CHAPTER TWENTY #2
“Maybe we could move this to a chair?” I gently suggested, urging my nephew to help me pull out two seats. “The pavers are pretty rough on the joints.
Lennox glanced up at me and gave a small smile of thanks as he helped his daughter stand. She kept the blanket tight around her shoulders as the two of them took the patio seats.
“Do you think Kyla will see the photo?” Mabel asked, her voice small as she stared at the ground and used the toe of her running shoe to push around a small cone that had fallen from a nearby tree.
Damon’s eyes met mine, and concern flickered in his gray-blue eyes.
I offered him a meek, crooked smile of reassurance, but he knew me well enough to know that I had a pretty bleak view on humanity and the chances of Kyla seeing that photo were higher than any of us wanted to admit.
If the woman was as insane as Lennox made her out to be, I was sure she was on all the necessary websites and in all the appropriate social media groups to stay informed.
Maybe she even had alerts set up if the names Lennox or Mabel popped up somewhere.
I wasn’t tech savvy enough to know if that was possible, but Damon would.
It was like we had one mind, and my nephew pulled out his phone. His fingers flew across the screen.
The crunch of gravel under Gabrielle’s car tires filled the tense, quiet air for a moment as held my breath.
Did I want to know just how many people had shared, commented and viewed Jolene’s posts?
Damon glanced up at me as I stared at the top of his head in nervous anticipation.
Mabel looked up at him too. “It’s bad, isn’t it?
” she asked. “The posts just keep coming in. People recognizing my dad, saying stuff about us. Have they mentioned …” She swallowed.
“Have they mentioned how I came into existence?”
Damon’s eyes remained on the screen, but he slowly shook his head. “Not that I can see.”
“Yet,” Mabel scoffed, shaking her head and pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
Lennox sucked in a deep breath through his nose and rubbed her back. “Come on, kiddo. I’ll take you home.” He made to stand up and help her up as well, but she stayed seated.
With a frown, she shook her head. “I don’t want to go home yet.”
Lennox gave her a curious look.
“Would you go back to work?” she asked her dad.
“W-well, I kind of have to,” he confessed.
“So then I’d be stuck at home with my anxiety and spiralling thoughts. And that Island Mouth woman on the loose. What if Gabrielle makes her even more mad, and she comes by the house again?”
“Y-you can stay here with me longer if you want to,” Damon said.
She met his eyes and nodded as he stowed his phone in his pocket. Then she turned back to her dad. “I feel safe here. There are more people here to keep that Mouth lady away from me.”
Lennox blinked rapidly a bunch, as if seeing his daughter for the first time. “This is weird coming from someone who doesn’t usually like people.”
Mabel’s smile was small and awkward as she glanced over at me, then Damon. “I like these people.”
I could tell that was the ultimate compliment this child could ever pay a person. Damon knew it too, and his chest puffed up just a little.
“We can go find more birds,” Damon suggested. “I was doing some research the other night, and apparently there is a colony of Rhinoceros Auklets that live below the cliffs over there, and it’s breeding season right now.”
Lennox’s mouth dropped open. So did mine. So did Mabel’s.
Mabel studied her feet for a moment, and her lips twisted in thought. “What are your hobbies?” she asked him, lifting her gaze.
“Mine?” Damon asked, his voice cracking slightly, which only prompted a fresh rush of color to his rosy cheeks.
Her head bobbed. “Maybe we can do something you enjoy, provided I don’t find it dull or annoying.”
“Mabes,” Lennox said in a chastising tone.
My nephew flipped his head to make his hair do that floppy thing before shrugging. “I … I like video games.”
Mabel wrinkled her nose. “Like ones with killing and stuff? Or sports ones?”
“Yeah, both. But … but I have other ones. I’m big into The Sorcerer’s Quest right now. It’s all about making your way through this middle-earth realm, and in order to advance, you have to solve riddles.”
Mabel’s eyes perked up. “I’m very good at riddles.”
Lennox snorted softly.
Excitement filled Damon’s voice. “We could create you your own avatar, then we could start a new quest together. There are lots of different quests. Solo, partner, group. You can meet up with other people online and join their quest.”
“I could be up for a quest and some riddles,” Mabel said. “You’ll teach me how to play?”
I couldn’t remember the last time I saw my nephew smile this big or be this genuinely excited. “Totally,” he said. “It’s super easy once you figure it out. I’m sure you’ll get it faster than I did. And solve the riddles super fast too.”
