Maybe the evening had ended well enough but still it felt like a huge setback.
If she’d stammered tonight, then she could stammer again.
It was something she hadn’t had to think about in a long while.
Should she contact a speech therapist? Ethan didn’t seem to think she should, but she wasn’t convinced.
She had a thousand questions churning inside her but she knew if she voiced any of this aloud to Daniel he’d go into overprotective mode, so she filed away her questions even though it almost killed her to do it.
“Isn’t this a bit late for you to visit? Normally you drop round when you’re hungry.” And her brother had done that less and less since he’d fallen in love with Molly. Given that the only thing she’d thought her brother was ever going to be wedded to was his single status, she found it encouraging that he was now crazily in love.
If he could find someone in the crazy tapestry of humans that populated Manhattan then surely there was hope for her too?
“Molly and I were taking the dogs for a walk and we thought we’d drop by and see how you’re doing. Haven’t heard from you in
a while.”
Because she’d been trying to be more independent.
“I’m good. Busy.” She opened the door to her apartment. “Where is Molly? And where are the dogs?”
“She stepped outside to take a call and took the dogs with her. What are you doing walking round Manhattan this late?”
“It’s not late, Dan.” She hung up her coat. “It’s only nine o’clock.”
“You’ve been on another date?”
Molly thought about the evening she’d had. “Not exactly.”
“Fliss told me your last date didn’t go so well. I don’t like the idea of you meeting strangers. Why didn’t you call me?” He scowled at her. “I would have come to your rescue.”
Which was why she hadn’t called. She’d wanted to rescue herself.
Whatever trouble she found herself in, she wanted to be the one to find the way out.
“I handled it.”
“Since when did you walk dogs this late?”
She might not have a father who cared about her, but her brother more than made up for that lack of parental concern.
“Since my client went away and left a dog who is finding it hard to settle in her temporary home.”
Daniel strolled through to her kitchen and opened the fridge, totally at home in her apartment. “I’m surprised you didn’t just bring it back here. You used to do that when we were kids. I hid that kitten under my bed for a week, remember?”
“I remember.” She’d found it in one of the backstreets, injured and abandoned by its mother. She’d guessed it was no more than a few weeks old and she’d smuggled it home under her sweater and hid it in a box under the bed, where she’d cared for it until it was stronger. She intended to keep it, and hoped her brother would find a way to help her figure that out. Daniel always found a way to work with the circumstances. It was the reason he was such a great lawyer.
“You made me walk with you to the vet’s so that you could ask for advice. That was when I realized you would do just about anything for an animal, even if it meant making Dad crazy.” He pulled out a beer. “This has my name on it.”
Harriet rolled her eyes, put her bag down and closed the shutters.
He was right, of course. If her father had known, he would have killed her.
And she’d cared about that, but not as much as she’d cared about that kitten. She knew how it felt to be vulnerable, and she was determined to be the protector as often as she was the protected.
She heard the thunder of paws, a bark, and then Molly burst through the door with two large dogs.
“I’m going to buy a sled—” she panted, hauling on their leads “—and these two can pull it. Work off some of that excess energy. It could be a whole new way of commuting in the snow.”