Small Town, Big Hope

Chapter 3

Christian came barreling through the back door, smelling of sweat, grass, and the outdoors.

But he wasn’t alone.

Trailing closely behind him was a brown-and-white mutt that looked to be about a year old. His ribs were visible beneath his coat, his fur was dirty, and there wasn’t a collar anywhere in sight.

Emma froze with a book still in her hand.

“Christian, where in the world did that dog come from?”

She knew her son well enough to know that very little could pull him away from batting practice once he got started.

“He just jumped over the fence and ran right up to me while I was hitting!” Christian said, barely stopping long enough to catch his breath.

The dog stood beside him, tail wagging cautiously as he looked between Christian and Emma.

Christian crouched and wrapped an arm around the dog’s neck.

“Mom, can we please keep him?”

Emma raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even know where he came from.”

“But look at him.” Christian looked up at her with pleading eyes. “He’s so skinny. What if he doesn’t have anybody?”

Emma sighed.

There it was.

The question she already knew was going to make saying no nearly impossible.

“We can’t just decide he’s ours, Christian. He could belong to someone.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

Emma looked down at the dog again.

He had settled himself beside Christian’s feet as though he had been there his entire life.

She had to admit, for a stray who had apparently wandered into their yard only minutes ago, he seemed remarkably certain he had found exactly where he wanted to be.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Emma said. “We’ll try to find his family first. If no one claims him, and you can prove that you’re responsible enough to take care of him—feeding him, helping with potty training, keeping him clean—then yes, you can keep him.”

Christian’s eyes lit up before she had even finished speaking.

“Yes, Mom! I will! I promise!”

Hearing all the commotion, Luke stepped out of his room, clearly ready to find out what was going on.

Before he could ask, the little brown-and-white dog spotted him and raced across the room, tail wagging wildly.

Luke stopped in his tracks.

The dog immediately pressed against his legs as though they had known each other forever.

Christian hurried over, excited—and maybe just a little jealous that his new friend had taken to Luke so quickly.

“Luke! We finally got a dog!”

Luke looked down at the animal, then back at Christian.

“We got a dog?”

“Well…” Emma interrupted. “Not exactly.”

Christian groaned.

“Remember our deal. We have to make sure he doesn’t belong to someone else first. We can’t keep somebody else’s dog.”

“But if nobody claims him, he’s ours,” Christian reminded her quickly.

Emma smiled. “If nobody claims him and you keep your end of the deal.”

That was all Christian needed to hear.

Within minutes, both boys were sitting on the living room floor making a list of everything they believed their new dog needed.

“A bed,” Christian said.

“Food bowls,” Luke added.

“Toys.”

“A leash.”

“Treats!”

Emma watched as the list grew longer and longer.

They hadn’t even figured out if the dog belonged to them yet, and somehow the boys were already planning his entire life.

She looked down at the scruffy little mutt stretched comfortably between them.

Something told her finding his owner might not be the only difficult part of this arrangement.

Two weeks passed, and still no one came forward to claim the dog the boys had started calling Bandit.

Emma had done everything she could think of. She posted his picture on f*******:, hung fliers around town—old-school, as Kinsley jokingly called it—and even asked around the neighborhood to see if anyone recognized him.

No one did.

By the end of the third week, Emma had to admit what Christian had already decided the day Bandit jumped into their yard.

He was theirs.

True to her word, Emma drove into town and bought him a new collar. She even had a small silver tag engraved with his name on the front and her phone number on the back.

When she fastened it around Bandit’s neck, Christian beamed.

“So he’s really ours now?” he asked.

Emma looked down at Bandit, who was happily wagging his tail as though he had been waiting for someone to make it official.

“He’s really ours.”

Christian threw his arms around the dog’s neck, and even Luke smiled from across the room.

Emma watched the three of them together and felt something warm settle in her chest.

Their little family had come to Hickory Ridge looking for a fresh start.

Somehow, Bandit had found one too.

As the weeks passed, Hickory Ridge slowly began to feel less like the place they had moved to and more like home.

Christian had started baseball and quickly found his place among his new teammates. Luke and Emma settled into a regular routine of visiting the library, where Luke could spend hours exploring the shelves while Emma wandered through the fiction section with a cup of coffee in hand.

And Kinsley wasn’t simply the woman who lived next door anymore.

Somewhere between cups of coffee on the back porch, quick texts throughout the day, rides to baseball practice, and conversations that stretched much longer than either of them intended, she had become Emma’s closest friend.

