Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
“Did you know that snakes can predict earthquakes?” Max says in a singsong tone.
I shake my head, unable to contain my laughter. This girl is killing me.
“Nagini would feel it coming five days before,” she continues. “I read about it on Google. I like Google. It has a lot of cool stuff. You type in a question, and it does all of the thinking for you.”
I laugh again because this kid is too much.
“Nagini is Max’s pet snake,” Dr. Devine says. “We named her after Voldemort’s snake from the Harry Potter books.”
“Mommy read Harry Potter to me when I was in her belly. She still reads to me. Every night.”
Kat calls Theo and Travis the Weasley twins because she’s a huge Harry Potter fan. I read the books to Kat after our mother passed away. She begged me to read to her every night, something my mother did before she got sick.
“You remind me of someone I know,” I tell Max.
“Who?” Max asks.
“My sister.”
“What’s her name?”
“Kat.”
She balls her little hands into fists and pushes them out in front of her like a cat and says, “Meow.”
I laugh so hard, I snort.
Max reminds me so much of Kat when she was her age that my chest feels like it’s going to cave in. Tears burn my eyes, but I attempt to keep them at bay. Looking away from Dr. Devine and Max, I suck in a deep breath. Doc touches my shoulder, and I turn to meet her intense gaze. She’s worried about me. For the first time in my life, someone other than a family member has struck a chord.
“You okay, Duke?”
I lower my head in shame. “I failed her.”
She tightens her grip on my shoulder. “Who?”
“My sister.”
We share a moment of silence.
She glances at Max and then to me as if she understands for the first time why I’m here. “Want to talk about it?”
“Maybe next time. I have to get going.”
She presses her lips together and nods. “Next time, I want to hear all about your sister.”
“Let me know when you want to take Max to a Caps game,” I say to change the subject.
“You don’t have to,” she says. “Max just says stuff. She doesn’t know any better.”
“No, it’s okay. I want to take both of you.”
“We can’t date,” she challenges. “You’re my patient. This is… unprofessional. And you’re my patient…”
“You already said that,” I shoot back with a wink. “We can watch a game together as...”
What would that make us?
“As friends,” she says.
Like Kat and Dean? Yeah, well, they obviously weren’t just friends. Friendship isn’t possible with a woman.
Anger bubbles up inside my chest, my rage coursing through my veins. I want to smash Dean’s face against the boards all over again. But when Lila curls her fingers around my wrist, I forget about everything but her.
“Sure,” I choke out. “We can be friends.”
Chapter Ten
DELILAH
I sit at the kitchen table with Max and watch her do her homework. She doesn’t need my help. Her work is right every time I check it. So, I keep her company, sipping tea as she finishes the last problem on the page.
“All done,” Max declares, dropping the pencil onto the table. “Can I have a cookie now?”
I flip open the tin at the center of the table and offer it to Max. She reaches inside and pulls out three chocolate chip cookies, stuffing one of them into her mouth.
“Mommy,” she says between bites, “when are we going to the game with Duke?”
“I already told you, baby. I don’t know if we can.”
“What does your work have to do with hockey?”
“Ever hear the expression ‘Don’t mix business with pleasure’?”
I know she does before she nods. This girl Googles everything. I couldn’t keep her off the iPad if I tried. She carries it around with her, tucked under her arm, almost everywhere she goes. Some nights, she even falls asleep with it on her chest. I love that she loves to learn. It’s good for children to be curious.
“Well, I have a business relationship with Duke,” I say, “and it would be unprofessional to go to a hockey game with him.”
“Could Daddy go to a game with Duke?”
“I suppose he could.”
Max lifts her precious iPad from the table and starts typing.
“What are you doing, Max?”
Her head is down, eyes fixed on the screen as she types a question into Google.
I chuckle. “You won’t find the answer online.”
“Yes, I will,” she challenges. “I can find anything online.”
“I promise this is one thing you won’t find.”
She gives me a disapproving look. “Then, I’ll just ask Daddy. He knows.”
I grab the iPad from her hand before she can FaceTime with Ted. “We talked about this, remember? Daddy isn’t allowed to know that Mommy is working with Duke.”
“Because Daddy would get jealous?”
Ted hasn’t shut up about Duke since he saw us together in my office. My ex thinks I’m dating Duke, and that’s fine with me. As long as he doesn’t discover the truth, he can think whatever he wants.