44. Garrett
GARRETT
I spend the 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.”
Athena snorts and picks up another cushion from the floor.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention to anyone you saw Zara and me kiss.” I assume she hasn’t already. She doesn’t seem to know anyone in town, other than my mother. And I would have heard if someone had blabbed to Mom about Zara and me kissing.
“So you’re ashamed that you’ve kissed her?”
“Of course not.” Never.
“Do you want to date her?” There’s no accusation in her tone this time. Only curiosity.
“I don’t date,” I say truthfully, though it’s none of her business.
Understanding lightens her eyes, and she tilts her head to the side, as if to get a better read on me. “So, you just have S.E.X with women.” Her eyes narrow. “Do you pay for it?” The words are spoken with a hard huff to her tone. “Or just hook up with women you meet?”
I’m sitting under a microscope, and she’s studying me like I’m some sort of biology experiment.
Peony squirms in my arms, ready to be put down.
I lower her to the floor. “I’ve never paid for S.E.X.
” Have no interest in paying for it either.
Not that I’ve ever needed to. Finding a woman who wants to screw has never been a problem.
“Anyway, we’re getting off topic. I can’t order you to be friends with Zara.
But you’ll find she’s a good friend to have. And she wants to be your friend.”
Athena stares at me and then blinks. “She…she wants to be friends?”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“Because I’m your employee.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t be friends. I’m not talking about you two becoming besties. But wouldn’t it be nice to have someone in town who you can talk to? About women stuff?” Or whatever it is women talk about.
The corner of her mouth quirks up. “Okay.”
“Good. We should get going. My parents are expecting us.” The only reason I’m taking Athena along is because it might be easier on Peony if there’s another person she knows and trusts at my parents’ place.
Zara had planned to join us, but she obviously can’t make it now.
Lucas, Simone, Kylie, and Zoe are already in my parents’ backyard when we walk through the side gate. So are Kellan and Troy. Emily and Jess are volunteering with the hayrides in town, so they won’t be here until later.
“Okay,” I say to Peony as I carry her, the midafternoon sun kissing the back of my neck. “Should we try this again with your uncles? Remember, I’m here, and no one will hurt you. They just want to get to know you.”
Peony’s expression doesn’t give any hint that she understands me. Her gaze is on Simone and Lucas’s two girls playing with the water table.
Athena and I walk across the recently mowed lawn to the girls.
Zoe spots Peony in my arms and points at her. “Baby!”
Peony grins at the two-year-old. Mom has taken Peony to visit Simone and the girls a few times, so Peony knows Zoe. It’s just Lucas who Peony hasn’t gotten to know yet or spend time with.
“Hey, girls.” I kneel beside the table and lower Peony to the ground. She immediately plays with the table, scooping water onto the grass.
I laugh. “I don’t think that’s what you’re supposed to do with the water.”
Lucas walks over to us, his steps hesitant as if he’s gauging Peony’s reaction to him. He crouches between Kylie and Zoe on the other side of the table. Peony eyes him leeringly, the yellow scoop still in her hand .
I put my hand on her back, reassuring her I’m here. Nothing bad will happen.
My oldest brother picks up the red cup, fills it with water, and pours the contents into the small tray elevated above the table. Water rains from it onto the table below. And onto the rubber duck floating on the water.
A delighted smile breaks out on Peony’s face, though I suspect this isn’t the first time she’s seen the table make rain. She splashes her hands in the water, creating waves that send the duck bobbing toward Lucas through the shower.
He pours more water into the tray. Peony grins at him.
But the smile only lasts a fraction of a beat. It falls away, and her expression turns uncertain, her little brow wrinkling.
A screw in my chest tightens, a reminder of how much I’d hoped things would move in a positive direction today between Peony and her uncles. That this would be the start of the family Kenda envisioned when she wrote her final letter to me.
Lucas appears undaunted by her sudden change in demeanor, and he returns his attention to Zoe. It’s clear from the way Zoe and Kylie interact with him, any nervousness they’d once felt around him has gone.
Anyone who sees the way the three of them respond to each other would think they’re a family. A father with his two daughters.
Seconds later, Peony’s brow smooths out. She splashes the water again. Has Lucas done it—melted her distrust? I hold my breath, hoping it’s true.
As the afternoon moves on, Peony’s walls crumble. A large part of that is surely due to the way Kylie and Zoe respond to my father and brothers. The way the girls talk to them, play with them, laugh with them.
And I also credit the change due to the hockey game, with the toy sticks and the rubber ball, that broke out on the lawn a short time ago.
Peony taps the ball between the two small pylons that make up the goal. It slips past Troy, the goalie.
Kylie and Zoe cheer, and Kellan flashes Peony a quick, rare smile. She grins at him, as if realizing just how special the smile he’s gifted her is.
The game continues, with Mom declaring at the end that both sides are the victors. “Who wants their reward—strawberry ice cream? ”
“Me! Me! Me!” both Kylie and Zoe excitedly respond, jumping up and down, waving their arms.
Peony mirrors their reaction, her legs pumping up and down, her feet never leaving the ground. But she doesn’t care. She’s giggling all the same, her sweet face glowing. The three girls rush over to the table with Mom.
“Any particular reason you were smelling like flowers when you first got here?” Lucas asks, eyebrow raised.
I frown, having no idea what he’s talking about.
Oh, shit. Zara’s bath salts. I didn’t consider that when I climbed into the water with her. I only noticed she smelled incredible, like she always does, while I was reading to her.
My chuckle is forced, but it sounds somewhat genuine to my ears. Good enough to fool my brothers.
Lucas, Troy, and Kellan watch me, seemingly waiting for my reply.
“I didn’t smell like flowers.” I glance at Athena. She has moved near the back door, far enough away to not overhear us, and isn’t looking my way. She’s standing there like an outsider, a statue, worry carved into her expression.
Troy shoves his hands into his shorts pockets. “You did. You smelled like Zara.”
I huff out a laugh. “You’re imagining things. I went to see her because she’s sick, and I hugged her. Maybe her smell rubbed off on me, then.”
Sounds like a reasonable explanation. One that doesn’t involve me joining a naked Zara in her bathtub.
I turn my head again to check on Athena, to see if she’s still worried when there’s no reason to be. Peony is having a good time.
Athena is no longer standing where she was a second ago. No one is. And the side gate is now partially open.
Where the heck did she go?