It had happened so naturally that Emma couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment things had changed. One day Kinsley was the friendly neighbor offering to help her learn her way around Hickory Ridge, and the next she was walking through Emma’s back door without knocking and helping herself to whatever was in the refrigerator.

Emma didn’t mind.

For the first time in years, she had someone she could talk to without carefully thinking about every word before she said it.

Someone who listened.

Someone who made her laugh.

And slowly, without realizing it, Emma was beginning to build a life here.

She wasn’t sure what she would do if she didn’t have Kinsley around.

After baseball practice that evening, Christian barely made it through the front door before asking for Emma’s phone.

“I have to call Dad!”

Emma smiled and handed it over, already knowing there was no point in making him wait.

Christian immediately started a FaceTime call with Jackson, practically bouncing with excitement while the phone rang.

“Dad!” he shouted the second Jackson answered. “I hit a home run tonight!”

Jackson’s face lit up.

“You did? Buddy, that’s awesome!”

Christian grinned so wide Emma thought his cheeks might hurt.

“And my first tournament is coming up soon. Coach said we might play three games in one day!”

Jackson laughed. “Three games? You better start resting that arm now.”

“I’m gonna hit another home run.”

“I bet you are.”

Jackson had always been one of Christian’s biggest fans. He never missed an opportunity to talk baseball with him, throw a ball in the yard, or make Christian feel like every little accomplishment was the biggest thing in the world.

Emma stood a few feet away, pretending to busy herself with putting things away while she listened.

For a moment, it almost felt normal.

Almost.

Then Christian said, “Dad, can you come to my tournament?”

Emma’s hands stilled.

There was a brief pause on the other end of the phone.

“I’m going to try my hardest, buddy.”

Christian’s face brightened all over again.

Emma looked away before either of them could notice the emotion crossing her face.

She wanted Jackson there for Christian.

Of course she did.

She just wasn’t sure she was ready for what it would feel like to see him again.

It had been almost two months since she moved to Hickory Ridge, but the separation was still a tender spot for her.

Most days, she was doing better. She had the boys, work, baseball practices, trips to the library, and Kinsley filling the spaces that once felt unbearably quiet. She had built a routine that kept her moving forward.

But Jackson was different.

Thinking about him still had a way of catching her off guard.

Sometimes it was a song on the radio. Sometimes it was something one of the boys said. Other times, she would reach for her phone to tell him something out of habit before remembering that things weren’t the way they used to be.

She missed him.

Emma hated admitting that, even to herself.

She didn’t miss the fighting or the feeling that she had to carefully choose every word she said. She didn’t miss the tension that had settled over their home toward the end.

But she missed him.

The version of Jackson who used to make her laugh until her stomach hurt. The man who once felt like her safest place. The father who still lit up every time one of his boys called.

And if he came to Christian’s tournament, Emma knew she would have to face something she had managed to avoid for almost two months.

Jackson wasn’t just a chapter of her life she could close and walk away from.

He was still part of their family, and he always would be. No matter what happened between the two of them, he was the father of her boys.

But Emma was beginning to understand that loving the memories they shared didn’t mean she had to keep waiting for the life they once had to come back.

For so long, she had measured everything against Jackson. Every good day made her wonder if she had made the right decision. Every lonely night made her question whether leaving had been a mistake.

But lately, those questions weren’t coming as often.

She was starting to build a life that belonged to her.

There were baseball practices and afternoons at the library. Coffee with Kinsley on the back porch. Bandit stretched across the living room floor as though he had always belonged there. There was laughter in the house again.

And for the first time, Emma was beginning to realize that moving forward didn’t mean forgetting Jackson.

It simply meant she could stop looking backward every time something good happened.

Kinsley came walking through the door without bothering to knock.

“Hey, lady. Please tell me you have popsicles. Josie is craving one, and I do not feel like running to the store right now.”

Emma laughed and pointed toward the kitchen. “Freezer. Bottom drawer. Help yourself.”

At three years old, Josie was a tiny ball of energy with a personality much bigger than she was. She had taken a particular liking to Luke almost immediately, which Emma found endlessly entertaining.

Luke, however, wasn’t quite as convinced about their friendship.

As far as he was concerned, Josie was a baby.

And babies needed other baby friends.

That didn’t seem to bother Josie in the slightest.

She adored him anyway.

Most afternoons, she could be found following Luke from room to room, asking what he was drawing, what game he was playing, or whether she could sit beside him. Luke usually responded with the patience of someone who had accepted that this tiny person apparently intended to be part of his life whether he agreed to it or not.

