The Redo (Winslow Brothers #4) (10)

I nod. “We really are. Though, I’m the only one of us who looks it.”

“You’re right,” she says with a playful roll of her eyes. “You’re practically an old man compared to me.”

“Older by only two years,” I state and point one teasing index finger toward her. “And careful, Ri, or else you’re going to start sounding like my family.”

She giggles. “Are they still as rambunctious as they used to be?”

“No.” I shake my head on a laugh. “I can assure you they are much, much worse.”

She snorts, and the sound is so sweet, I find myself spouting some more Winslow family updates.

“Flynn has a wife and twins. Jude is married, and Ty, as I mentioned, is on his way over the cliff. And Winnie—well, as I’m sure you remember—is the only sane one out of all of us. She’s married to Wes Lancaster and has a brilliant daughter, Lexi, who keeps us all in check.”

“Wes Lancaster? As in, the billionaire owner of the New York Mavericks?”

“The one and only.” I nod, and Maria’s face turns soft with nostalgia.

“I always loved watching you play football.”

I laugh at the irony. Eighty percent of the reason I even played was getting to look over at Maria cheering for me.

“Winnie hated it,” she adds with a knowing grin. “Only two reasons she was there were you and the snacks.”

“I know,” I agree, thinking fondly of all the times my baby sister was sitting in the bleachers, cheering me on at my games with a bored expression on her face. “She eats, sleeps, and breathes it now. Her position as team physician is how she met Wes, the man who is so smitten with my sister he honestly thinks he got the better end of the deal. Which he did, of course. Not many people better than Winnie,” I answer with a doting smile. Winnie might be a grown woman now, but she’ll always be my baby sister to me.

“Holy shit. Winnie is a successful doctor and scored an actual billionaire. I should’ve known that little, adorable, talkative social butterfly would go on to do big things.”

It’s hard to believe, but Winnie was only six years old when Maria and I first met in high school.

“She always was a chatty little thing, wasn’t she?”

“And determined.” Maria grins. “She had a way of getting exactly what she wanted.”

Truth be told, that six-year-old chatterbox was a big reason Maria and I met in the first place.

“Speaking of sisters, how is Isabella? And your mom?”

Back in the day, both Carmen and Isabella were like family to me. I spent a lot of time with both of them. Isabella was only a few years older than my sister, and Maria and I would often let them tag along when we’d go to the movies or to Central Park.

“Well…uh…” She pauses and digs her teeth into her bottom lip. “My mom has been gone for a long time now. She died of a brain aneurysm when I was thirty.”

The unexpected news pulls at my heartstrings. And it makes me sad that I had no idea. That I didn’t get to attend her funeral or offer any kind of support to Maria.

I can’t imagine losing my mother now, much less when I was thirty. Wendy Winslow is the pillar of our family. She’s everything to me.

“Damn, Maria. I’m so sorry. I always loved your mom.”

“Me too.” Her smile is sad, and her face softens in a way that seems overly irreverent. In a way that makes me a little nervous, to be honest.

“Are you okay?” I ask, hoping I haven’t somehow said something to upset her. “Are you feeling sick again?”

“No…” She shakes her head once…twice…and then sighs heavily as it falls back to the wall of the elevator with a thud. “My, uh…my sister…Isabella…she passed away too.”

“What?” I question because there’s no way that could be the truth. Isabella was always a vibrant, sweet, and kind girl. I adored her. And to wrap my mind around the fact that she’s no longer here…it feels impossible. “H-how?”

“A little over six months ago,” she explains, and her bottom lip quivers with emotion. “She and her husband both, actually. A tragic helicopter crash when they were on their way to the Hamptons for a vacation.”

Both her mom and her sister? Fuck.

“Oh my God, Maria… I’m so sorr—”

“No.” She clucks her tongue. “Please. I appreciate the sentiment, but one sorry is enough.” She swipes one lone tear from her cheek. It makes my chest feel like it’s cracked in half. “I swear, I’m not going to get all emotional on you. It’s just…the way you talked about your sister and Wes. It just made me miss them—miss the way they were together. But I promise, I’m okay.”

Maria’s relationship with Isabella always reminded me a lot of Winnie and me. I honestly don’t know how I’d cope with something like that.

“I don’t know what to say, Ri. I wish there was something to say.”

She laughs then, and it’s startling. It’s so out of sync with the conversation we’re having, and once again, it puts me on edge for some reason.

“I don’t think even God himself would know what to say here, Rem. This…situation is far more complicated than just me losing my baby sister and my brother-in-law.”