Dream Chaser (Dream Team, #2)(111)

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“And I really like him.”

“Yeah,” I said, deeper and with not a small amount of feeling.

“Ryn, it happened how it happened, and it’s done. You need to move past it.”

Boy, my mom knew me.

“I know. Boone kinda got me to that place.”

“So what’s in my girl’s head right now?”

I looked to her.

“The way Boone spoke to Brian. If he gets better, or doesn’t, but we find some way to carry on from here, Boone’s my guy and he’s going to be my guy, Mom. I feel it. He’s not going anywhere. Ever. And Brian’s my brother. I don’t know if they can get past all those words. We should have stopped them.”

“You know, I was a mother torn.”

Oh man.

“Mom,” I whispered.

“The blow of what’s going on with your brother battling the glow of seeing that man stand up for you like he did.”

Oh shit.

I felt my eyes start stinging.

“My girl has not ever had that from a man. Not once. In her whole life. And I know,” she circled a hand with a limp noodle in it, “women don’t need men and blah, blah, blah. That’s not what I’m talking about. You didn’t have a father who looked after you. You looked after your brother, and to this day, it hurts me I had to lean on you for that. So, Ryn, I don’t care if he’s a man, a woman, a Martian, I was just beside myself that you had someone to catch you when you fell, literally, then go on to fight for you.”

“I had you,” I reminded her.

“Baby, you know what I mean,” she said gently.

I nodded.

I knew what she meant.

“Now, two things with that and Brian,” she continued. “One, the way he was speaking to you, Ryn, was not okay. Not okay generally but not okay with the sister you’ve been to him. And someone needed to make that very clear to him.”

Well, I couldn’t argue that.

And you could definitely say Boone made things very clear.

“And two, your brother needs some home truths. You’ve given him a few. I’ve given him a few. Angelica has given him a few. That accident and his current predicament are another few. And Boone gave him a few today too. And I thought it was important that Brian learned from who he considers an outsider how his behavior is affecting the people who love him, and I thought it was good that came direct, and even angry.”

Hmm.

I could argue that.

“The path to his healing is not going to come through us. Whatever brings it on is going to be a personal realization,” she carried on. “And that will come from understanding in every nuance that he’s harming himself and he’s harming the people he loves. And I know my boy. When he finds the will to fight this, he is not going to be angry at Boone for pointing that out. He’s going to be happy you have a man who will stand up for you.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

“Ryn, if he isn’t, that’ll mean he has more work to do,” Mom decreed.

“Right,” I said uncertainly.

“Right,” she said decisively.

“I think we need to back down now from the in-your-face stuff,” I told her.

She nodded. “I agree. But we’re not bailing him out, Ryn. He faces the consequences. We can support him however he lets us do that, but not that way. Last night could have been much worse. We’ve inadvertently enabled him for a long time. That stops now.”

It was my turn to nod.

She let out a big breath.

After doing that, she muttered, “Let’s get on finishing this lasagna to feed your man and his folks, because I need to get on making my Caesar salad dressing.”

Bonus to Mom being in the mix, she was making her Caesar salad. From scratch. Something she hadn’t taught me. And something that was brilliant.

We finished up and I was tidying up while Mom called Boone to assist in locating all the gear she needed to make her dressing.

Boone gave me a soft-eyed look and gentle grin as he strode his long-legged stride to help out my mom.

I gave him one back.

My eyes then strayed to the couch and I saw Anne-Marie was doing something on her phone.

But Porter had his gaze on me.

When he caught mine, he smiled his own gentle grin.

My heart squeezed and it wasn’t unpleasantly.

I gave him one back.





Chapter Twenty-One





My Eternity





Ryn


Okay, so paint. Then flooring. Then kitchen. And we’ll go out this weekend and make definite decisions about lighting and order that bathroom stuff. And just sayin’, I still think your mom is right about the lighting.”

“Dad’s right about the lighting.”

“I think we should go chrome.”

“Polished nickel.”

It was Tuesday morning.

Boone’s parents were gone.

My brother was out of jail pending a court hearing where, according to the attorney he’d hired (news Mom gave me, Brian hadn’t contacted me), the amount of damage done to the other car and his blood alcohol level were going to mean he’d probably serve time. Not much. A few days. Maybe a few weeks. But also maybe enough to give him (another) wakeup call.