Love Survives (Love's Suicide #2)(89)

He patted my shoulder. “I’m glad to hear it. I know your mom is going to be gone half the time from now on.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we started to pull the bedrails out.

“She’s not going to want to be so far away from her granddaughter.”

I smiled. “Yeah. I hate going to work and leaving them. If I could stay at home and live in a bubble I would. Hey, do you know anything about the house next door?”

“Why? Are you in the market?”

“I might be.”

“I’ll get you the information.”

“Just do me a favor and don’t mention it to Kat.”

“Why, are you afraid she won’t want to move. You know your mother and I don’t blame her for leaving.”

“It’s not that, dad. I want it to be a surprise.”

“Wow, you’re going all out.”

“I’ve got a family to consider now. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be returning to full duty. My hand is too messed up. If things go as I suspect, I might be looking for a job outside of the military. Since I have security clearance, I’d be better searching for something around this area. It’s still too soon to be sure, but I’m just trying to stay on top of it.”

“Whatever you need us to do, we’ll be there. Even if you need to stay here for a while. This house has been so quiet. It would be great to have it full of people again.”

After we got the railings put in Kat’s old room, we joined the women downstairs. I caught them in mid conversation and stood in the other room to eavesdrop.

I heard my mom’s voice first. “Don’t let that get to you. I think you both needed the time apart. I don’t mean that like you’re assuming. What I mean is that you needed the time to figure out your feelings. Between the two of us, I think you probably always knew. You’ve favored Brooks since the three of you were babies.”

Kat sounded like she laughed. “I never really thought about it. When we were kids we all three loved each other. It was so innocent back then.”

“Honey, we all grow up. We make mistakes and we learn from them. I wish that you all didn’t have to hurt each other so much, but everyone’s happy now. Even Branch seems content with his life.”

“He won’t be happy to know I’m here. I’m sure I’m the last person he and Melissa ever want to see again.” That may have been true, but we were going to have to face them. My parents wouldn’t take no for answer, not if they thought they could have us all back together again.

“Katy, it’s none of my business, but maybe it would do you all some good to work things out.”

“I don’t know. I can’t make a decision like that without Brooks.”

I thought about joining in on the conversation, but decided to let it go. I didn’t want Kat getting mad at me if I agreed with my mom.

A while later, right after B’s bath, my dad I started removing the plastic on the rails so we could put them on the bed. My mom helped get B dressed while Kat reached in her bag and grabbed a book. “B, do you want Mama or Daddy to read it?”

“Daddy and Mama.”

It made me so happy to hear her call me that. I almost forgot that she needed me to read the story.

Kat took the lead and then let me finish the book. It was cool how B started to doze off after the first few pages. She did get a kick out of how I read with excitement.

After our daughter was asleep, we met my parents downstairs. They were sipping on wine and offered us some right away.

“We’ve been talking while you were putting B down. Listen, I know you’ll both have a hard time with it, but we want to have your brother and Melissa over before you leave. We’re a family, all of us. So much time has passed and we never know when something could happen.” My mom wasn’t going to drop it. She was adamant about having my brother come for a visit.

“Okay,” Kat replied.

I turned my attention to her, shocked. “Wait, did you just say okay?”

“Yeah. We can handle Branch and even my ex best-friend Melissa. Some more of this wine might be necessary though.”

Everyone in the room began to crack up.

We stayed up for a while after that, talking and catching up. When my parents would ask questions that made Kat uncomfortable, I’d take over, giving them enough information to keep them satisfied. I was sure there were gaps they were trying to fill in their minds, but they seemed content with whatever I fed them.

Kat went up to bed first, leaving me to say good night to my parents. I wanted them to know how much I appreciated everything they were doing. Surprisingly I hadn’t even thought about Bobby or the fact that we still had all of that mess to deal with.

When I entered my bedroom I didn’t see Kat anywhere. It was obvious she’d gone through my bag. Clothes were strewn all around it. I pulled off my shorts and climbed into my bed, figuring Kat would come to bed when she was ready. I never expected her to come jumping out of the closet, wearing nothing but my camo jacket and boots.

When I realized what she was doing I put my hands behind my head and prepared for a show. The jacket was unbuttoned, leaving little to the imagination. I licked my lips as I watched her sauntering in my direction.

At first it was sexy. I was preparing for it to get even hotter when her knees hit the mattress. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened.