When your mother-in-law offers to help with nighttime baby duty, you say yes without thinking twice. Especially when you haven’t slept more than three hours straight in months. But sometimes, the help you think you need becomes the nightmare you never saw coming.
I still remember the exact moment I met Evan.
It was at my best friend Linda’s backyard cookout, and I’d been dreading it all week. Linda had this annoying habit of trying to set me up with every single guy she knew.
“You’ll love him, Jess,” she’d said earlier that day, waving a spatula at me. “He’s quiet, but in a good way.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Linda, please tell me you didn’t invite someone specifically for me.”
“Maybe,” she grinned. “But just talk to him, okay?”
When I got there, the usual chaos was in full swing. Linda’s husband, Tom, was holding court by the grill, telling some story that had everyone laughing.
Kids were running around the yard with sticky fingers, and the adults were clustered in their usual groups. I scanned the crowd half-heartedly, already rehearsing excuses to leave early.
That’s when I spotted him.
Evan was sitting off to the side on Linda’s patio steps, looking perfectly content to watch the madness unfold. He had this calm energy that seemed to create a little bubble of peace around him.
When our eyes met, he smiled and patted the step beside him.
“You must be Jessica,” he said as I walked over. “Linda’s told me a lot about you.”
“All good things, I hope,” I replied, settling down next to him with my paper plate.
“She mentioned you’re a graphic designer. That must be interesting work.”
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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