Page 31 of A Second Chance for the Beta

She shrugs.

“Dante is a saint,” I admit. “He is just so accepting.”

“And Charlie is not?” she pushes.

“I think she doesn’t trust him,” I say. “I mean not for him to do anything to her, but she—”

“She doubts he wants to be in her life and stay there?” Annie concludes.

“What do you think?”

“I think you need a lot of patience,” she says. “She doesn’t trust easily, which is to be expected. But you also need boundaries concerning you, but also Dante. It wouldn’t be fair to him to be always pushed away and walked over.”

“You are right,” I admit. “It’s just so hard to do.”

“Yes.” Annie sighs. “For what it matters, I think you and Dante are both amazing, and Charlie is an amazing kid too.” She pauses. “Tell me if I’m overstepping, Ella. It’s not my position to tell you my opinion on how to raise your niece.”

“Are you kidding? I’m dying to talk about this with someone who is not involved,” I say. Dante is scared to upset me, which is a usual and unfortunate pattern we have for every conflict. I need an outsider’s perspective, especially from my best friend.

“I think,” Annie says. “Charlie needs time. But you probably need to consider your role in her life. Are you going to be her aunt? Her sister? Her mom? Her friend? You have a parental responsibility for her. Everything is going well at the moment, but what if she pushes her boundaries and tests you? What are you going to do then?”

“You know what, I’ve been wondering about this too. But I’m not sure what to do. I didn’t even know how to ask her where she is off to now. And school starts next week, and I have a teen with me. I need to help her with schoolwork and make sure she attends her classes. But at the same time, I know she is very independent because she is used to doing things on her own.”

“I agree. She needs to be allowed to keep some of this independence, or she will suffocate.”

“Oh, Goddess… I’m not prepared for this!”

“I don’t think it’s possible to figure it out all at once,” Annie muses. “I think you and Dante are handling it really well.”

I smile. “He is amazing, isn’t he? He says he already sees her as his own niece. I will be eternally thankful that the goddess made him my mate.” I chuckle. “To imagine I first didn’t want a mate at all.”

“You were used to being on your own,” Annie says. “Yet you didn’t run away from the mate bond.”

“I was contemplating it though.”

“That doesn’t matter. You didn’t run and instead gave him a chance.”

“Can you set us up with a counselor?” I ask. “I would like a therapist for Charlie, but I think an additional family counselor would be great too. You know, for a kid that spent her life in the system up to now, suddenly living with her aunt who grew up as an orphan without stability—Dante and I might need the help of a social worker.”

“Of course!” Annie exclaims. “I will talk to Dave. He is a psychology major. Oh, and you know, Liam’s brother, Marius, since he became lune has built up shelters for neglected kids. I bet he has plenty of contacts. I will give him a call tomorrow morning.”

I drop the stuff I’m holding and hug her. “You are the best!”

“You are even better.”

I grin. “Let’s settle for we are both awesome.”

“Good, now that’s settled”—Annie goes through my shopping bag and grabs the bag of ground meat and tomatoes—“what do you want me to do with these?”

“I have no idea,” I groan. “You know I can’t cook to save my life. And D isn’t much better. But now we have a kid living here, so I thought I need to at least try to provide her with home-cooked meals.”

Thank Goddess Annie doesn’t laugh at me and instead takes my efforts seriously. “Okay, well, let’s start with something simple. No need to go all Gordon Ramsay on your first attempt.”

“Is this a cooking reference I don’t get?”

Annie grins. “Apparently it is. Let’s do something simple. How about spaghetti with homemade sauce?”

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