Page 10 of Owen

Luna walked in, her eyes darting between them as she frowned. She must have picked up on the tension. “I don’t know what’s going on in here, but I need you at the evening event. It’s one of the mandatory ones, and you skipped an entire day’s worth of sessions. People are starting to wonder what’s up.”

“Of course, we’ll come,” Soph said, closing her laptop lid.

“Great.” Luna seemed a bit surprised at Soph’s immediate acceptance. “It’s starting now in the main lodge.”

“Owen?” Sophie eyed him, as if daring him to refuse to come.

He gave her a smile that he knew would piss her off. “After you.”

They walked up to the lodge with Luna and Sophie chatting. He opted not to join in. He knew the fight with Sophie wasn’t over. He’d have to do battle with her to keep her from taking risks, but that could wait until they were private again.

Inside the lodge’s dining room, they were each handed a scorecard. Apparently, the evening’s task was to rate how optimistic they were about their relationship. The choices ranged from a ten with a smiley face down to a frowny face one.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sophie circle the still frowny three decisively with her pencil. Yeah, that was about how he felt, too. Parts of the day he’d have rated higher, but not the ending. They were a couple in trouble.

Nothing fake about that.

FIVE

Sleeping next to a man that she was half-attracted to and half-angry with was not a recipe for a good night of rest. Sophie had tossed and turned, probably irritating him, even though he’d seemed to sleep soundly. She woke late, feeling a little fuzzy, like she’d had too much champagne even though that was definitely not what had happened the evening before. They’d returned to the cabin after the session—both of them rating the future of their relationship a dim three—and said not a word to each other as they prepared for bed.

She had to admit that he’d been her hero in a way when he’d gotten them to safety and arranged for Ethan to pick them up. It had given her a glimpse into Owen’s serious side, and she was impressed—all the more so since before this investigation, she would have said he didn’t have one, that he was all play and no work. That no longer seemed to be the case. He knew what he was doing. He was decisive, and he’d put himself between possible danger and her. She wasn’t used to anyone doing that.

She always fought her own battles. It wasn’t a problem—she liked it that way. Having a partner would mean that someone had a say in how things were done, and she preferred to make her own choices. Yesterday, she saw the value in having someone at her back, someone who brought different skills to the table, and who was committed to keeping her safe. That could be a very good thing…but it could also be a pain in the ass. Like last night, when he’d declared that all in-person interviews were off the table. She wasn’t accepting that, but she couldn’t outright defy him.

She rolled out of bed and did the usual check in with Julia and Helen. As soon as she did that, a text came in from Owen.

Already at the lodge. Mandatory session starting in an hour. See you there.

The last thing she wanted to do was play along with the couple’s therapy business, but she wouldn’t disappoint Luna. She rushed through getting ready so she could steal a little time on her computer before heading to the lodge. She dove into following some leads, trying to figure out her next steps.

At the appointed time, she walked to the lodge and took a seat next to Owen, exchanging only a quick hello with him. She hadn’t bothered to look at what was on the agenda, so she waited for Luna to begin the session.

“I hope everyone has had a good morning,” Luna said. “Our goal for the next hour is to focus on active listening. How much do you really hear of what your partner says? On the other hand, how much do you share? And how do you share it? The way you phrase things can make an enormous difference, especially when it comes to things that are important to you. So we’ll start with ‘I’ statements. This is where you declare a problem that you feel your partner hasn’t really listened to—but don’t phrase it as an accusation. Don’t assume you know what your partner is thinking. Just express whatyouthink and how you feel. Max and Georgia, let’s start with you.”

As it turned out, the middle-aged couple both were concerned about remarkably similar things. Each was so caught up in what their two pre-teen sons were doing—soccer games, music lessons, schoolwork—that they’d stopped paying attention to each other. It seemed like that was an easy fix, and they promised to spend more time exclusively with each other, talking about things that didn’t focus on their children. They needed, in Luna’s terms, to validate their relationship.

“Okay, let’s hear from someone else,” Luna said. “Sophie, what is something that is important you want to discuss with Owen where you feel Owen isn’t fully hearing you?”

Sophie cast Owen a side glance. He was watching her but offering nothing. She could make up a nonsense story, the way they had the other day. Instead, she decided to use the opportunity to see if theycouldwork on their differences. But how to express the issue without revealing too much to the group? A few beats of silence passed while she invented a scenario.

Luna was casting her an anxious glance. “There must be—”

“Owen doesn’t want me to go…scuba diving when my company has our annual retreat in the Bahamas in June. He thinks it’s too dangerous, but it’s a team building event that I want to do. Besides, I love the water and I’m excited about this opportunity. But every time I bring it up, he refuses to discuss it.”

“Owen, can you validate for Sophie why you have a problem with her scuba diving?”

“Absolutely. It’s simple. The water is full of sharks. Do you know how many species of sharks live in the Caribbean waters? There are bull sharks, two types of reef sharks, tiger sharks—”

“Honestly!” Sophie exclaimed. She knew she was dealing with sharks in this investigation. He didn’t have to list them. And how in the world did he know the types of sharks off the top of his head? She wanted to ask but that wasn’t relevant at the moment, so she pushed on. “Do you see my problem?”

“Actually,” Max interrupted, “shark attacks in the Caribbean are very rare. You’re more likely to experience an attack along the East Coast of the United States.”

“Thanks,” Sophie grumbled, getting into her role. “Now, I won’t be able to go to the beach ever again.”

“Let’s try to get to the heart of the conflict and mediate it,” Luna said. “Sophie, try to express how it makes you feel that Owen is opposed to you scuba diving.”

“It makes me feel…that he underestimates my capabilities. Plus, he doesn’t understand how important my work is to me. It’s like he has no faith in me. That hurts.”

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