Paige ignores him and turns to me.
“I want you to marry Weed. And I want you to have Freddy and the other animals at your wedding. And pony rides.” She fixes me with a serious look, her bottom lip poking out.
“Well.” I crouch down and use my finger to gently press her lip back in, which makes her giggle. “I don’t know about the wedding. But maybe another day when you’re with Uncle Stu, I could join you.” I glance at Stuart, who nods. “And maybe, just maybe, we could go for a pony ride.”
“Eeee!” Paige’s face lights up as she flashes a set of tiny, perfect little milk teeth at me. “Can we, Uncle Stu?”
“I don’t see why not.” His lips curl up as Paige starts talking to the toy goat, telling it how she’s going to ride a pony.
“I just wanted you to know that I’ll be there for Reed. He’s a friend as well as a colleague.” Stu reaches out and takes my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze in his. “And I’m here for you if you need to talk as well. We’ll get to the bottom of what’s going on. Secrets aren’t easy to keep hidden in this city.”
I nod at him, then drop my eyes away and back to Paige, feeling calmed by her beautiful innocence. The childlike ability to only see things through the eyes of love.
Secrets might not be easy to keep hidden in this city.
But I pray that the past is.
I pray it can be buried and never be shared with anyone, except who it belongs to.
I will pray so hard my hands bleed, if that’s what it takes.
Chapter thirty-one
Reed
“HowwaslunchwithPaige?” I ask Stu as I head back into the office and see he got back before me.
“Yeah, good.” He keeps his eyes on the paperwork in front of him.
“I’ll join you next time. I haven’t seen her since we all went for dinner.” I roll my lips, the memory making me think of Harley and how stunning she had looked that night, dressed in another pink dress. One I vividly remember peeling off her afterward.
“Sounds great. She’d love that.”
“I took a longer lunch myself in the end. I met Griffin.”
Stu turns his head and watches me walk around the table to place my jacket on the back of my chair before taking a seat.
“You were at The Songbird?”
“Yeah. Perks of him being the boss, no waiting on a table even during prime time.”
I lean back in my chair and stretch my legs out in front of me, crossing them at the ankles. To anyone who didn’t know me, they’d think I looked relaxed. But I’m far from it. The tension taking over my body is enough to render me immobile if I don’t at least try to stretch it out.
“He okay?”
“He’s good. He looks better than last week.”
Now that Rosie is being looked after by the bird charity, Griffin is probably getting sleep again. It’s ironic. Because now I’m the one who isn’t. I could have taken over all the night feeds the way my eyes stay open. I just can’t clear my mind enough to sleep. And after lunch with Griffin today, and what I’ve learned, I can’t see that resolving any time soon.
Chronic insomnia, my new roommate.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I take it out, hoping it’s Harley returning my call.
It’s a number I don’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Reed?”