Willow rubbed his ginger jawline. “Okay, just… Lemme think of a good way to say it…”
Patrick waited as the minutes ticked away. He started to get worried. “Is she secretly divorced or something?”
“Not that I know of.”
“What kind of an answer is that?” He picked up his phone. “I’m gonna call her and—”
Willow snatched it out of his hand. “Oh no, you don’t.”
“The hell?!”
“Call her now and you’re done. Finito.”
“How do you—”
“Because I have eyes, Patrick. Because I have eyes and a brain, and has Cheryl ever talked to you about her mum?”
The subject change almost gave him whiplash. “No, I mean, I know she’s sick, but I’ve never met her.”
“Me neither,” Willow said, tucking Patrick’s phone into his pocket. “But Cheryl’s told me about her. A little.”
Jealously flicked him like a switchblade. “Cheryl talked to you about her mum?”
“Yeah. Once.” It was a sign of how serious this was that Willow didn’t gloat. “She was babysitting Jupiter while Eden was in the studio, and I told her my dad was getting a new wheelchair and it went from there.”
“Cheryl’s mum’s in a wheelchair?”
“I can’t tell you. I don’t really know. Eden has her theories, but that’s it.”
“Eden doesn’t know?”
“I told you. Cheryl plays things close to the chest.”
Patrick pushed back his chair and got to his feet. “Why? I’m not gonna judge her for having a sick mum. No one’s gonna judge her for having a sick mum!”
“I know, mate. But you’ve gotta—”
“DADA!”
Patrick turned to see a tiny blonde child barrelling across the marble at them. Jupiter Williams tottered to her dad, who bent just in time to sweep her into the air.
“Hi, baby girl. Where’d you come from?”
“Hi,” Eden called from the hallway. “We’re back early!”
“I can tell.” Willow shot Patrick an apologetic smile. “Sorry, mate. Put a pin in our chat?”
“Of course.” He waved at Jupiter. “Hey, Jup.”
The little girl buried her face in her dad’s chest and Willow laughed. “Still working on that crush, aren’t you, baby?”
Jupiter’s cheeks went bright red.
“Don’t tease her,” Patrick said.
“I’m not. I’m letting her know she can like whoever she wants. Say hi to your Uncle Psycho, Jup.”
“Hi,” Jupiter mumbled.
