“Shit,” Alex says. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. Is there anyone else who knows the truth?”
“Her psychologist,” I say. “But there’s confidentiality issues there, isn’t there?”
&nb
sp; “There’s more than one way to fix things, ways that don’t involve courts,” Alex says grimly. “You can’t use any information you get from the psychologist against her, not without damaging that psychologist’s reputation, but…” He clears his throat. “Leave it with me, I have an idea. Do you know the psychologist’s name?”
“Sorry,” I wince.
“That makes it harder, but not impossible,” Alex says darkly. “We’ll stop her, don’t worry.”
The tight ball of stress in my chest diminishes. I should have called Alex as soon as I overheard Polly, after all.
“Thanks,” I say roughly.
“I’ll call you in the next few days,” Alex says. “Now that she knows that you know, she might try to speed things up, but they’ll still be busy collecting information for a while. I’ll do what I can as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you,” I reply. “This means a lot.”
“I’m not going to let her take Lily from you, Ethan,” Alex says seriously. “You’re an amazing father, and you’ve been through enough hardships.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat.
“I’ll call soon,” Alex adds before I can say anything. “Stay strong.”
He hangs up. I close my eyes briefly and, for the first time since yesterday, I feel some hope that I can fight Polly on this, that I’ll get to keep custody of my daughter.
“Who was that?”
I swing around. Georgia, her hair wet and in fresh clothes, is leaning against the door, staring at me.
“Alex,” I say casually. “Just wanted to talk about the renovations.”
“Ah,” Georgia says, nodding. She grins at me. “Go have a shower and then we’ll go.”
I manage to smile at her. She nudges me with her shoulder and winks at me as I walk past. Now that I have a possible solution for Polly, I need to turn my mind to Georgia.
What do I do about her?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Georgia
Three days later, after I left Ethan’s house following the movie night, feeling light and happy and hopeful, I haven’t heard a single word from Ethan.
It’s Thursday now. I’m supposed to be taking Ethan and Lily to the carnival on Saturday. I’d expected to speak to him about our plans before now. I even sent him a quick, joking message about him being in hiding yesterday.
I started to get concerned when he never replied.
Ethan always replies to me within the same day. Sometimes I have to wait several hours for a reply because he’s at work, but I don’t really care because I know he’ll get back to me eventually. If it’s something really important, I’ll normally call him, because I know he’ll pick up straight away, no matter where he is.
I’m considering calling him now. I toss my phone between my hands, staring at it. I’m sitting at my desk at work, and I should really be concentrating on the story I’m supposed to be writing on my computer, but I can’t, not while this is hanging over me.
Why isn’t Ethan talking to me? I tug at the curls that are falling over my eyes. I’m starting to get really stressed out by this. It can’t be a coincidence that, the day after we decided to give the feelings we share a try, Ethan suddenly drops out of communication.
Was there any sign that Ethan was uneasy on Monday? I remember coming out of the shower to see him on the phone to Alex. He smiled at me as he went to have a shower but, now that I’m thinking of that moment without the happy, giddy glasses I was wearing, there was something off in his expression.
Which didn’t make sense. He had been fine when I left him to get in the shower, watching me as I walked away, and I hadn’t been gone that long. What the hell could have happened to change things that quickly?