Episode 1024: More Than That

He brought their coffees over to the kitchen table and set the cookies between them.

“I figured we could use some comfort food right about now.”

He bit into one of the gooey cookies and much to his relief, Justine took a bite as well. His wife hadn’t exactly been eating with gusto since the chat with her father. Quentin was almost as worried about Justine’s well-being at this point as their daughter’s. It had been some time now since Justine had last struggled with her mental health, but if ever there was something that could trigger her, it was worry for their daughter.

“She seems happy,” Quentin pointed out, “so your father must not have said anything.” He left out the yet, that Justine’s father hadn’t said anything yet.

Justine nodded and took another bite of cookie. “Tansy has been having fun with Hero tonight, we’ve heard them laughing together and there’s been nothing forced about her laughter. We both know how sensitive she’s been about this subject, if he’d said something it would show in her.”

Justine took another bite. “Maybe he really isn’t going to be a jerk about this,” she finally said.

“Our girl is really the greatest force of good I know, it’s entirely possible that she’s brought out the caring human in your father.” Quentin wanted to believe that, even if to him it seemed like a long-shot. “I guess we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, listening and talking and subtly getting the message across that we love her no matter what.”

“I’d like to ban her from communicating with my father for the rest of her life just to be on the safe side,” Justine said, “but since Tans isn’t going to comply I guess I need to bite the bullet and step up communication with my dad to try to keep him in line with us.”

Quentin’s stomach roiled at the prospect of his wife being her father’s line of fire on a regular basis.

Episode 1025: It's Gotta Be You