You haven’t known each other that long. A few months at most. Still new enough that you are learning each other’s coffee orders, still careful with your words, still discovering the quiet parts of each other.

And yet, here you are.

Standing in her living room while Jack lines up his toy cars on the floor, feeling something settle in your chest that you did not expect so soon.

Shauna watches you like she is still figuring out if this is real. Not in a suspicious way. In a hopeful one. Like she is afraid to believe that someone could walk into her life and not walk right back out when they see the whole picture. A kid. A past. A future that is not simple.

You sit on the floor beside Jack. He pushes a red car toward you and looks up.

“Do you wanna race?” he asks.

You smile. “Yeah. I think I can handle that.”

Across the room, Shauna lets out a soft laugh. “Careful,” she says. “He takes racing very seriously.”

“I can tell,” you reply. “I am already nervous.”

Jack grins and counts down. “Three. Two. One. Go.”

For a moment, it feels easy. Normal. Like this is something you have always done.

Later, when Jack is busy drawing at the table, Shauna leans against the counter beside you.

“You are really good with him,” she says quietly.

You shrug. “I like him. He is a cool kid.”

She looks down, then back at you. “You don’t have to try this hard, you know.”

“I am not trying,” you say. “I just wanna be here.”

Her throat tightens, and she nods like she is afraid to say too much.

For six years, she has been on her own. Six years of doing it all. Six years of telling herself she did not need anyone. And now, suddenly, she is learning something new.

That maybe she does not have to do everything by herself forever.

That maybe someone else can love her child without taking anything away from her.

That maybe this, whatever this is, is not too good to be true.

Later that night, when Jack is asleep and the house is quiet, she sits beside you on the couch.

“I never thought I would get used to someone else caring about him,” she admits. “It feels strange. But in a good way.”

You look at her. “You don’t have to get used to it all at once.”

She smiles softly. “I know. I just… I like that I’m not alone anymore.”

You don’t say anything. You just reach for her hand, and she lets you.

And for the first time in a long time, she believes that being a single mother is not the only future she gets.