Peony turns to Athena. “Nina.” She scrambles onto Athena’s lap and is instantly engulfed in her arms.
“I’m sorry,” Athena coos. “I knew you weren’t ready yet.” She doesn’t look at me when she says it, but I don’t miss the tiny bite to her tone that’s clearly meant for me. “But you did good, little one.”
“She’s meeting with a play therapist next week,” I casually informAthena. “I’m hoping the therapist will have suggestions on how to make her comfortable with my father and brothers.” Since today didn’t go as I had hoped.
Athena frowns, and the flare of anger in her eyes from earlier returns. Peony doesn’t notice it. Her attention is on the dogs again. “What do you mean she’s meeting with a play therapist?”
I shrug. I should have probably given her a heads-up sooner, but Athena is Peony’s nanny. She’s not her mother. It isn’t something I needed to discuss with her.
My family—Lucas and Simone—were the ones I turned to for help. They are the ones who gave me the list of names. They were instrumental in me getting Peony the help she desperately needs.
“She’s too young to see a regular therapist,” I explain. “She doesn’t have the communication skills yet for that. But I thought with everything she’s dealing with, what with the loss of her mother and the nightmares, she might benefit from play therapy.”
The anger in Athena’s eyes twists and reshapes into hurt. “You could have mentioned it before booking it.” Hurt might glare coldly at me, but that’s not the emotion laying fire to her tone. It scorches with frustration and worry and the irate stomp of her foot.
I stare at her for a beat, a frown creasing my brow. “Didn’t realize I needed your approval. She is my daughter after all.” I raise an eyebrow in emphasis.
“I didn’t say you needed my approval. But a heads-up would have been nice.”
“A heads-up? A heads-up for what, exactly?”
She tightens her hold on Peony as if afraid I’m going to rip my daughter from her arms. As if protecting Peony from me…and my plans.
Peony squirms, her attention on the two girls and Jasper.
“Sorry,” Athena murmurs and loosens her grip. “I…I just want to know…that’s all.” Accusation burns in her tone, but all the steam behind it has fizzled.
My own anger at the situation snaps and crackles under my skin, but for Peony’s sake, I let Athena’s comments and attitude slide. I don’t bother to remind her that I did let her know about the play therapy…a few moments ago. I could have waited until after Peony and I returned home from the appointment.
“So when exactly is it?”
“A week today. The therapist is in Portland, so I’ll be taking the afternoon off for it.”
“Is…is Zara going with you?”
The emotion in her tone, prickly with thorns, sets me on edge. “No, she’s busy with the café expansion.” Not to mention the drive would be hard on her. I keep my voice even, void of any emotion that indicates my irritation.
The jaggedness smooths from Athena’s expression, and a smile curves on her mouth. “That’s good. That you’re taking Peony to see someone. Can…can I go with you? In case I have questions for the therapist?”
I frown at her sudden shift in attitude, unsure why it makes me feel more unsettled than it should, but I still nod in reply. Why the sudden pivot when she found out Zara wouldn’t be coming with Peony and me?
I brush the question aside. The abrupt change doesn’t matter. What matters is Peony, and how therapy could make a big difference in her healing after the loss of her mother.
37
ZARA
I openthe front door to Garrett’s house. Peony’s delighted giggles greet me, the sound coming from the living room. I slip off my shoes and walk toward the back of the house, carrying my yoga mat with me.
Garrett is sitting on the couch with Peony on his lap, a board book open in his hand. “‘Where is my shoe?’ Lucy Mouse squeaks.” Garrett says the dialogue in an adorable, high-pitched voice that has Peony giggling again.
Damn.The two of them together are too cute for words.
I lean the yoga mat against the couch and sit next to Garrett, close enough that our shoulders almost touch. Garrett tosses me a quick smile without missing a beat and continues reading the story.
This is the life I once dreamed of. A life with Garrett as my husband, reading to our children. But then I discovered he and Kenda were secretly hooking up and had inadvertently fallen in love, and the dream ruptured, its spiraling death long and painful.
And now here I am, the dream almost reality.
