Page 37 of Untroubled Heart

She looks at me, unsure if she wants to answer.

“Oh, that time of the month?” I ask. “Beth needs chocolate and sweet tea—she puts, like, six spoonfuls of sugar.” I shudder, then go in for another bite.

I really shouldn’t have sweets at this time, it’ll keep me up, but it’s not like I’ve been getting much sleep lately as it is. Not when thoughts of my assistant keep creeping in unannounced.

“No.” Callie laughs, then it fades away, snatched by the breeze along with her smile. “Some family stuff.”

I got the impression earlier in the week that she perhaps doesn’t have the best relationship with her parents. I can’t imagine fighting with any member of my family. They mean everything to me. “Anything I can help with?”

She shakes her head as Navie starts to fuss in her pram. Callie takes another bite of her cookie before she reaches for Navie and sits her on her lap instead.

“My dad has never been a stable figure in our lives, and Mum has always loved him too much. It was the main reason I was so adamant about legalising full custody of Navie with my ex.” Full custody? As in, Navie’s dad doesn’t see her at all? “I didn’t want another guy popping in and out whenever he felt like it. Turns out my dad had a good reason for being so absent, though, and it explains why he never asked Mum to marry him despite her always hinting it’s what she wanted… He was already married.”

“Your dad was married but in a relationship with your mum? And she didn’t know?”

Callie nods, then wraps her cookie and puts it aside to grab a bunny toy from under Navie’s pram.

“Shit, Callie. I’m sorry.” My hand acts on its own, reaching out to rest a comforting touch on her thigh. Thankfully, I stop myself before I make contact.

My hand hovers in the air, slowly retracting until Navie reaches forward, clutching my wrist.

“Thanks.” Callie smiles as she watches Navie study my hand, abandoning her bunny toy.

I flip my palm over, thinking she might want to play with my fingers, something Briony does all the time, but she whimpers instead and reaches both hands towards me.

“Can I?” I ask Callie, pointing my gaze down at her daughter.

“She seems to think so.” Callie chuckles as she hands Navie to me.

I hold her to my chest, a little more upright than I can with Briony since she’s only a few weeks old.

“Hi,” I say, bouncing her as she takes me in. Navie seems content to watch me, so I turn back to her mum. “So what’s happening with your parents now?”

“Mum is staying with my brother. She didn’t want to be in the house she shared with my dad. She’s always been closer with my brother, but I offered to drive down this weekend, and she told me not to come.”

Fuck. I’m so close with my family, I can’t imagine what it’d be like to not only watch them struggle but not be let in to help. Gage has been in therapy for a decade after he lost his best friend, and we only learned recently just how well he masked the grief that never left him. He always made sure to look after us, so we didn’t realise he hadn’t healed quite like we thought. Over the years, he found a way to balance his emotions and still be present, but meeting Isabelle is what truly brought him back to life.

“I bet your mum’s feeling a whole lot of emotions that she doesn’t know how to process.”

“She’s always processed internally. I think I’m just finding it hard because I’m a fixer. I want to make things better, and she won’t let me in.” God, I feel that.

“Does she live far away?”

“Trevally Falls. Beth said your brother is moving there?”

“Yeah. I’ve been there a few times while we’ve been working on his house.”

“Small world.” She smiles.

I’m stuck staring at it again, that smile. Those eyes. Everything about Callie pulls me like quicksand. There’s no fighting it, you just give in.

Navie starts fussing, burying her head into my chest, and making sounds like she doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I should get going,” Callie says, looking down at her daughter still in my arms. “She normally feeds around this time, and she’s very strict with her routine.”

“I can wait with you if you want to feed her now. We’re both walking back in the same direction anyway.”

“You don’t mind if I feed her in front of you?” she asks, unconvinced as she reaches to take Navie back from me.