“Probably,” Mabel said, keeping the blanket around her shoulders and following Damon out of the patio and back toward the house. “Can we go see the Auklets after?”
“Totally,” Damon said, beaming.
I shook my head as I met Lennox’s eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why? It’s not your fault.”
“I know … I just don’t know what else to say.”
He looped his arms around my waist, and I went to him. “I’m just glad you were all here for her. That’s major progress on her part to let someone else apply deep pressure like that. Normally, it’s just me or Dawn. Nobody else.”
“She and Damon are becoming really good friends. I think this new friendship is going to benefit both of them. It brings him out of his shell and the darkness of his bedroom cave, and it’s going to give her someone her own age who she can share things with—like how all of this is making her feel.
Because as much as we want our kids to talk to us about their problems, and we try to remember what it was like to be their age and feel things at the magnitude they’re feeling them, it’s just not the same. ”
“No,” he sighed, “it’s not.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I was going to see if you wanted to go on another date tonight, but I think I need to spend some time with my kid.”
“I was going to suggest the same thing—that you spend the evening with your kid.” I glanced up at him, loving the way the sun made his brown eyes glow like whiskey in a crystal glass in front of a sunset.
The striations of gold were mesmerizing.
“I’m going to head to the 8 a.m. yoga flow class at the yurt tomorrow, if you’d like to join me,” I offered.
“It’s not as fun as an evening in the back of your truck under the stars, but we can still get into some pretty interesting positions. ”
His small smile and the way it highlighted the thin white scar on his lip caused my heart to do a little thump-thump. “I think yoga tomorrow morning is a great idea.”
“Gabrielle will take care of Jolene. Don’t worry. She’s going to go all ‘badass lady lawyer’ on that old biddy. Jolene won’t know what hit her.”
Pressing his forehead to mine, he hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of my light denim overalls.
“I’m so grateful that Mabel—and I—have you guys.
I couldn’t imagine trying to navigate this alone with her.
I think we’d just pack up in the middle of the night and flee if we didn’t have a support system. ”
“Please don’t do that,” I whispered. “I’d really miss you.”
Pulling his head back, he stared down into my eyes. “I’d really miss you too.”
It was a bit of a struggle to peel my ass out of bed for the 8 a.m. Saturday morning yoga class. But it needed to happen. I was stress-eating way too much chocolate to not find some place to burn it off.
Apparently, Mabel wanted to play more of The Sorcerer’s Quest with Damon, so she hopped out of Lennox’s truck and bolted for Gabrielle’s house while I climbed into the front seat in her place.
“Hi, Naomi. Bye, Naomi,” she said to me, her sandy-blonde hair trailing behind her like a veil.
Yawning, I tossed my yoga mat and towel into the backseat.
Lennox leaned over and kissed my cheek. “How was your night?” he asked, reversing out until we reached a spot he could turn around in front of the main house.
“Uneventful,” I said. I hadn’t had time to put my hair in two braids yet, so I took the opportunity of him driving to do that. “Dinner with the kids, a bit of light reading, and a glass of wine before bed. Still wasn’t easy climbing out of bed this morning.”
He slid me a sideways glance and smirked. “You just miss having me in there with you.”
“I really do.” I shot him a wink. “It’s always like this at the beginning of the season.
And at the end of the season. Midway during the summer we find our stride and the staff learn the ropes, but by the end of summer, everyone is burnt out.
Then we have to add in the harvesting aspect of it all.
By mid-October I’m awake and upright, but can barely remember my own name. ”
Reaching over, he rested his hand on my thigh and gave it a squeeze. “Well, you’ll have two extra, willing and able hands this summer to help pitch in. Once the school year is done, put me—and Mabel—to work.”
“Yeah?”
“Totally. I’d love to learn more about the wine industry.” His smile grew. “Plus, it’d give me an opportunity to spend more time with you.”
The sleepy butterflies in my belly woke up and flapped their wings slowly. “You know, for a dude who’s never had a girlfriend before, you’re really nailing the boyfriend thing. Saying and doing all the right things.”
“I studied up. Watched all the rom-coms so I was well prepared for what not to do. I don’t want you to lose a guy in ten days. I want you to keep that guy. And I want that guy to be me.”
I placed my hand on top of his where it was still on my thigh, and I laced our fingers together. “I want that guy to be you too.”
Like two lovesick fools, we just grinned at each other until he realized he needed to keep his eyes on the road and had to swerve to avoid hitting the minivan headed toward us.