Page 20 of Already At Risk
“Well…” Natalie started, her lips pulling into an inward grin, something I doubted she realized she was doing. “She’s really smart, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her mom.” Natalie gave a light laugh before adding, “Her teacher tells me that she thinks Chloe gets bored quickly at school because the pace is a little slow for her, so they’re working on finding some enrichment to help with that.”
“That’s not surprising,” I said with a smile, and Natalie gave me a funny look, like she couldn’t understand why I’d say that. So I added, “Her mom is a literal trauma surgeon. If she inherited your genes, I’m sure she’s brilliant.”
Natalie blushed and shook her head, not wanting to acknowledge the compliment.
And I quickly decided all I really wanted to do in life was feed Natalie London compliments like candy.
“Come on, Natalie. I might not have a medical background, but I know you’ve gotta be one of the youngest surgeons on staff. I know you’re older than Noah, but not by that much.”
“I’m thirty-two,” she admitted, her cheeks still pink. “I…graduated high school with a lot of college credits under my belt already. Not a big deal.” She was a very big deal. “Chloe loves to learn, too,” Natalie continued, doing a quick dive into talking about her daughter instead. “I never thought she liked it when I talked about medicine or work, but apparently, Blake has been helping her memorize all the names of the bones. He’s a doctor, too, if you didn’t know.”
I did know. I’d recently decided it was important to knoweverything I possibly could about the London family. For work purposes.
“Cardiologist, right?”
She nodded. “I’m sure he sprinkles in little heart facts along with the bones.”
“There are worse influences.” I leaned back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other. “What other things does Chloe like?”
“Animals. Shelovesthem,” Natalie answered, and a look of warmth spread over her face. “I think she gets that from my mom, who runs a pet rescue organization in the Twin Cities. And Noah adopted a puppy last summer, Winnie. Chloe’s absolutely obsessed with her.” Her expression dimmed slightly as she added, “As you can probably tell, she spends a lot of time with adults, being an only child with no other kids her age in the family. Which I think is why she relates to adults a lot better than other kids. Sometimes she struggles with making new friends, and I blame myself for that. For not giving her more opportunities with her peers when she was younger. But I think being in figure skating has really helped.”
“Chloe seems very well loved and cared for,” I said, reassuring her. I suspected that Natalie put a lot of pressure on herself to be perfect at everything, including being a parent.
“Yeah.” There was a softness to her exterior now, her guard lower, not as noticeable. “She is.”
I took a deep breath, knowing we had to deepen the conversation, get into the bits that might be less comfortable for her.
“The judge will want to know why it will be in Chloe’s best interests for you to keep full custody,” I said. “So I think it’s important to consider your answer.”
A flash of emotion crossed Natalie’s face, but she stayed silent. I let her think on it for another moment before encouraging her. “You can just say what you’re feeling, Natalie. We’re not in court yet. My job is to help you prepare for it, take your thoughts, and frame them into responses you can use.”
“I have a lot of feelings,” she said with a shaky breath. “And thoughts.”
“Any parent in your shoes would, I’m sure.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and nibbled on her bottom lip. And since that caused a visceral reaction inside me at literally the most inopportune moment, I lowered my eyes to my computer screen, watching the blinking cursor as I waited for her to answer.
“Korey has never been a present father,” she finally said, and I lifted my gaze again. “Even when he lived with us. In some ways, I think with the visitation he has now, she sees him more and has a better experience than she ever did when we were together.”
“Can you explain that?”
“Because she has her expectations set. Versus her alwaysthinkinghe should be there and him never being home when we were married.”
“Where was he?”
“At work, mostly.” She sighed. “I know that I work long, odd hours, and it isn’t ideal for this case. But I promise you, Korey was worse. And if he tries to say he’s cut back on the time he spends at the office, it’s only because he no longer has to stay late to sleep with his receptionist. You know, now that he’s free to have her over whenever he wants. She might have even moved in with him. I’ve been trying to figure that out because I want to know who is spending time with Chloe when she’s there.”
I’d suspected that her ex cheated on her, but I didn’t have confirmation until now, and it physically pained me to keep a straight face for her benefit. For our benefit. Because I was aprofessionalwho was not emotionally attached to this casein the slightest.
“That’s a question we’ll get an answer to,” I said. “The judge will want to know who would be living with or involved in Chloe’s life in both potential households. So romantic partners will come up.”
She deserved to have a warning about that. It fucking suckedthat she was going to have to relive the facts of his affair and their relationshipagain, but it would work in our favor to have those details.
“I figured.” Surprisingly, Natalie just shrugged. “And that’s good, fine. I came to terms with his affair a long time ago. It pushed me to get the divorce. I don’t know if I would have woken up and gotten out if it weren’t for that. It was a blessing in disguise.”
She was being a hell of a lot more mature than I wanted to be right now.
“They’ll want to know about you, too,” I added cautiously.
