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“All right. Tell me everything.”
Chapter Eight
Celeste
“You all seem very happy.” Myra, who we’ve previously only met via video calls, flashes us a welcoming smile.
“We are.” I grin up at my husband as he slides an arm around my waist, pulling me into his side. “Ridiculously so.”
“Good. Kerry deserves that. She’s such a sweet Little thing.” Tossing her head back, Myra lets out a delighted laugh. “And a good influence on my Solene, who would never pick up a single mess if I didn’t make her. Except when Kerry’s around, then she makes sure to clean up after herself.”
“Really?” That certainly meshes with the picture Maxwell painted for us, but not so much the version of our little angel we’ve seen over the past twenty-four hours. “Why is that?”
“Kerry can’t stand to have anything out of place. She’s a bit of a perfectionist, really.”
Unease ripples in my stomach, and when I look over at Graham I see that same worry reflected in his eyes.
“So, if Kerry showed up for work hungover and wearing yesterday’s clothes, you’d say that was very out of character for her?” Graham asks.
Myra’s eyes widen. “Incredibly so. Why? Did that happen?”
“Yes.” That uneasy feeling grows as Myra frowns. “Yesterday, when we met her. She was nearly twenty minutes late and showed up looking as though she’d slept in her uniform and rolled right out of bed to come to work.”
“That is very unlike the Kerry I know.” Her frown deepens as she glances over her shoulder. “It sounds like you came into her life at exactly the right time.”
Graham’s arm tightens around me, and I know even without asking that he’s wondering the same thing I am.
What, exactly, is going on with our babygirl?
Kerry
“And now I’m here, shopping for a new wardrobe.”
Perched crisscross-applesauce on her work chair, Solene stares at me with wide, round eyes. “So… what are you gonna do?”
Leaning back against one of the beanbag chairs on the floor, I frown up at her. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you can’t just pretend to be someone you’re not for the rest of your life, Kerry. You have to tell them the truth.”
The fact that her words echo thoughts I’ve already had does nothing for the doubt that’s been niggling at me since yesterday. “You’re making it sound worse than it is.”
Even to my own ears, I don’t sound convincing, and judging by the way Solene rolls her eyes, she hears it too. “Because it’s crazy, Kerr. You’re literally changing your entire personality for these people.”
“Yeah, and they love it. And it’s not like I’m hurting anyone.”
“Except yourself.” Climbing down from the chair, Solene kneels in front of me, her expression earnest. “You deserve a Mommy and a Daddy who love you for you. Not for some version of yourself you cooked up in a lab.”
“What if those people don’t exist?” Every doubt, every insecurity I’ve ever had wells up inside me, pouring out of me in the form of hot tears slipping down my cheeks. “What if I’m just not built to be anyone’s Little girl?”
Solene scoffs. “You really think you’re so special that out of eight billion people in this big, wide world, there’s not a single Mommy or Daddy who would be delighted to have a smart, successful, adorable Little girl like you?”
A laugh bubbles out of me in spite of my tears. “Okay, well, when you put it that way it sounds ridiculous.”
“Because it is ridiculous. If Celeste and Graham are too stupid to see how amazing you are, that’s their loss. But you need to be honest with them.”
“I’ll try.”
It’s all I have time to promise before the door to the workshop swings open and my Mommy steps inside. “All right girls, time to—oh, baby. What happened? Are you hurt?”
