Chapter 38
Dr. Kelly isn't as bad as Quinn had feared. She doesn't force him to relive his worst childhood memories. She doesn't question his need for control. She just gently nudges him toward more productive ways of dealing with it. And it's with Dr. Kelly that Quinn and Lily are taking baby steps toward compromise.
"Baby steps" is such a dumb phrase, Quinn thinks. He's spent his entire career taking high-risk, disproportionately outsized steps. But here he is, mapping out what "reasonable" security precautions look like for the Director Special Operations and his soon-to-be-wife—working toward them in baby steps.
Lily has moved back into the house, and he is very grateful for that—as are the houseplants, at least the ones that aren't already dead—which Lily took care to note during her very serious house plant inspection. And she took her ring back. He proposed to her properly this time—on the back patio, down on one knee, under the stars—with champagne in an ice bucket. She thought maybe they should go to the local hospital for old time's sake. Quinn disagreed.
But as they sit on the patio on this sunny weekend morning—coffee mugs in hand, watching the new bird feeder she hung up on a tree that fascinates her—he feels genuinely at peace. He smiles at her and she smiles back.
"Do you think that the blue jays migrate away for winter?" she asks thoughtfully.
"If they're smart," he grins, taking a sip of coffee.
She rolls her eyes and goes back to her book. He glances at it. Stephen King. This one will clearly be filed away under "red cover."