Reminders of Him

Grace usually accompanies Diem to the restroom, but Diem has been demanding her independence lately. She makes Grace wait outside the bathroom now, and when we come to this restaurant, we always ask to be seated near the bathroom hallway so Grace can allow Diem the space to do things on her own while still keeping a close eye on her.

When Patrick starts to speak, I can tell half of Grace’s attention is still on the bathroom door. “We filed a restraining order against Diem’s mother.”

I hold back my reaction, but it’s hard. I swallow those words with my bite of food and then take a sip of water. “Why?”

“We want to be prepared for whatever she decides to do,” Patrick says.

“But what would she try to do?” I can tell by the way Grace cocks her head that maybe I shouldn’t have said that. But would a judge even grant a restraining order simply because it’s filed? I figure it would take more than Kenna’s presence for a restraining order to be approved.

Grace says, “She chased us down in the grocery store parking lot. I don’t feel safe, Ledger.”

Oh. I forgot about that yet somehow still feel the need to defend her like it was my fault we were all in that predicament in the first place.

“We spoke to Grady,” Patrick says. “He said he could have the judge expedite it, and she’ll probably be served this week.”

I have so much I want to say, but now isn’t the time to say it. I have no idea when the right time to say it is. Or if I even need to say anything at all.

I take another drink and don’t respond to their news. I just sit silent, trying not to give off traitor vibes. Because that’s exactly what I am right now. There’s no way around it.

“Let’s change the subject,” Grace says, watching Diem as she heads back to the table. “How’s your mother, Ledger? I didn’t even get to talk to her while she was in town.”

“Good. They’re heading to Yellowstone, so they’ll probably drop into town on their way back through.”

Diem is climbing onto Grace’s lap when Grace says, “I’d love to see her. Let’s plan dinner for when they’re here.”

“I’ll let her know.”

Grace hands Diem a french fry and says, “The date is coming up. How are you feeling?”

I blink twice. I know she’s not referring to anything related to Scotty, but I have no idea what she’s talking about.

“Leah?” Grace says. “The cancelled wedding?”

“Oh. That.” I shrug. “I’m fine. She’s fine. Things are better this way.”

Grace frowns a little bit. She always liked Leah, but I don’t think she knew the real Leah very well. Not that Leah is a bad person. I wouldn’t have proposed to her if I thought she was.

She just wasn’t good enough for Diem, and if Grace knew that, she’d thank me for calling off the engagement rather than continue to bring it up in hopes I change my mind.

“How’s the house coming along?” Patrick asks.

“Fine. I think I’m just a few months out from having it move-in ready.”

“When are you putting your current house up for sale?”

The thought of that makes me sink an inch deeper into my seat. Putting it up for sale will feel like selling off a piece of myself, for so many reasons. “I don’t know yet.”

“I don’t want you to move,” Diem says.

Those six words hit me right in the heart.

“But you’ll get to go stay with him at his new house,” Grace says, attempting to reassure her. “He won’t be far.”

“I like the house he has now,” Diem says with a pout. “I can walk there all by myself.”

Diem is staring at her hands. I want to reach over and pull her out of Grace’s lap and hug her and tell her I’ll never leave her, but it would be a lie.

I wish I would have waited just six months before deciding to build that house back when Diem was younger. Six months would have been plenty of time to know that the little girl Grace and Patrick were raising would infiltrate my life and my heart as if I made her myself.

“Diem will be fine,” Grace reassures me. She must be deciphering the look on my face right now. “It’s twenty minutes. Hardly anything will change.”

I stare at Diem, and she looks up at me, and I swear I can see tears in her eyes. But she closes them and curls into Grace before I can be sure.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

KENNA

I found out from the paperwork he left me to sign that Ledger is paying me way more than what the grocery store pays me.

Because of that, and because it’s just in my nature, I’ve been busting my ass all night. I’ve been reorganizing everything. No one said I needed to, but I wash dishes faster than they come back to me, so between bouts of dirty dishes, I’ve been reorganizing the shelves, the stock room, all the dishes in the cabinets.