Pilates instructor yelled through the phone. Daphne clenched her jaw as a familiar joke popped into her head: How do you stop time? Do a plank.
Finally allowed to release, Daphne eased back into child’s pose, enjoying the stretch across her lower back. As the instructor told her to clear her mind and focus on her breathing, Daphne did the opposite and let herself return to festering over her new, temporary, neighbor. She looked so familiar. Just one of those faces? Some random meeting at a party? Daphne had the awful feeling this wasn’t the case. That she recognized her from years ago when Daphne had an entirely different life.
And a different identity.
Irritation swirled and tightened her chest. She sat up. No. She refused to allow her past to pop up, slap her in the face, and ruin her future with Nate. She wouldn’t allow it. She actually loved Nate. Not to mention the size of his… investment portfolio. Love and money. She couldn’t let this crumble. She wouldn’t.
“Babe?” Nate called, popping his head around the door, as if her thoughts had summoned him. “Mmm, sweaty.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Good workout?” he added, then nodded at the chair Daphne had dragged to the corner next to the window. “Moved things around, huh?”
“It will be my reading spot,” she said with a smile.
This lakefront cottage boasted five bedrooms and four bathrooms, and an outdoor shower for the rustic experience. This, the smallest room, she’d claimed as her work-out and chill-out space. She hadn’t put a sign on the door saying No Children, but she was hoping the message was clear. She’d mentioned this idea to Nate last night right before she’d performed his favorite sex act, thus establishing a relationship between her suggestion and toe-curling pleasure. And it had worked, because this morning, over breakfast, he’d dutifully informed the kids that this room was a no-go area. Annalise had rolled her eyes, Ryan had shrugged, and Gina had blinked at her in that unnatural way. But so far, so good.
“Have you met our neighbor?” Daphne found herself asking.
“I haven’t spoken to her,” Nate replied. “Why?”
“Curious.”
“Gonna get Ryan out on the lake shortly,” Nate said.
He’d mentioned the jet ski again at breakfast and while he hadn’t explicitly said it was a Nate-and-Ryan-only trip, Daphne knew he hoped for this.
“Lovely,” Daphne said easily. “Has Annalise said what she’s doing today?”
“Staying in her room, was the gist of her response. And Gina’s playing in the living room, so…. She’s pretty self-sufficient, but good for someone to keep an eye on her.” His smile was wobbly and uncertain and adorable.
“Of course.” She stood up. It didn’t matter that she still had no clue what to make of Gina. She’d chosen this life and Gina was part of it.
“I’ll be here.”
“Perfect.” He stepped closer to kiss her. “And later, you and I can get sweaty together.”
“Dad!” Ryan hollered.
“Coming.”
As Daphne strolled into the living room a door slammed, marking Nate and Ryan’s departure. Gina was playing on the living room floor and once again she had those two dolls with her. Daphne stared at her for a moment. At what age did girls grow out of dolls? She tried to remember her own childhood and dolls or other toys she’d been obsessed with but came up with nothing. She frowned. Why couldn’t she recall a single concrete memory about a toy she’d loved? Maybe Daphne shouldn’t be throwing ‘weird’ stones at Gina from her own brittle glasshouse.
She moved farther into the living room. Gina appeared not to have noticed her, still focused on the dolls. She had one in each hand and moved them as if they were talking to each other. Daphne took another step and saw Gina moving her lips. Whispered words drifted from her mouth.
“What was that?” Daphne said.
Gina looked up, her eyes wide and innocent. “Can we light the fire?” she asked.
“The fire?”
Gina turned, her gaze landing on the firepit beyond the doors.
“Right,” Daphne said. Nate had promised marshmallows. “We’ll roast the marshmallows tonight,” she added.
“Okay.” Gina’s mouth curled up in a small smile.
Daphne scratched at her stomach. Her workout sweat was drying and she needed a shower. Could she leave Gina alone for ten minutes with a mass of water less than a hundred feet away? She was hardly a toddler, but still. Children made bad decisions, that’s why they needed babysitters. Maybe she could coax Annalise out of her room. Not only to keep an eye on Gina, but perhaps they could do something together, the three of them. Diluting Gina’s oddness with Annalise’s presence—even if she wasn’t much of a conversationalist—had to help.
She walked down the hall to Annalise’s room and knocked. “Annalise?”
From inside came a loud thump and a little cry. Daphne quickly pushed open the door. Her eyes searched the room until she found Annalise standing next to the window with an expression that, to Daphne, was the definition of guilt. She wore her dark hair parted in the middle and hanging straight down to her shoulders. Her eyeliner, heavy dashes of black, was smudged—probably intentionally—and she’d paired her oversized shirt with bicycle shorts. All up, Daphne couldn’t get a strong sense of what kind of identity Annalise was communicating with this messy ensemble. When Daphne herself was a teenager, you could tell a person’s group by the clothes they wore.
“Are you okay?” she asked, not sure what else to say. Annalise did not reply. Daphne stepped inside the room, frowning, until the smell hit her nostrils. Smoke. But not cigarette smoke.
“You’re smoking pot.”
“It’s not illegal.”
“It is for fifteen-year-olds.”
Annalise’s face twisted and turned sullen. They continued to stare at each other. Daphne cleared her throat. She wasn’t this girl’s mother, and she didn’t even have a strong opinion on the subject. She herself had started drinking and partying—pretty heavily, really—at about the same age. Could she judge Annalise for doing the modern equivalent?
“Don’t tell Dad,” Annalise blurted suddenly, her expression stricken. “Please? He’ll freak out. I only smoke a little when I’m feeling anxious.”
“What are you anxious about?”
Annalise shrugged and looked down. “Dunno. School starts soon. You know.”
Daphne nodded. She’d never been an anxious sort but she’d had enough experience with her clients to know it was a real thing. When you got down to the nitty-gritty, a big part of her old job—her old life—had been about stress or anxiety. And loneliness.
“Okay. I get it. I promise.”
“Yeah?” Annalise looked uncertain, then smiled. “Cool.”
Pleasure popped and fizzed in Daphne’s chest. She was good at this.
“Hey, can you keep an eye on Gina while I take a shower?”
“Okay.”
“Great.” Daphne smiled as she walked to the bathroom. This stepmother thing was turning out to be a breeze. Why did people complain about teenagers so much?
At dinner, the feeling of comradery continued. Annalise wore her usual expression—a combination of sullen and wary—but when she connected with Daphne’s gaze they exchanged a smile. Daphne hadn’t told Nate about Annalise and the weed when he’d arrived back about half an hour ago, he and Ryan clattering noisily onto the dock. Daphne had kept her promise and now they were buds. Maybe she’d suggest a girls trip tomorrow. Shopping, perhaps? Silver Bay was hardly the place, but there had to be a shop or two and they could get lunch.
Daphne moved her attention to Gina, seated across the table. Still a big question mark, that one. She’d barely said a word all day, keeping herself superglued to those dolls and talking only to them. And while Gina had let Daphne comb her hair before dinner, the whole thing had felt so unnatural that Daphne wondered whether they were both playing at their respective roles. But if Gina was ‘playing’ at being a little girl, then what was she really?
“Wine?” Nate asked, bringing a bottle of pinot noir from the kitchen.
“Sure,” Daphne said.
“Tell me about your day, ladies,” he said, settling at the table.
“Annalise smoked a funny smelling cigarette and Daphne promised not to tell you, Dad,” Gina said without hesitation.