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The first time she’d seen his room, it’d been bittersweet, because it had a few of the elements she and David were going to incorporate into their own nursery—light blue paint on the walls and a slightly darker shade on the ceiling, decorated with puffy white clouds. David had obviously expanded their vision by adding random glow-in-the-dark stars on both the ceiling and walls, as well as recognizable constellations: the big dipper, little dipper, Orion, Cassiopeia, and Pegasus. The cork board squares he’d adhered to the walls in a line running all around the room were a touch of genius, allowing Jacob to tack tons of pictures to it and change them out whenever he wanted.
The green rug on the floor was shaped like a giant frog—which Paige absolutely adored—and matched his frog-themed bedding. She assumed it had all been purchased long before his Scooby-Doo obsession had become a thing.
Jacob rushed to his bookshelf to pick out a bedtime story. Book in hand, he then literally cannon-balled onto his bed, barely clearing Marshmallow who opened her eyes and glared at being rudely disrupted.
“Be careful,” she gently reprimanded Jacob, as she went to soothe the cat. “Remember, she can’t hear you.”
“Sorry,” he quickly apologized, giving Marshmallow a few sweet pets on the top of her head, which seemed to appease her, before crawling under the covers.
Once he was situated, Paige began lightly tucking him in and as she did, noticed he was clutching the aquamarine ‘necklace’. “Do you want me to put that on your nightstand?” she asked, pointing to his hand.
Nodding, he held it out to her.
She set it down next to a pair of crystals, recognizing one as obsidian but not recognizing the other. Picking it up, she admired the swirls and layers of colors before asking, “What’s this?”
He frowned. “I can’t remember.”
“Whatever it is, it’s really pretty.”
Jacob pointed to the black crystal. “That’s obsidian,” he said carefully. “It protects.”
“I know,” she told him, switching it for the multi-colored one. “Did you pick this at your first session with Lauren?”
He nodded.
“I have one almost just like it.”
“You do?”
It was her turn to nod. “I picked it during my first session with Lauren, too.”
“You had a … session?”
“I had several, actually,” she said, then clarified, “A few years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed help to feel better after someone I knew had been mean to me, when I was little.”
His eyes widened at that. “Who was it?”
“My uncle.” When he seemed unsure what an uncle was, she used David as an example, since she didn’t know if Ashley had a brother, nor did Paige want to even bring up the other woman. “If your dad had a brother, he would be your uncle,” Paige explained. “My mom had a brother, which made him my uncle. He was the one who was mean to me.”
“Oh.” He studied her for a moment. “How was he mean?”
“He hurt me sometimes.”
“Did you cry?”
“Yes, I did. But he can’t hurt me anymore.”
“Because of your crystal?”
“That’s part of it,” she said, returning the obsidian to the nightstand and then sitting down on the bed next to him. “So, what am I going to be reading?” she asked, gently changing the subject.
He held up a well-worn book illustrated with the face of a monkey—his expression rather annoyed—against a dark red background. “This is my favorite.”
“Grumpy Monkey,” she said, reading the title as she took it from him. “It must be a good book, if it’s your favorite.”
