Feisty Red (Three Chicks Brewery #2) - Stacey Kennedy Page 0,41
“No, I didn’t know about him, and no, I’m not upset my ex didn’t tell me. I walked out on her, a complete mess of a man, and didn’t answer her call when she tried to tell me about our son. If I were in her spot, I would have done the same damn thing. She protected her child; I won’t ever fault her for that.”
Elizabeth studied him. Sullivan got the impression his response surprised her.
“So, you have a son,” she eventually said. “That must have been quite a shock.”
“Definitely,” Sullivan admitted. “But it’s a good shock. He’s a cool kid.”
Elizabeth made another note, and Sullivan would have paid a lot of money to read that paper as Elizabeth asked, “Does your son know you’re his father?”
“Yes, we told him last week.”
She looked up from her notepad. “You and your ex told him?”
“That’s right.”
Elizabeth set her pen down on the notepad. “So, you and your son’s mother are talking again?”
He nodded, and seeing that he didn’t feel the need to hide anything, he added, “Among other things.”
Elizabeth remained stone-faced. She uncrossed her legs then crossed them again, regarding Sullivan intently. “Just so I have all the facts: you’ve reunited with the woman you say you left behind, only to find out you have a son you didn’t know about. This is a lot for anyone, Sullivan. How are you feeling about all this?”
Good. Amazing. Happy. But considering the tension on Elizabeth’s face, he figured that was the wrong answer. “How should I be feeling about this?” he asked.
She responded with a soft smile. “That’s not for me to answer, Sullivan.”
His chest squeezed. He tried to sort through all he felt, but it seemed impossible. He looked to her window, where a tree danced in the wind. “I’m not sure I need to feel anything. It is what it is. We can only move forward now, and everyone seems happy.”
“Interesting perspective,” Elizabeth said.
Sullivan’s gaze snapped to her, his chest heating under the firmness in her eyes. “But you think it’s wrong?”
“No perspective is wrong,” Elizabeth countered gently. “But I would ask you: how is that perspective working for you in your life?”
His lips parted to say everything was fine and things were good, but he shut his mouth tight. For nearly seven years, he’d been running from his choice to leave River Rock behind. He’d taken women to his bed to forget the one woman who held his heart. Now he was back, and while he felt like he and Clara were healing, he still had a lot to face. “I’d say that perhaps my perspective needs some tweaking.”
Elizabeth gave a gentle nod. “If I could offer you some advice, I would say this: you need to go back, Sullivan, revisit the pivotal moments that shaped your life up until this point and face them. Not only for yourself, but for your son.” And for the mother of your child, she didn’t say aloud, but he heard anyway. She set her paper down on the table. “You’re with me because something in your life isn’t working and it’s leading you on a path that’s hurting you. But to work on that, you need to face the things that put you on this path in the first place. There are no shortcuts.”
He glanced away to the window again, swallowing hard. “I can’t face the reason I left River Rock. Both of them are dead.”
“Here on Earth,” she said so softly, drawing Sullivan’s gaze again. She placed a hand on her chest. “But not here.” She tapped her chest once more. “Here, they are never dead.”
Sullivan felt the ground shake beneath him. He rose, moved to the window, and stared out, wishing he could get in a big gulp of fresh air. “So, what are you suggesting here? I go and chat it out with my parents in the cemetery?”
“If that would help, then, yes,” Elizabeth said, matter-of-factly from behind him. “I’m not here to give you the answers, Sullivan. I’m here to help guide you. Your life is yours. The time we’ve had together is all we’ve got. Have you done everything you came here to do?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “And what if I haven’t?”
Her smile became all too knowing. “Then, you owe it to yourself to find peace. If you feel you’ve got what you needed out of our sessions then great, but—”
“You think I haven’t?”
Again, she gave a polite smile. “I think you’ve shown up. But you’re edgy. I