Chapter 4 The first step

The next few days passed in a strange blur.

Amelia did everything she could to avoid walking past the construction site on Main Street - the one Noah had been working on. But in Willow Creek, even trying to keep your distance felt like chasing your shadow. The town was too small, too curious, too filled with familiar faces who remembered too much.

Word had already started to spread.

Amelia had overheard two older women whispering in the grocery store.

"Back after all these years... and with a child."

"You think it's his?"

"She left him, didn't she? Poor Noah..."

Every whisper stung.

But none of it mattered compared to what really weighed on her.

Liam deserved a father.

And Noah - he deserved to know his son.

So she made the call.

---

He came by the next morning, just after ten.

Amelia had spent an hour straightening the living room, fixing her hair, second-guessing every decision from Liam's outfit to her own.

When the doorbell rang, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Liam was sitting on the floor, carefully arranging a lineup of plastic dinosaurs.

Amelia opened the door - and there he was.

Noah looked uncertain, hands shoved deep in his pockets, shoulders stiff under a soft blue T-shirt. His hair was damp, like he'd just showered, but his eyes were shadowed. Like he hadn't slept.

"Hey," she said, a little breathless.

"Hey."

"You want to come in?"

He hesitated - then nodded.

Liam looked up as Noah stepped inside. "Hey! It's you!"

Noah's mouth twitched. "Yep. Me again."

"Mommy said you could come hang out," Liam said brightly. "You wanna see my stegosaurus? He's got spikes!"

Noah knelt down beside him slowly. "I'd love to."

Amelia stood back and watched, nerves tangled in her chest like knotted thread.

For the next half hour, Noah let Liam chatter about dinosaurs, outer space, and why broccoli was "probably the worst idea ever invented." He didn't flinch when Liam asked questions or correct him awkwardly - he just listened. Genuinely.

And Liam, completely unaware of how monumental the moment was, basked in the attention.

After a while, Amelia offered drinks. She brought Noah a glass of iced tea, their fingers brushing again as he took it.

"Thanks," he said softly, eyes lingering.

She didn't know what to say, so she nodded, returning to the kitchen.

She watched from the doorway as Liam climbed into his lap, handing him a coloring book.

He let him. Just like that.

God, she thought, he's already letting him in.

It was beautiful. And terrifying.

---

Later that afternoon, Amelia stood by the porch steps, watching Liam and Noah throw a rubber football across the tiny yard.

Liam's laughter rang out, full and unburdened.

Noah was smiling now, not a forced one - a real one. And every time he caught the ball and tossed it back, something shifted in him. Like he was letting himself hope.

Eventually, Liam got tired and ran inside for juice.

Noah joined Amelia on the porch, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Thanks for letting me come," he said, voice low.

She nodded. "Thanks for showing up."

He looked out over the lawn.

"He's amazing."

"He is."

"I missed everything," Noah said quietly. "And I know that's on you, not me, but... it still hurts."

"I know," she said, throat thick. "I live with it every day."

He turned to her. "I want to be in his life, Amelia. Fully. Not just playdates. Not just visits. I want him to know me."

She bit her lip. "And if he asks who you are?"

"I want you to tell him the truth."

"I will," she whispered. "Just... let me ease him into it."

"I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Not this time."

And the way he said it - quiet but sure - made her chest ache.

---

That weekend, the Willow Creek Summer Festival opened its gates, just like it had every year since Amelia was a girl.

Liam begged to go - and to Amelia's surprise, he asked if "the nice man with the football" could come too.

She hesitated.

But Noah had given her space. Hadn't pushed. Hadn't called again.

So she texted him.

And he said yes.

---

The festival was chaos and nostalgia all rolled into one - smells of fried dough and kettle corn, children running between hay bales and booths, music from the bandstand filling the air.

Amelia held Liam's hand as they met Noah by the ticket booth.

He looked good - dark jeans, a faded baseball cap, and a simple T-shirt that stretched over broad shoulders.

But it was the softness in his expression when he looked at Liam that made her heart trip.

They walked through the fair together - three people who looked almost like a family, but not quite.

Liam dragged them from game to game, proudly winning a neon green stuffed frog and insisting Noah carry it.

Amelia laughed more than she had in months. So did Noah.

They shared a funnel cake.

Took silly pictures in the photo booth.

Liam made faces the whole time.

For a while, it felt easy. Almost like the years hadn't passed. Like there were no regrets, no secrets. Just sunshine and laughter and something dangerously close to happiness.

But the illusion couldn't hold forever.

It cracked when an older woman passed by and stopped in her tracks.

"Well, I'll be," she said. "Noah Bennett. And Amelia Clarke, together again? With a child, no less."

Amelia's stomach dropped.

Noah's jaw tensed.

"Oh, he looks just like you," the woman cooed, peering at Liam. "Isn't that something."

Amelia forced a tight smile. "Hi, Mrs. Downing."

Noah slid a protective hand across Liam's back.

The woman bustled on, but the air around them had changed.

"I forgot what this town's like," Amelia muttered.

Noah glanced at her. "We'll get used to it."

She nodded - but something inside her wavered.

Later, as the sun dipped and the lights of the carousel lit the evening sky, Liam begged for one last ride.

Noah lifted him up, settling him onto a painted white horse.

Amelia stood beside them, arms folded, watching.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"For what?"

"For this. For today. For being... good with him."

"I'll keep showing up," Noah said, his eyes meeting hers. "As long as you'll let me."

She nodded, heart pounding.

"I think I want you to."

He stared at her for a moment, searching.

And for the briefest second, she saw it - the old Noah, the boy she'd loved, the man he'd become.

Before she could speak again, Liam shouted, "Look, Mommy! I'm flying!"

And he was.

And for the first time in a long, long time, Amelia felt like maybe... she could, too.

---