Page 65 of Gideon's Gratitude

“That’s all I ask.” She moved to rise, but hesitated. “Your counselor from the pain clinic was in touch with your lawyer a while back. With your permission, of course. Might I obtain the same permission?”

“You want to speak to my lawyer?” Man, what was that going to cost me?

“Not necessarily. More that if he calls here, I need your permission to speak to him.”

“Sure, speak to him. Speak to whoever. It’s not going to make a difference.”

“But you want visitation with your children?”

I slumped. “Of course I want that. But it’s never going to happen. I told you all the people who decided I was bad for them.”

“And, although I’m sure I don’t know everything, I believe you are good for them. Children of divorced parents thrive when they get attention from both parents. I think you need to attempt to speak to Leo again.”

She doesn’t get it.“He won’t talk to me.”

“Just something to keep in mind. Surely you speak about the children?”

“Barely. I get clipped emails from him with the basics, but nothing more. If I write back, he doesn’t even acknowledge it. I’m screaming into the void.” Tears prickled the backs of my eyes.

“Okay. We’ll put that aside for now. Let me get the authorization paperwork and we’ll book your next appointment. Same time next week?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” Getting out of the chair was a struggle, but I managed.

Ten minutes later, after completing the requisite—but useless—paperwork, I followed her into the kitchen. The room was bright with massive windows that likely let in tons of light on a sunny day.

Archer sat at the island. No laptop in sight. Obviously he’d been conversing with Rainbow this whole time.

A yellow Labrador bounded over to greet Lucky. The two dogs did the sniff routine, and obviously liked what they smelled.

Rainbow held up a small, green treat in the shape of a bone. She cocked her eyebrow.

I nodded.

“Lucky. Tiffany.”

The two dogs scrambled to get over to her.

She held up the treats. “Sit.”

Both plopped onto their butts.

“Tiffany, spin.”

The yellow lab spun.

Rainbow glanced at me.

“He’ll do down.”

Lucky glanced my way, glanced back to the bone, and sank to the ground.

“Oh, my goodness, what magnificent dogs you are.” She held out the bones, and both dogs took them and meandered over to a blanket on the floor.

She pivoted back to me. “So, I made dinner rolls for you to take home. I find they work best with butter mixed with honey.”

I shot a glance to Archer who shrugged. “She said she bakes for fun, and her co-workers won’t eat it.”

Kennedy snorted. “Oh, I eat plenty of her baking.” She placed her hands on her hips. “It’s hard to maintain my waistline.”

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