“Still, I feel bad that you couldn’t be with the woman you loved, especially when she wanted you back.”
“We’ve been over that before, sweetie. You were my priority then. You’re still my priority now. See? Your mother had her priorities all screwed up. Clearly, she still does.”
“She did tell me she wanted to try again with me. And she admitted she had taken a lot of things for granted in her life.”
My father nodded. “It’s all a step in the right direction, that’s for sure. A brush with death has a way of making people see what they’ve previously been blind to.”
“If only she could see Nico for who he really is.”
“She will, sweetie. Eventually. But she has to figure that out for herself. Neither you nor I will be able to convince her of it.”
I sighed. As usual, my father was right. The man had common sense to a fault.
“You know, I wish you could’ve known your mother when she was younger. She was so full of life. She wanted the world on a platter, and she thought she had it for a while. But fame and fortune are fleeting things, Jade. What’s important is people. The people who love us, who need us, who make us feel emotion. That’s what’s important in life.”
My heart swelled. My father had never been a rich man, but he surely was rich in the area of wisdom. I reached over to pat his hand, but before I could, my cell phone buzzed.
“Excuse me.” I grabbed my phone out of my purse.
Shit. It was Ted Morse again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Talon
So here I was, again, gripping the arms of the green recliner in Dr. Carmichael’s office.
Since I had to stay in Grand Junction until seven p.m. anyway, to meet Shem back over at the body shop, I figured I might as well do something constructive. Dr. Ca
rmichael had been amenable to meeting me on weekends in the past, so I’d given her a quick call. She agreed to meet me for an impromptu session.
“What do you want to talk about today, Talon?”
I shook my head. “Hell if I know.”
“Have you thought about what we talked about last time? About why you wanted to survive even when you thought you didn’t want to?”
“Not really. I mean, clearly I wanted to survive. I did everything they made me do in order to survive. Even though most of the time I wished I were dead.”
“There’s a big difference between wishing you were dead and actually being dead. I know that doesn’t make sense, but the subconscious understands it.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I’m glad. I mean…I’m glad I didn’t die.”
She smiled. “I know you are. I’m glad you didn’t too. You will get through this. You’ve come so far already. I’m amazed at your progress.”
She paused, and I had no idea what to say to that. Thank you? That seemed trite. I desperately hoped she’d start speaking again.
She did.
“So you said on the phone you think you’ve identified two of your attackers now.”
“Yeah. I can’t be sure, but things sure seem to add up.”
“And both those men have disappeared?”
“Yep. And get this. One of them is my half uncle.”
“What?” She raised her brows.