Page 38 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

“What’s the matter, sweet cheeks?” he drawled, laughing. “Cat got your tongue?”

Tacky, rude piece of shit.

Irritated, I walked up the line to tell the man to get lost. But then I froze when I saw who he was talking to.

It was Allie.

FIFTEEN

ALLIE

“No improvement?” Dr. Rowanna asked, glancing at an unresponsive Caleb with concern.

I shook my head, feeling a little like a failure. “No. No matter how hard I try, he refuses to talk to me about whatever happened to him. I think I asked too many questions yesterday, and now he won’t talk at all.”

Caleb wasn’t looking at either of us, keeping his gaze fixed on the wall behind the therapist as if he couldn’t hear us. I knew he could hear us well and good, but he simply didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that we were talking about him.

Suddenly, a surge of anger filled me, not at my son but at whoever or whatever had done this to him to make him so scared and traumatized that he refused to speak to his own mother. Which monster drove my son to live in his world of silence rather than acknowledge our existence?

The psychologist sent Caleb a kind smile when she caught his gaze, but he quickly jerked his eyes away, studying the wall again.

She nodded and then noted down something on her notepad.

“What is it?” I asked, alarm racing through me.

She waited until she was done writing before she spoke. “It’s the name of a specialist I know. He stays two towns over, near Bozeman. It’s only a few hours on the freeway, and he’s very good. He specializes in cases like this.”

My heart sank. “Are you letting us go?”

She sighed with a sad nod. “I don’t want to do this, but it’s for the best. You know I love you and Caleb, but you’ve both been coming here for nearly a year already, and there hasn’t been much improvement if any. I really don’t think I’m much of a help in this case.”

“Oh, please don’t.” I wanted to cry. She was right, of course, but the thought of facing this alone without any help terrified me. Dr. Rowanna understood Caleb and had been the one to diagnose him in the first place. Caleb liked her, as stubborn as he was. What if he never got better without her? What if I never found out what happened to him? “Let’s keep going. I’m sure there’s just something we haven’t tried.”

Dr. Rowanna shook her head but gave me a comforting look as she shifted her hand over mine that rested on the desk.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Dr. Hammond is very professional, and he handles cases like this all the time. He’s a little pricier, but I’m sure he’ll be more effective.”

That made me feel a little calm, although I had to ask, “How much pricier?”

She looked reluctant to tell me. “I would call over and ask,” she just said.

Shit, that was what I was afraid of hearing.

I glanced at my son. Insurance didn’t cover these visits, and his treatment was largely coming out of my savings over the years. Ever since the resort started collapsing, money had become hard to come by, but I made it work, doing odd jobs here and there and selling some stuff on Etsy. But even that was drying up. We were very close to being in a hole, and I needed to find a solution fast since it seemed the resort would soon be history.

And I wanted Caleb to be able to see this new psychologist if he was as good as Dr. Rowanna said. So I would need to get some extra cash together, fast.

The minute I got home, I began brainstorming.

Marcus and I had been tiptoeing around each other for the past few days, and he hadn’t shown up to the resort today. I had all but given up asking him to save the resort, so that was out of the question.

My dad was also supposed to give each of us a cut from the sale of the resort, but I didn’t want to bug him for it, especially since he needed most of it for his medical bills.

I would need to get a job, but it was unlikely that I could get one or a pay advance this early.

I could ask Marcus to borrow some money and pay him back when I got a job, but even before the thought fully materialized, I rejected it.

I hated borrowing money from people, and with Marcus, it would be even worse. The memory of him basically implying I was a gold digger still stung, and I doubted he would even give me the money in the first place. In the old days, he might have, but not now. I finally accepted that I didn’t know the man anymore. Most likely, he would simply rub it in my face or laugh at me and then kiss me or do something equally as infuriating.

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