Unexpected Attraction. Stella MacLean

of concern for Shannon since he’d left and married another woman. If it hadn’t been for Andrea’s attempts to maintain a connection between her daughter and her ex, Shannon would have known how little Scott cared. But she’d always made a point of reminding Scott of their daughter’s birthday and anything new or different in Shannon’s life. She’d done it all for Shannon, and this was how her daughter responded?

      Shannon’s words brought painful memories to the surface. Scott had done everything to gain custody of Shannon, including having a psychologist, Jake Polegato, do an assessment trying to prove Andrea was an unfit parent. She would never forget those days when Jake interviewed Shannon and gained her confidence. Shannon had been happy that Jake showed her so much attention and understanding. But when he made the case that Shannon might be better off with her father, that staying with her mother was not necessarily the right decision for Shannon, Andrea had been furious.

      As far as she was concerned, the man was a fraud. At the very least he was acting in Scott’s best interests, not Shannon’s.

      She shook off the memory. She couldn’t stand to be reminded of Scott or Jake. Neither of them mattered to her anymore. The only person who mattered in her life was here in this room.

      “Sweetie, there was no need for you to call your dad. He’s too far away to be of any help,” she said, fighting to keep her voice even.

      Seeing the loneliness in Shannon’s blue eyes and knowing how much she wanted her father to care about her, Andrea eased her daughter into her arms. “It’s okay. I’m here and everything will be fine. You’ll see.”

      She felt Shannon’s tears on her shoulder, the heaving of her daughter’s chest against hers. She stroked her daughter’s blond hair gently, loving her as she had never loved anyone in her life. Shannon meant everything to her.

      A nurse entered the curtained space. “We’re taking your daughter for an X-ray, then if everything is okay, she’ll be going home.”

      Giving Shannon one more hug, Andrea whispered, “This will be over soon.”

      Shannon’s glance was a blend of bravado and uncertainty as the nurse moved to unlock the brakes on the stretcher then pushed it toward the corridor.

      “I’ll be here when you get back,” Andrea murmured, clutching her purse tighter to ward off the chilling thought that in the past few hours so much had changed between them.

      In the four years since the divorce, Andrea had watched her daughter blossom into a beautiful, independent teenager. A young woman who was carefree and happy, who shared everything in her life with her mother. And that’s why the call Shannon had made to her father hurt so much. She had been there for her daughter, had cared for her and loved her, and now when she needed Shannon to show a little appreciation for all her efforts. Shannon had called Scott, the one person in her life who had hurt her in ways she was still trying to deal with. It wasn’t fair.

      Despite everything, she and Shannon were best friends. No one could come between them. Not now. Not ever. Shannon had always confided in her...always.

      Until now. Suddenly her anger shifted, twisted in her chest, forming a ball of fear. Fear mixed with foreboding as Andrea waited for Shannon’s return. They were a team. They would get through this together.

       CHAPTER TWO

      JAKE POLEGATO TOOK a moment to calm the disbelief and anger building in him as he observed the behavior of these two very difficult parents. For two months he’d been working with this family to give their daughter a chance to express her needs. She was a seventeen-year-old private-school student struggling to get her parents to accept who she was and what she wanted out of life. The parents couldn’t address each other without yelling and screaming, behavior that clearly upset their daughter.

      She wanted to go to the University of Michigan and study genetics rather than the Ivy League school they were pushing her to attend. She wanted to make a difference in the world, not continue living the pampered lifestyle her family espoused. What had started out as a disagreement had escalated into a standoff between the parents, Jessica and Don Parker, and their only daughter, Elaine. He turned to the father whose sullen expression he found particularly annoying today. “Don, do you hear the excitement in your daughter’s voice when she talks about the class visit to the university’s department of genetics?”

      “Yeah, Dad, I would really love you to meet Mr. Duncan, the professor who’s heading up all the research I’m interested in.”

      The father swung his gaze to his daughter. “You can take genetics at lots of different universities, don’t you know that?”

      “There you go again, Don, trying to belittle what Elaine wants,” Jessica yelled, her face red, tears dampening her high cheekbones.

      “Okay, let’s try to remain civil here. Each of you feels the other isn’t listening, but this can’t be resolved until each of you is ready to simply hear what the other says. Now, let’s give Elaine a chance to explain one more time why she loves the field of genetics.”

      As he tried to find common ground, Jake was reminded of another case he’d been involved in, one that had haunted him since he’d offered his opinion four years ago. This afternoon he’d received a phone call from the guidance counselor at the local high school, asking him to be part of a meeting involving the young woman from that case. She’d been in some sort of altercation in which she’d been injured. The school psychologist was ill and he’d requested that Jake attend tomorrow’s meeting in his stead.

      As Elaine finished her explanation, he turned to Mrs. Parker, took a deep breath and used a gentle, inclusive tone when he addressed her. “Can you speak to what your daughter has just said? How you feel about it?”

      “What do you mean?”

      “Why don’t you rephrase what your daughter just told you in your own words? It would give you and Elaine a chance to understand each other better.”

      As he proceeded to engage with the Parkers his mind kept going to the call he’d gotten. The school had identified recent issues with the teenager that, when combined with the incident today, had the administration worried. She was a high achiever both scholastically and in extracurricular activities but was now getting into fights and not doing well in class.

      The student’s name was Shannon Taylor—a name he wasn’t likely to forget. His testimony and opinion had nearly resulted in Shannon living with her father and leaving her mother behind. After observing Andrea Taylor—a mother whose obsessive need for control had manifested in explosive bouts of anger that raised Shannon’s anxiety—he’d felt compelled to suggest Shannon live with the father, who seemed much more easygoing and less controlling.

      At the time it seemed like the best recommendation, but he knew in his heart that he’d acted out of his own deep-seated fears. The year before he met the Taylors, his wife, Maria, a strong-willed, brilliant psychologist and his business partner, had died giving birth to a daughter who had never drawn a breath. Maria had been addicted to painkillers as a result of a car accident and had refused treatment for her addiction, yet Jake hadn’t taken precautions to prevent a pregnancy. He’d failed his wife and his daughter.

      An outburst from Don Parker forced his mind back to the issues at hand. “I think what I’m going to get each of you to do is to write down the reasons for and against Elaine going to the University of Michigan. I want each of you to give two reasons why it’s a good idea and why it’s not.”

      “It’s not a good idea,” Don Parker said emphatically.

      “Just be willing to remain calm and do as I ask,” Jake said, glancing at each in turn to get their consent to what he considered to be a very simple exercise. He’d run out of ideas with these parents and was quite frankly willing to admit defeat if something didn’t change soon.

      Watching Don Parker’s angry approach, he was reminded of another parent’s similar response.