“Mom,” Cece says quietly.
I hear it immediately. The fight is draining out of her.
Fuck.
I finally step into view, and all three heads snap toward me. Cece doesn’t even acknowledge my arrival.
“I try to explain what the disorder is, and you dismiss me. I ask you to look it up, and you refuse. What exactly do you want me to say here?”
“You said hypo… what was it?” Samuel asks, his face pinching as he struggles to remember a term his daughter has probably mentioned a dozen times already.
“Hypomania,” she supplies, her voice cracking slightly.
“Right. That.” He nods quickly. “We can look it up. We will, I promise. Just… be more careful next time. You can’t—”
“Fine,” she snaps, shaking her head.
I cross the remaining distance and slide an armaround her waist. The second I touch her, she leans into me.
“See what I’m saying, Samuel?” Eloise sighs dramatically. “She’s not listening. Sherefusesto listen. She’ll do this again and… and call it hypomania.”
Cece visibly sags against me. And something dark and ugly rises in my chest. “Mrs. Wentworth,” I say evenly, “with all due respect, you need to understand what it actually is before you can—”
“It’s all in her head, Levi. That doesn’t mean—”
“Of course it’s all in my fucking head!” Cece jerks away from me, laughing hysterically. She points at her mother as though she’s just delivered the greatest joke in human history. “Where the hell do you think mental illnesses live, Mom? In our ass cheeks?”
Jesus Christ.
This isnotfunny. Donotsnort.
“Celestine!” Eloise gasps, horrified. “Behave yourself—”
“I’m done.” Her laughter disappears instantly. Every ounce of energy drains from Cece’s body. She looks exhausted, with her face paling.
Utterly exhausted.
“I’ll be cutting you off for the foreseeable future,” she says quietly. “I’m done.”
“Cece.” Samuel looks stricken. “Sweetheart—”
“I’m sorry, Dad. I’m done.” Her voice cracks. “I can’t do this anymore. I genuinely can’t think of any new words. You’re not listening. You’re both talking, but you’re not listening. My life fell apart. I’m s-struggling. And all you talk about is your reputation. It’s all just noise in my head at this point.”
Then she points directly at her mother. “And she keeps yelling. I don’t understand when she’s yelling.It’s just… I can’t explain anymore.”
The room falls silent. Even Eloise doesn’t have an immediate response.
Cece finally turns toward me, her eyes dull. “Conference done? Can we go home?”
Home. The word catches me completely off guard.
Maybe it’s a slip of the tongue. Maybe she doesn’t even realize she said it. But it’s the first time she’s referred to my apartment that way. I hate the circumstances surrounding it. I hate that she’s hurting. But I can’t stop the warmth that blooms in my chest.
I nod and rub her arm gently before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Here to pick you up,” I tell her quietly. “Just like I promised.”
She immediately starts steering us toward the front door.
Unfortunately, her mother isn’t finished.
