Page 47 of Gideon's Gratitude

“It’s just a kitchen table. If you’re still here for lunch, I’m making mac and cheese.” I’d planned on toast, but something more nutritious was in order. Wouldn’t take too much more effort, but it’d be…hospitable.

“Mac and cheese sound delicious. Now, I don’t want to keep you.”

From what?

Oh, right, he doesn’t know I have no life.

“Yes, well, I’ll head downstairs. See you in a few hours.”

Before I could say anything else monumentally stupid, I left the room. As I descended the stairs, wincing as I went, I remembered I’d told the man I was between gigs. Better than admitting I was on disability. The insurance company was pushing me to find another job, but just about everything I was qualified for involved manual labor. Using my body. My broken body.

I eyed the barbells in the corner. And the resistance bands. Simple stretches and exercises. Resignedly, I dropped into the chair at the desk. At least here, Grandpa had sprung for quality.

The chair might be old, but the thing was sturdy and offered good support.

I activated the monitor and waited for the thing to come out of sleep mode. Half the time it didn’t, and I needed to reboot. Fortunately, today was a good day. I opened my seldom-used email to find no new messages. I checked the chat forum I belonged to. Nothing there.I should send a message to Adrian and do a proper check-in. The guy’d been extra quiet today while Geoffrey had been extra loud. His ex had hinted they might come to the States for Thanksgiving if he sent some money.

He did.

She reneged.

To say he was on the verge of losing it completely was an understatement.Maybe I should reach out to him as well.

Yet I did none of those things.

Instead I eyed the opened—but unread—email from Leo. I’d clicked on it so it wouldn’t be highlighted as new but had promptly closed it again.

You need help.

Clearly that had nothing to do with the kids. And no cancellation of tonight’s video chat had been sent, so that was a go. Would Leo be there, or would he fob the job off on the nanny? Working, he’d claim. Too busy.

Too important.

Screw it.

I clicked on the message and quickly scanned. At the bottom was a woman’s name and a phone number.

Kennedy Dixon.

Counselor.

Even if I called this woman, Leo didn’t promise he’d let me back into the kids’ lives. Far from it.

Before I could give it any more thought, I snatched up the landline and made the call.

A strong woman’s voice came through the line, but I was too befuddled to understand what she said.

“Kennedy Dixon. I need to speak to Kennedy Dixon.”

“Of course.” Soothing. Competent. “Kennedy is in with a client right now. Are you a client?”

“No. But I want to be. Ineedto be.”

“Okay, I hear you. What’s your name?”

“Gideon. Gideon Rodgers.”

Breathe.

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