Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
By the time dinner is done and we get Sam into his seat in Blake’s truck, he’s half-asleep, so Blake drives us back to my parents’, then helps me get him upstairs and tucked into bed. I walk him back out, and he reminds me that he’ll be here early in the morning to pick me up. He kisses me goodbye and takes off.
“Your dad is already here?” Blake asks me as he pulls into the parking lot in front of the Greenburn Family Law office. I look up from my cell phone to find my dad standing next to his car, wearing a suit and tie with his hair slicked back—a drastic change from his normal jeans and plaid shirts he wears to the office daily.
“He really went all out.” I wave at my dad as we park next to him.
“Maybe I should have dressed up,” Blake says, and I turn toward him.
“Do you even have a suit?” I ask, trying to imagine him dressed up. I’m sure he’d look beyond handsome in a suit. Then again, he looks handsome all the time.
“I do, I just doubt it fits me now.” He chuckles, making me laugh, and I unhook my seat belt as my dad opens my door.
“Ginny and Jeff are already inside.” He takes my hand and helps me down from the truck. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’m going to be.” I reach for Blake’s hand when he comes around the back of the truck to meet me; then I hold on to him with all my might as we walk to the building. My stomach churns when we get inside, and if it weren’t for the hold that Blake has on my hand, I don’t know that I wouldn’t turn around and run right back out the door.
“Everly.” A young, good-looking guy with blond hair and my dad’s normal outfit of jeans and a button-down shirt appears from a hallway and walks toward me with his hand out. “I’m Lucas.” He shakes my hand, then turns to Blake, who introduces himself. Lucas then moves to my dad and shakes his hand. “Ginny and Jeff are already here. We’re just waiting on the counselor to arrive. As soon as she gets in, we’ll head on back to the conference room.” He looks among us. “In the meantime, feel free to help yourselves to a cup of coffee or a bottle of water.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” He walks back down the hall, and I watch my dad make some coffee while I take a seat with Blake on the couch.
“Relax,” Blake whispers and then grabs my thigh, which is bouncing like crazy, and I cover his hand with mine. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I know. It’s just . . . I’m having flashbacks to the last time that we met with them.”
The front door then opens, and an older woman wearing a flowy skirt with a sweater and about a dozen scarves around her neck walks inside.
“Hi.” She waves as she passes us to head down the hall; then, a moment later, Lucas comes out.
“We’re ready, if you guys are.”
A sense of dread fills the pit of my stomach as I stand, and each step I take toward the conference room is like moving through concrete. When we get into the room, Jeff and Ginny are sitting on one side of the table, with the counselor seated at the head of it. I take a seat between my dad and Blake and look anywhere but at Lex’s parents.
“Good morning, everyone. My name is Ava.” The counselor smiles brightly. “I think we should all go around the table and introduce ourselves,” she says, so we all introduce ourselves, and when we’re done, she looks at all of us. “Lucas explained a little of this situation to me, but I’d like to hear from you guys what you think the best-case scenario would be when it comes to visitation, then the worst.” She meets my gaze. “Everly, would you go first?”
“Sure.” I clear my throat. “I think the best case would be Sam having a relationship with his biological grandparents and being able to lean on them if he has questions about his father’s side of his family as he gets older.” I bite my lip, then continue. “The worst would be him not having that option, then feeling like he was missing out as he grows up.”
“So him having a connection is important to you.”
“A healthy connection, yes,” I clarify, and she nods.
“Now, Ginny, would you like to go?”
“Yes,” Ginny says, meeting my eye. “But first, I would like to apologize,” she says, and Jeff wraps his arm around her shoulders. “When we met, I didn’t know the full story of what happened between you and my son, and I made some really hurtful assumptions. I’m sorry for that.” I nod, letting her know I heard her, and I swear it looks like tears fill her eyes. “The best-case scenario would be for us to have a chance to spend time with our only grandson.” She clears her throat, then grabs a tissue from a box on the table in front of her. “The worst would be not knowing him but knowing he exists.”