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“I think she trusts me, yes.”
“Then make her understand what she saw occurred in a private moment. It just happened to have been at your office but had nothing to do with your practice. No different than if she had run into you at a bar after you’d had a few cocktails.”
Holly nods. “I like that. Yes. It’s almost an accurate analogy.”
Aaron winks. “Accurate enough.”
Holly shuffles nearer to him, closing the gap between their legs and nestling her head in the crook of his neck. He slides a hand over her far shoulder and pulls her in tighter, drinking in the lavender scent of her shampoo.
“Don’t know if I could do this without you,” she says.
CHAPTER 26
Wednesday, April 17
Walter nods toward the cup of hot chocolate, which Holly hasn’t touched since he placed it in front of her. “This must be serious, Koala.”
She sighs a laugh. “I’m not thirsty. I just felt like some company.”
“Now that, I can provide,” Walter says from where he sits across the kitchen table.
She fingers the handle of her cup without lifting it. “I keep making things worse, Papa.”
“Worse how?”
Holly tells Walter about the incident where JJ walked in on her while she was vaping DMT, and then says, “Honestly, I don’t know if I could get through this without Aaron’s support. He has been such a stalwart lately.”
“You’re speaking to him again, I assume.”
“Again?” She frowns. “When wasn’t I?”
“Did he mention that he came to see me?”
“No. When?”
“A few days ago. He said he was in the neighborhood.”
She can’t hide her skepticism. “What business would Aaron have in Dana Point?”
“Exactly.” Walter grins. “He came because he couldn’t reach you.”
“Oh.” Holly thinks of the calls and texts that she ignored on the day or two after she slept with him. Indebted as she feels to Aaron, the idea of him airing their domestic issues to her grandfather irks her. “What did you tell him?”
“To take it up with you.”
“It was no big deal. Aaron overreacted. I was just tied up for a couple of days.”
Walter shrugs. “I will give the man this. He cares deeply for you. But for him to think he could enlist my help to influence you by trying to make it about the cause…”
Holly sits up. “What are you talking about?”
“Aaron insinuated that if I helped to mend the communication breakdown between the two of you, somehow that might save the psychedelic movement.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Utterly. But even if it were true, I wouldn’t have raised a finger. Who does he think I am? That I would barter my granddaughter’s feelings like that?”
She stares at him for a helpless moment. “I’m so sorry, Papa. For everything.”