“She’s been asking for Luke all morning too,” Kinsley said as she made her way toward the freezer.

From his bedroom, Luke called out, “I’m ten!”

Emma bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Kinsley leaned around the corner. “Nobody said you weren’t, sweetheart.”

“She’s three,” Luke called back.

“I’m aware.”

“She needs friends her own age.”

Emma finally lost the battle and laughed.

A few seconds later, Josie came running through the door behind her mother.

“Luuuuuke!”

Luke appeared in the hallway and looked at Emma with an expression that clearly said, See what I mean?

Emma only smiled.

Somehow, without any of them planning it, Kinsley and Josie had become part of their everyday life.

“Is everything okay? You look a little down,” Kinsley asked, studying her friend’s face.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Emma forced a small smile. “Christian just FaceTimed Jackson. It’s still hard hearing his voice sometimes.”

Kinsley’s expression softened.

“It’s okay to be sad, Em. You don’t have to pretend with me.”

Emma looked down at her hands, trying to hold back the emotion that always seemed to find its way to the surface when Jackson was involved.

“Everything is still fresh,” Kinsley continued. “Two months isn’t a long time when you spent years building a life with someone. You’re allowed to miss him and still know leaving was the right decision.”

Emma looked up at her.

Kinsley reached over and squeezed her hand.

“One day, you’re going to realize you went an entire day without thinking about him. Then maybe a couple of days. Eventually, hearing his voice won’t feel like somebody punched you in the chest.”

Emma gave a quiet laugh. “That sounds nice.”

“It’ll happen,” Kinsley said. “But until then, you’ve got me.”

Emma smiled.

“I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Well, for starters, you’d have a lot more popsicles in your freezer.”

Emma laughed, the heaviness in her chest lifting just a little.

Kinsley and Josie stayed for a few hours, with Josie driving Luke insane as usual and Bandit glued to Christian’s side.

By the time they finally headed home, the house had settled into a comfortable quiet.

It wasn’t until much later that Emma noticed she had a text message from Jackson.

She stared at his name on the screen for a moment before opening it.

He wanted to see the boys.

More specifically, he wanted them to finally begin the custody rotation they had agreed on.

Emma felt her stomach tighten.

She knew this was coming. They had discussed it before she ever moved to Hickory Ridge, and she knew Jackson deserved time with his sons just as much as they deserved time with him.

Still, knowing something was coming didn’t necessarily make it easier when it finally arrived.

For nearly two months, the boys had been with her every day. Their new routines had formed around the three of them. Baseball practices, library trips, dinner at the kitchen table, Bandit stretched across the living room floor.

Now she was going to have to pack their bags and watch them leave.

Emma read Jackson’s message again.

He wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable.

He was their father.

A good father.

And she would never stand between him and the boys simply because seeing them leave would hurt her.

But for the first time since moving to Hickory Ridge, Emma realized there was another part of this new life she hadn’t prepared herself for.

Sometimes moving forward meant learning how to let go, even when it was only for a few days at a time.

“Christian has a tournament here next weekend,” Emma replied. “But if you want to come up, there’s a really nice bed-and-breakfast nearby where you could stay with the boys. Or, if that doesn’t work with your schedule, we can figure out a halfway point after the tournament.”

She paused before adding, “He’s been practicing so hard, and I know how much he’s looking forward to playing.”

Emma knew Jackson wouldn’t object to Christian being at the tournament. Baseball had always been important to both of them.

She just wasn’t sure what his work schedule looked like anymore.

That was another strange part of all of this.

There had been a time when she knew exactly where Jackson would be, what project he was working on, and what time he would probably walk through the door.

Now she had to ask.

Jackson replied quicker than Emma expected.

“I can come up there. I’d really like to see him play, and I’d like to see where the boys are living anyway. I’ll look into the bed-and-breakfast or find a hotel in one of the nearby towns.”

Emma stared at the message for a few seconds longer than she needed to.

Of course he wanted to see where the boys were living.

That was reasonable.

Still, the thought of Jackson standing inside her new home made something twist uncomfortably in her chest.

Hickory Ridge had become hers.

It was the place where she had started rebuilding, where the boys were finding their footing, where Kinsley had become family, and where life had slowly begun to feel peaceful again.

Jackson coming here somehow made those two parts of her life feel like they were about to collide.

She typed back a simple response.

“That works. Christian will be excited you’re coming.”

Then she set the phone down before she could overthink it.