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“That’s not how science works,” Zoe muttered.
Trenda stepped back finally, her eyes sweeping over me from head to toe. “You look good,” she said, and I could hear the quiet relief under it.
“Liar,” I said, but it came out soft. “Where are Bella and Drake?”
“School and daycare,” Trenda said, glancing toward the hallway like she expected to see tiny tornadoes come barreling through. “We figured we’d get intel first, then unleash the children.”
“Good call,” I said. “I don’t think the vacuum lines could take that level of chaos.”
All three of them looked at the carpet. At the perfectly aligned towels in the kitchen. At the way the house practically gleamed.
Maddie raised a brow. “You’ve been busy.”
“Not me,” I said, and even I could hear the weird note in my voice.
We ended up in the living room, the four of us spread out—me on the floor again, them on the couch and chair. My legal pad and crappy pen lay traitorously on the coffee table. Seris stared up at me from the top page, wearing my dress.
“So,” Zoe said, tucking one leg under her. “Start talking.”
“I want all of it,” Trenda added. “The truth. Not the ‘I’m fine’ version.”
Maddie just smiled at me quietly, eyes soft and determined. “We’re not leaving until you tell us what’s going on,” so said the social worker.
I swallowed.
I gave them the outline. The safe version. I told them about Zarek’s cleaning—how he’d turned the house into a showroom, how the towels hung in perfect rows, how the fridge looked like an organization influencer had been here with a sponsorship deal. They snorted at that.
“So he’s dealing with grief by becoming a control freak,” Zoe summarized. “Classic male coping mechanism. If you can’t fix your heart, fix the damn spice rack.”
“Exactly,” I snorted.
I told them about the MMA gym. About his bruised ribs and his taped eyebrow. About Cappy and the ring and how he’d said he wasn’t going back.
I didn’t tell them about the way his voice had sounded when he’d said, I wouldn’t expect anything else.
I didn’t tell them about his face when he’d said, You can keep the house. I should be the one in an apartment.
That part was his. Ours.
“Men are idiots,” Trenda declared.
“Amen,” Zoe said.
Maddie tilted her head. “You still love him.”
It wasn’t a question.
I looked up and scowled at her. “Of course I do. Loving Zarek was never the problem.”
“And he loves you,” she added gently.
Also not a question.
I stared at Seris’s dress on the legal pad and didn’t answer.
They didn’t press.
“What can we do?” Zoe asked instead. “Besides threatening to rearrange his perfectly lined-up magnets. I can do that. I will do that.”
