Page 102 of Forbidden Hearts
“If any date doesn’t compare to this one, Phoebe, walk away. No man should ever make you feel small or irrelevant. He should want you to feel exactly like you do now. If he doesn’t achieve it, he’s not worth your time.”
No man will ever be.
Her eyes fill with an emotion I can’t name before she looks away, a smile on her lips when her attention returns to me. “I’ll make sure the next man does better.”
twenty-six
PHOEBE
Returning back to life in Sugarloaf has been strange. Asher and I settled back in our routine after Texas, no one ever thinking we were together, which is exactly as we hoped.
Olivia has had a bunch of appointments with different specialists, and I have been soaking up anything I can while we’re there. The speech pathologist has been the most interesting to learn from. She’s been working with Olivia on attempting to make noises.
“I hate it.”
“Hate what?”I ask her.
“I don’t want to make noise.”
“Why?”
“Because they make fun of me.”
Oh, my heart.
“Who does?”
She rolls her eyes like I’m an idiot.“Kids at school.”
The speech pathologist, Kelly, waves her hand to get Olivia’s attention.“No one will make fun of you here.”
“Why should I talk if I can’t hear?”
I don’t really have a good answer for her, so I let Kelly take this one.“It’s not about talking. It’s about using your voice if you need to.”
Okay, I can understand that. “When did she stop using her voice?” I ask Kelly.
“She’s been coming here at least five years, and it was before that. We worked her up a bit, but it’s sporadic at best.”
I turn to Olivia.“If you don’t use your voice, it can weaken. If that happens and you ever need to use it, you could hurt yourself.”She turns away. Well, that went well.
Kelly laughs once. “She’s stubborn, but I get it. Sara explained she tried to speak in kindergarten and everyone laughed at her. She couldn’t hear them, obviously, but some of the boys were pointing, and after that, she really won’t make any noise.”
“She laughed a few weeks ago, and a woman was a total bitch about it. Thankfully, I shut it down before Olivia could catch on to what she said.”
“People are cruel,” Kelly says.
“I agree.”
We finish up the appointment without Olivia doing much other than ignoring our attempts to get her to cooperate. When we get back to the house, Asher is already there, waiting to take her out on the ATVs.
“You ready?” he asks her as she comes in the door.
“Finally something fun.”
And then she runs upstairs to get changed.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asks.
