“Fine, I’ll take her to go see this shrink but if it all goes south and she has some kind of meltdown, it’s all on you and I’ll be bringing her over for you to deal with.”
“That’s fine by me. Ari loves having time at my place.”
“No. She loved it when Rivers was there. I think she had some giant crush on the guy.” I grin at Tully. “It seems you two have more in common than you thought.”
Tully shrugs. “What can I say? The kid obviously has good taste in men.”
“You know we’re in for trouble when she starts dating.”
“Don’t remind me. We’re going to have a line of dudes outside your house day in and day out.”
“That’s if she’s not holding out for an older man. You know, I wouldn’t put it past her trying to steal Rivers or Noah away when she’s older.”
“Nah, no way. A girl like Ari is going to enjoy watching all the boys at school fall at her feet, desperate for her attention. She’s going to be you in twelve years, just cooler, prettier, and not so screwed up.”
“Shut up. She’s going to be all those things except she’s going to absolutely love going to school. She’s going to enjoy all her classes and focus on every word her teachers are saying, and then she’s going go home, ignore all the boys pining for her attention, do her homework and go straight to bed.”
“Yeah, right,” Tully laughs. “Can you imagine if Ari brought home a guy like Noah? Covered in tats and working as some mobster’s muscle. I don’t think your dad could handle that a second time.”
“Come on,” I chuckle. “Dad handled it just fine. He hasn’t even threatened Noah since prom.”
Tully’s brows fly up and she nods. “Wow. I’m impressed,” she says. “How is the old man doing? Last I checked he still hadn’t said much about…well, everything.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Still the same,” I tell her. “We had that one talk and now he’s gone back to sulking and snapping at everything. I think his head is still messed up from Aria disappearing and then add the whole ‘who’s your daddy?’ bullshit with the lack of sleep he’s had for nearly three weeks and well…he’s a bit of a mess.”
“Maybe you should be sending him to therapy with Ari.”
Laughter claims me and I howl out like a hyena, imagining how that conversation would go down. “Trust me,” I tell her. “There’s no way in hell that I’ll be poking that bear with a therapy stick, not unless I want my head bitten off. But you’re free to give it a try if you’d like.”
“Shit. That bad?”
“Yep. I’d have a better chance of surviving a swim with hungry sharks and waving blood under their noses than asking dad to go to therapy. I think the guy just needs a little time off and maybe one hell of a good sleep while knowing that me and Aria are locked inside the house with no way out.”
Tully shakes her head. “Being a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Fine then. Be my guest. You go and suggest therapy and see how it goes.” Hesitation flashes in her eyes and I grin wide, knowing I won this round fair and square. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
We both stay focused on Ari, watching her every move and both sit a little straighter as a man walking his dog walks a little too close. My mind takes me to places it shouldn’t go and I’m seconds from bowling the dickhead over when he walks on by, minding his own damn business. “Shit,” I sigh. “No matter the circumstance, I can’t stop looking at every single person as a threat.”
“You and me both,” she grumbles.
I glance across at her, hating how every moment of every day, nothing but the thoughts of Ari being taken and my deal with Anton are the only things filtering through my mind. “Alright. I’ve had enough of this. Distract me so I can stop going crazy, and you better make it something good.”
“I still haven’t heard from Broken Hill University,” she says with a shrug, trying her best to keep my mind off the thought of Ari disappearing on me again.
“Really?” I question, kind of wishing she had something a little more exciting to talk about. “They’re taking their sweet time.”
“Yeah, I’m kind of doubting I got in. A school like that wouldn’t still be sending out acceptance letters. They’d have that shit sorted long ago. Maybe it’s time to notify the community college that I’ll be attending their business classes. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
“No, don’t give up yet. It won’t be any fun if I have go on my own. I need you there with me. Besides, you never know. It might still come.”