GARRETT
I spendthe next few hours reading to Zara and watching a sappy movie with her. I ignored her initial protests, telling me I needed to leave so I can spend time with Peony or work on my book. Eventually, she gave up trying to figuratively push me out the door.
She’s right though. I do need to work on my book. It’s a holiday, and in theory, I get to take the day off to spend it with family. To spend it with Peony. But the reality is, I don’t have that luxury right now. Not until the book is finished.
Zara is more than ready for a nap by the time I stand to leave. I cover her with a throw and kiss her forehead. “Text if you need anything.”
She nods on her pillow, her eyelids half-closed. “Okay. And thank you, Garrett. For everything.” Her congested, honeyed voice comes out drowsy.
“Anytime.”
Zara might be napping, but Peony certainly isn’t when I walk into my living room after returning home. Peony is giggling and bouncing on the couch cushions Athena has laid out on the floor.
“Hey, little flower.”
“Daddy!” She practically hurls herself at me.
I catch her and swing her above my head, which elicits another round of giggles.
“You ready to go to Granny and Grandpa’s house?” I blow a raspberry on her cheek. She giggles some more and throws her arms around my neck, her exuberance almost strangling me.
Usually, I would hang out at the Fourth of July celebrations that Maple Ridge throws each year, but I’m skipping it this time. Peony’s play therapist recommended not taking Peony to it, ’cause of the trauma she’s working through. It might be too overwhelming for her.
Athena picks up a couch cushion and returns it where it belongs. She’s quiet, her thoughts clearly somewhere else. And she appears so…fragile. That’s the best way to describe her right now.
Her hand goes to her necklace, and she fiddles with the pendant.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen her like this, but she seemed fine this morning. Her mood shifted when I left Peony with her so I could check on Zara.
If Athena was anyone else, I would assume she was annoyed I ruined her day off by expecting her to look after Peony while I was at Zara’s. But Athena was the one who insisted she didn’t want the day off. That she was happy to look after Peony so everyone else could enjoy the celebrations in town.
I’m guessing the reason she’s acting off is because I went to see Zara. “Zara means a lot to me,” I tell Athena, using the same caution one would use for a wounded animal. “And I’d like it if you two could become friends.”
Athena’s head whips to me, surprise or uncertainty rounding her eyes. As if I had slapped her.
“She’s going to be a major part of Peony’s life,” I remind her. “So?—”
“You’re…you’re marrying her?”
I choke out a laugh. “No. Definitely not.” An image flickers in my head of Zara standing in front of me in a wedding gown last summer, when we were pretending to be bride and groom so Jess could practice taking wedding photos. Just seeing Zara dressed in white, the long slit of her floor-length gown revealing golden flashes of her leg, had my cock threatening to harden in my pants.
I had recited in my head the names of all my favorite hockey players—in reverse alphabetical order—to keep everyone from seeing the effect she had on my body.
“But…but you’re dating her?”
I shake my head, sorry for stepping on this land mine. For suggesting Athena becomes friends with Zara. The last thing Zara and I want is for this new twist in our friendship to go public, for Athena to out us. “We’re not dating.”
Her eyebrows scrunch together. “So you’re just using her for…” She glances at Peony in my arms. “S.E.X?”
“I’m not using her for S.E.X.” Why would she think that I am?
Because she doesn’t know the benefits orgasms have on pain control.
And I’m not about to discuss them with her.
Her frown deepens. “You’re not dating her, and you’re not using her for S.E.X? Then why have you been kissing her?”
“It’s complicated.”
