Page 74 of Love in Training
She pulls her eyes away from her daughter and meets my gaze.
“Iam fine. Actually, never been better.”
“Good. Glad to hear it. All I wanted—” I stop as something slips from the back of my mind. “Did you call theObserverand speak to Randall Jones about this?”
Her eyes flicker away, and that’s all the answer I need.
“Marisol, what the hell? You know you can just contact me directly.”
She shakes her head and glances around. “Look, I don’t know if he’s really involved, and I’m not even that interested in finding out. I just wanted you to know he’s not someone you should provoke.”
“But why?—”
“Mommy, Mommy,Mommy!” We both look up to see Anton cantering toward us with Paloma perched on his shoulders, pulling his hair like she’s a tiny jockey. “Dia said she’d give me a puppy!”
Lydia trails behind them at a much slower pace, holding Heartthrob’s leash, clearly trying her best not to full-on waddle. “Um, I did not!” she shouts.
Anton raises the little girl over his head and flies her around like an airplane in a clear effort to impress the whole park with his biceps and forearms and daddy vibes before setting her down, giggling. “I don’t think that’s what she said either, peanut.” He presses a thumb to her nose. “But I know she’ll let you visit The Pooch Park anytime you want.”
“And have donuts?” Paloma says with eyes like an anime character.
Anton glances at his wife and shrugs. “We could get donuts.”
Marisol rolls her eyes as Lydia catches up, taking her husband’s arm. “You two have about a year and a half to work on setting some boundaries.”
“I’ll say,” I mutter, too low for anyone to hear.
“Paloma, it’s time to go,” Marisol says, scooping up the toddler. “Say bye to Lydia.”
“Buh-bye, Dia!” The little girl waves, then turns to Rufus and blows a kiss. “Bye, new doggie!”
Marisol spares me one last fully loaded glance, which makes clear she has nothing left to say to me, and then she’s gone. Lydia waves, then hands Heartthrob’s leash to Anton and gives me a light hug.
“You want to join us for Sunday dinner?” she asks.
“With you guys and Seth?” I ask, looking over her shoulder at her husband and brother-in-law, whose combined dimples are so sharp they could put an eye out. “Uh, actually, I have plans.”
Lydia catches my hand and squeezes. “I know you’re never going to forgive Anton. I’m... still working on that myself.” She frowns, resting her other hand on her belly. “But your walls are high, Caprice.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Rufus nuzzles against her and she strokes his ear. “I’ve just been thinking about what you told me about Drew and Kyle.”
I step back, but she doesn’t let go of my hand. “What about them?”
“You’ve spent so long beating yourself up about what went wrong. What you could’ve done differently. But maybe you were never the problem—and maybe Drew wasn’t either.” She shakes her head. “Maybe it was all Kyle.”
Something sears through my chest at her words, burning all the way to the backs of my eyes. But it stops there. Because Iknowin some alternate timeline, where we might’ve gone through a different series of events, Kyle would still be alive.
I pull my hand out of hers. “You know, I don’t really have time to think about that. I’ve got research to do and articles to write.”
Lydia gives me an apologetic smile and nods. “Okay. Well, you’re still invited to dinner—any Sunday. If career demands ever let up.”
She rejoins her husband across the grass, and as they walk away holding hands, I’m left holding my leash, looking down at Rufus.
“What do you say we order Chinese and go on a research deep dive? I’ve got a secret bully stick I’ve been hiding from you.”
The dog cocks his head, staring at me with his honey-gold eyes, and for just a moment, I allow myself to feel guilty. Because I know he’d prefer to run obstacle courses and play hide and seek. And see Drew. Even I sort of wish we were doing that tonight.
