“That doesn’t surprise me,” I mused.
She leaned over to grab a drawing off the table before handing it to me. “What do you notice about this picture?”
There were three big figures in the center of the paper. Two of them were bigger than one of the other. Off to the side there were two medium sized figures and then in the corner there was another big figure.
With its dark hair and big smile, it didn’t take a fucking rocket scientist to realize it was Willow’s teacher. I fought to roll my eyes. Of course she’d made her a central figure. She’d even made a small black blob to represent the service dog Mama Liz had told me about.
I realized that the others with their blond and brown hair were Rev and Bishop. The other larger figure with an apron on was Mama Liz.
My gaze was drawn back to the big figures in the center. All the air in the room sucked out as I stared harder at the picture. It was Willow and me. A crudely drawn arm from my figure was wrapped around Willow protectively.
As my heart twisted in my chest, I ground my teeth as tears pricked my eyelids. At the feel of Dr. Medina’s arm on my shoulder, I jerked my gaze up. She gave me a reassuring smile. “You’ve been ‘fixing’ Willow all this time, and you didn’t even realize it.”
After a lengthy conversation with Dr. Medina, I exited her office feeling about ten pounds emotionally lighter. At Mama Liz’s expectant look, I gave her a reassuring smile. Relief flooded her expression as she pushed Willow to her feet.
As we started out of the office, I reached for Willow’s hand. “I’m proud of you.”
She cocked her head to gaze up at me. From her furrowed brows, I could tell that word wasn’t one she was used to hearing. I fought the urge to throw back my head and scream in anger at Lacey. I didn’t think I could ever forgive her for abusing Willow.
“What you did today was scary—even for a man like me. But you did such a good job.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “So, yeah, I’m proud of you.”
A smile curved on Willow’s lips. When she squeezed my hand, my heart beat a little faster. With a smile, I turned to Mama Liz. “I think Willow’s earned a reward.”
Tears shimmered her eyes. “Has she?”
I nodded as we got on the elevator. “Yep. I think she has.”
Since my brothers and Mama Liz had been notoriously spoiling Willow, I decided it was my time. Gazing down at her, I asked, “What do you think, kid? What do you want for your reward?’
Willow barely missed a beat before replying, “A dog.”
“You want a dog?”
She nodded. “Black like Atticus.”
As the elevator reached the ground floor, I said, “You know Case’s dog has just had puppies. They’re not labs, but they sure are cute.” At Willow’s curiosity, I said, “I’m pretty sure there’s a black one.”
Willow began to bounce excitedly on her feet. “Can we go now?”
Pride echoed through me that I was the one to put that happiness on her face. “Sure. Let’s go.”
On the way, I texted Case to let him know we were coming to get a puppy. At his response, I replied, “Case says the black puppy is a boy. Do you still want him?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Are you sure? You can’t dress up boy dogs like you can girl dogs,” I argued. I knew he had several silver ones in the litter who were beautiful.
“I can dress him in sweaters and bow ties,” Willow reasoned, causing Mama Liz to laugh.
“Whatever,” I muttered.
As we turned down our street, Mama Liz said, “What are you going to name him?”
“Walter.”
I snorted. “Where the hell did you get that name?”
“Mr. Walter lived down the hall from me. He used to come into Mrs. Martinez’s apartment for flan.” Lowering her voice, she said, “I think he was her boyfriend, but they just pretended to be good friends.”
