After the Climb (River Rain #1) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,90

over her face.

“I’m glad you have that,” she whispered.

“I am too. And I have it, Genny. And I’ve had Harv and Beth and their girls a long time. So it’s all good.”

Either that chased the shadow away, or the thought behind her next words did.

And a certain light hit her eyes before she said them. “You ready for bed?”

With her sleeping at his side, and other things they did there, always.

That said…

“We gotta talk about something first.”

She instantly settled in, ready for that if he needed it, and that was always too.

She’d reminded him he’d given her that.

But she gave it back.

Then.

And now.

“What?” she asked.

“Sasha,” he told her.

He had to say no more. She knew what he was thinking.

He told her anyway. “Honey, I now get what you were saying about direction. I’m of a mind too much pressure is put on kids to make decisions about the rest of their lives when they’re seventeen, eighteen, about to graduate and go to college or find another vocation. They’ve no idea who they are and are clueless how the world works, so they’re not at a place where they can make a decision about what they want to do with their life. If it was up to me, they’d all take time like Sash is taking, learn a little about the world and your place in it before you take it on. But I sense this is not what she’s doing. She’s…”

He didn’t know how to describe it.

Gen did.

“Lost. Drifting. Aimless.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

She rolled her head on her neck before she asked, “Do you think it might be the divorce?”

“I can’t know, baby. I’ve known her a month and this is all I know of her. Sunny. Sweet. Lively. But directionless. Is that a change?”

She nodded.

“She was an athlete, like her dad, her brother. Matt played tennis. He was good. Not as good as Tom but few are. Sasha played beach volleyball. And she was great. Coaches talked to her and us about the possibility of her going pro and competing in the Olympics. She’s a laidback kid. Chloe got all the drama in the family. But with that, Sash was driven. She loved doing it. After we moved to Phoenix, we spent a lot of time, shuttling back and forth so she could keep doing it. She was all in. And then she just…stopped.”

“Before the divorce, during or after?”

“During,” she whispered.

“You need to have a talk with her, Genny.”

“I have, Bowie. And she tells me to chill out. She’s all good. Just because she’s not doing what everyone else is doing doesn’t mean what she’s doing is wrong. I tell her everyone else doesn’t have a trust fund and rich parents to keep them in ripped jeans and embroidered tops. It isn’t like she’s scoring through the money we set aside for her to go to school and set up a life. She’s low maintenance. It was far more expensive to have Chloe in France for three years.”

He was not surprised about that.

“I shared in return you can’t wander through life without something,” she continued. “I agree with you, it’s okay for a while. And even good. She’s lucky she has that privilege when others don’t. But I’ve told her it can’t go on forever and Sash doesn’t get angry easily, or impatient, but that sure makes her both.”

“Can you cut her off, money-wise?” he queried.

She nodded but didn’t look happy about doing it. “Tom and I have control of her trust. She can’t get to the totality of it until she’s twenty-six. But, Bowie, that’s last ditch. It seems punitive. And she’s not doing anything wrong…as such. She’s just not doing, well, anything.”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“I’ll have a talk with her, after Christmas,” Gen decided.

“How ’bout you corral Coco to have a talk with her?” he suggested.

“I think you can imagine that Sasha is the least inclined of anyone to do what Chloe tells her to do.”

“Maybe. Chloe is also a big sister, has it together, and doesn’t breathe unless she’s doing it for someone she loves, and Sasha knows that. So it might not go down great in the beginning, but it also might get her thinking.”

Gen was also thinking as she said, “I’ll talk to Chloe about it. After the holidays.”

“Good. Now, time for bed.”

Her distracted expression fled, and her eyes came to his.

Then she gave Cookie a snuggle before she rose from her chair, dropped the cat on the seat and they walked, arms around each other,