“Thank you.” She pulled back. “I just need to…to think. To find a way to get through to them.”
Going up on tiptoes, she pressed a kiss to his jaw and walked out, leaving only the light scent of jasmine behind.
A minute later, a tap on the door made him look over.
“Z. What are you doing on campus?” Ghost could hear the lack of welcome in his voice and couldn’t find it in himself to care. How the fuck was he going to—
“Was that our Valerie I saw with tears on her face?” Z’s expression was as grim as Ghost felt inside.
“Yes. It was.” Tears. God, she was breaking his heart. “This isn’t a good time—” He stopped himself. Actually, Z might have some ideas.
Ghost straightened. “Let’s walk. If I stay here, we’ll get interrupted by students.”
“All right.” Z laid a folder on the desk. “Jessica asked me to drop off the contracts for service companies for the house and grounds. They should have stayed with the mansion but were packed by mistake.”
“Ah, fine. Thank you.” Ushering Z out, Ghost locked the door. “How’s the baby?”
“She’s doing quite well, thank you.” Z’s gray eyes lightened. “She’s beautiful—far quieter than Sophia was her first few days, so of course, Jessica and her mother are trying to decide which relative Aubrielle takes after.”
Ghost held the outside door for Z. “I believe inheritance guessing is a mandatory sport after a new addition to the family.”
On the campus grounds, the air sweltered as storm clouds from inland piled into a dark mass. Students huddled on benches, frantically studying for their exams.
“Valerie doesn’t seem the type to upset easily,” Z prompted.
“She’s not.” Ghost felt the muscles in his cheek flex. “It seems her children handed out an ultimatum. Said she has to return to her ex-husband or not see them or her grandchild again.”
Z stared in disbelief.
“I haven’t met her kids.” Although Ghost had been looking forward to getting an introduction. Before this bullshit. “I have no idea if they’d follow through.”
“It’s quite a threat.”
“Z, she dotes on her children and grandbaby. He’s only two.”
“What did you suggest she should do?” Z asked, mildly.
“I said they couldn’t force her to return to the asshole.” Ghost felt anger rise again. “Then she told me about the threat.”
“And now, she’s in a no-win situation.”
“She wants some time to think. But it leaves her without my support.” And he found that impossible to tolerate.
“Ah.” Z tilted his head back, studying the black clouds. “Can she work through this on her own?”
“I’m not sure.” The rising wind carried the heavy scent of ocean. “She is the calmest, most rational person I know. However, her parents were unloving assholes. Their verbal abuse and cruelty left scars, and her divorce…”
“Insecurities do tend to resurface with the trauma of a divorce.” Z nodded.
“Exactly. And last night, her children essentially said their love comes with conditions.” Ghost’s hands closed into fists before he forced them open. “It’s a shit show.”
Z’s mouth tightened. “She didn’t need more wounds. Especially that kind.”
Ghost considered the psychologist. “Suggestions?”
“Can I assume you’re not going to give her up without a fight?”
Give her up? It’d be a cold day in hell. “I love her; what do you think?”
“Excellent.” Z gave him a faint smile. “However, I can understand how she would have difficulty arriving at a reasonable decision if you’re present. She probably can’t see past an either-or solution.”
Meaning she could have Ghost or her children, not both. “Roger that.”
“I suggest we find a couple of people who understand what she’s going through and can help her see a way out of the trap.”
What she was going through? Her children had turned on her. Such a mess couldn’t be common. No one he knew…
Ghost stopped walking. “I know someone.”
Ghost had once told Valerie that in the military, he’d go running any time his emotions started to slip out of control.
Since her emotions had passed uncontrolled and were headed straight for meltdown, she donned her jogging outfit.
In the first few minutes of running, her legs didn’t feel as if they belonged to her. As if she wasn’t even in her body.
As her blood warmed, her heart and lungs and muscles started to work together.
By the time she’d reached a mile and turned back, the pandemonium in her head had cleared, leaving peace behind.
She ran harder. Her shirt clung to her as sweat trickled down her back and dampened her sports bra. Her shoes slapped the trail