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She wasn’t anywhere near me though.
She was back at the table, picking up her glass of wine which was miraculously still upright.
“If you want to play stupid fucking games with me, I can do that,” she said, gulping down the wine. “But I’d prefer not to. I have more than enough shit to worry about. I’d prefer we at least pretendwe can behave like actual adults and move forward. What’s done is done, and that’s it.”
Before I could respond, a shout from somewhere in the house pulled my attention.
Henry and Nalani clearly heard it too because both of their eyes went wide. When it sounded again, we all took off in that direction.
The direction of Calli’s room.
We were almost there when Ms. Wallace came rushing out, panicked, to look me in the face.
“Call 911!”
TWENTY-THREE
NALANI
“She’s askingforthe lion queen.Do either of you know who she’s referring to?”
I looked up from my breakfast just long enough to glare at Orion for a few seconds before turning to the home health nurse in the doorway as I stood.
“Nala,” I explained with a smile. “She’s asking for me.”
“Oh, that makes perfect sense,” the woman nodded, relieved to have figured it out.
And I was relieved she was here.
We all were, especially after the other night.
Apparently, unexpected seizures were fairly common after a stroke, but none of us had…expectedit. So watching Calli writhe on the ground, helpless until the real medical professionals showed up, had been one of the most heart-wrenching things I ever experienced.
Right up there with watching what terminal illness had done to my mother.
She was stable now, but it had been scary enough to render whatever else was happening insignificant.
Very likely the only reason Orion and I weren’t at each other’s throats.
I wasstillseething over his stunt with Jess. I couldn’t say he’d pulled me out of character, but he’d certainly gotten me mad enough to drop any semblance of restraint. Was violence my default nature? Absolutely not.
I just never wanted to have to make the same point twice, and I neededbothof them to understand me.
I was confident that they had.
Since that night, we hadn’t said much to each other. We were waist deep in the dynamic I’dexpectedus to have when the marriage was first proposed. We lived in the same house, sure, but mostly steered clear of each other. There had been no texts, no random gifts, flowers, none of the things that, in their sudden absence, I realized I’d actually grown accustomed to.
I was fine with it though.
It cleared my head.
In fact, when I’d sat down to breakfast—after waiting until I was sure Orion was already done, so I could be alone—it was surprising to me when he came to the kitchen, making himself a cup of coffee and planting his ass at the end of the counter.
There was no reason for him to be in the same room as me.
I hoped he regretted that decision, hoped it burned him up that instead of asking forhimfirst thing in the morning, she was asking forme.
Petty?
