."

I threw an arm over her shoulder, pleased she didn't pull away. "I don't think Uncle Teddy will like that."

Faith snorted. "But it will be so funny."

I tipped my head to the sky, not looking forward to the fallout if everyone made fun of Teddy playing Santa, and when my gaze dropped back to earth, it settled on Violet, who was watching us.

Faith squealed. "It's Violet."

She ran to her table, and I followed at a slower pace. Violet kept my gaze for a second before moving to Faith.

I was surprised when Faith hugged her, and whatever Violet said made her laugh. It was early, so Violet didn't have any customers yet. "What are you two giggling about?"

"Uncle Teddy is playing Santa today. He's supposed to be getting dressed." A crowd was already forming at the barn, even though the sign said Coming Soon.

I groaned. "Everyone's going to hear about this."

Violet shrugged, but she couldn't contain her amused smile. "I think he'll make a great Santa."

"A grumpy one," Faith added, and they erupted into giggles again.

There was something about Faith being so at ease with Violet and them enjoying each other's company that I loved. I had a feeling Phil wasn't like this with Faith, and it could have been his three boys, but I wasn't so sure about that.

Most of the crowd was spending time by the holiday-decor and baked goods tables. "You think you'll get any customers?"

"I hope so. I brought peppermint stick, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and vanilla. I told my assistant to come a little later."

"I can always help out if you need it."

"Don't you need to help your family?" Violet asked.

"Dad said not to worry about it. They had it handled." He knew how much I wanted to relax and spend time with Faith without always working.

"Izzy just went into the barn with Cole if you want to hang out with her," Violet suggested, and Faith took off without looking back.

"I hope that was okay,"

"She loves Izzy. I was a little worried on the way over because she mentioned not having any friends here."

"She has family."

"It's not the same. She's so patient with Izzy, but they're not the same age, and that stuff is going to matter soon."

"They'll be no pleasing her then. Just hang on for the ride," Violet said.

I hoped she'd be on that ride with me once things were more settled with Stacy. Maybe Faith would be living with me.

My phone buzzed. "It's Stacy. I have to take this."

"Of course," Violet said as I walked away for privacy.

"We're at the holiday festival. It's even bigger than I imagined."

There was a beat of silence. Then Stacy said, "That's great. I wanted to talk to you about something."

I tensed.

She knew I was looking forward to spending this weekend with Faith. There were times we could talk about parenting, but why did it have to be now?

"I'm concerned about Faith."

I let out a breath. "I am too."

Stacy continued without inquiring as to why. "I talked to her about moving in with Phil, but she doesn't want to."

"Isn't it a little soon?" I asked even as I braced for her reaction.

"I don't need your opinion on my relationship," Stacy snapped.

I cleared my throat but forced myself not to answer.

"Anyway, I was hoping you could talk to her."

"Talk to her about what?" I asked, scanning the crowd which was growing bigger by the minute.

Stacy sighed. "You never listen to me. Talk to her about us moving in with Phil."

I chuckled without any humor. "Yeah, no. This is your decision, and you can deal with the fallout."

"I thought we agreed to coparent."

"You were dating Phil as soon as you mentioned a separation."

"Are you accusing me of cheating on you?"

I held up a hand even though she couldn't see me. "What I'm saying is that this whole thing with Phil feels quick."

"Aren't you dating that ice-cream scooper?" Stacy asked with a sneer in her tone.

I ran a hand through my hair. "Violet owns the shop."

"Whatever. I don't care. I need Faith to be on board with this because it's happening whether she likes it or not."

"She's not a petulant child. She needs you to consider her feelings."

"She's a child. These are adult decisions that don't concern her."

"If Faith wasn't okay with me dating Violet, I wouldn't be. She comes first."

"I'm not going to let a child dictate my choices." That was the problem. She didn't consider anyone else when she made decisions. Why hadn't I seen how selfish she was earlier?

"This is your daughter. You're risking her thinking that her thoughts and feelings don't matter. I'm not saying she dictates our decisions but that you take her feelings into consideration. If she needs more time, then give it to her."

"If she had her way, she'd never move."

"We promised her she could stay in her childhood home when you told her about the separation."

"Things change. People change."

"They do," I said, thinking of how I never thought any of this would happen. I lifted my gaze, watching Violet talk to a little girl. She'd come around the cart and squatted in front of her. Violet was smiling, and the little girl was nodding. What would it be like to have another child, one with Violet's brown hair and blue eyes?

"Ryder? Are you listening?"

I refocused on the phone call. "Sorry, I missed that."

Stacy sighed into my ear, and I wanted to be standing next to Violet, listening to the conversation she was having. But then I remembered I'd promised Faith I'd talk to her mother about moving. "Faith asked me to talk to you about moving in with me. She wants to make friends here, and she likes being near my family."

Stacy made a disgusted noise. "She has my mom and dad here."

"Your mom and dad don't know anything about kids. They don't play with her or go to her activities. It's all about them." Why hadn't I seen it before? Stacy was the same.

"And your family does?"

I looked up to see Wes and Jameson talking to Izzy and Faith. Jameson moved to touch Izzy's shoulder, and she took off like it was a game of tag. Jameson chased her, pretending to reach for her but letting her dodge away. Warmth flooded my chest. "Yeah. They do."

"Whatever. I've got to go."

"What about what Faith said?"

"She's a kid, and we agreed it was best for her to stay with me."

"That was when you were staying in the family home. Now you're moving in with Phil. That's not what we agreed to."

"I don't tell you who to date."

"I'm not telling you who to date. I'm asking you to consider your daughter and slow things down."

"We're not married anymore, Ryder."

Thank God for that. I was so much happier, and I saw things much more clearly now. I saw Stacy for who she was. A selfish person who was more concerned with her happiness than anyone around her.

"We already agreed on custody."

"We haven't signed the final paperwork yet." My nerves kicked up. Was I prepared for a fight? I was hoping to keep things civil.

"We'll talk about this later." Then she clicked off.

I lowered the phone, my gaze moving from Faith, who was chasing Wes around the field, to where Violet was talking animatedly with a mom and her son, handing them a cone.

Had I just blown everything up? Was I pushing Stacy too hard? I wasn't prepared for a long custody battle. I didn't have the money for it, and I didn't want to put Faith through something like that. I hoped I hadn't gone too far with Stacy.