Messy Love(57)

“She and her husband told their little girl about me.’’

“They did?’’

I nodded. “She’s just ten, and apparently curious about me. It’s just a matter of time until she wants to meet me and I agreed to all of this, but what’s my place in her life? I’m not her sister, Mom. I’m a stranger.’’

“Look at me, darling,’’ she said gently. I straightened up and locked eyes with her. “Nobody is asking you to be her sister. You can be a friend, a distant relative. You don’t have to label anything. You shouldn’t put this much pressure on yourself.’’

“It’s just so… complicated.’’ I looked away and back at the trees bordering my parents’ large backyard where Jamie and I had played so many times, sometimes imagining wild and epic adventures.

“There’s something else, isn’t there?’’

“You’re too perceptive, Mom.’’ I smiled at the trees and let her squeeze my hand when she realized I wouldn’t elaborate. It wasn’t like I could say that I seemed to be in way over my head with my birth mother’s adoptive son. That should be inconsequential in comparison to everything else.

“Whenever you need to talk, you know you have your father and me, my darling. Always.’’





MARISSA


It was like déjà vu. I stood in front of the Burtons’ house, more or less silently psyching myself up to go and knock at the door, but this time my worries weren’t about Lydia, but about Ava, my biological half-sister.

I nibbled on my lower lip and toyed with the hem of my dark purple top that uncovered my shoulders and hinted at my cleavage without actually showing it. Shame filled me when I thought of the time it took me to get ready that morning, not because of Ava, Lydia or her husband, but because I knew Wyatt would be there.

“Déjà vu,’’ said a dark voice I immediately recognized coming from behind me.

I turned around and met Wyatt’s eyes. “But this time you’re not back from a run.’’

“Nah, I was taking a walk. They’re all nervous inside.’’ He nodded at the house and then his eyes left mine to trail down my body in a caress that left not an inch untouched. “You look beautiful.’’

“Wyatt.’’

“What?’’ He smirked and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “Can’t I be a good boy now?’’

“You’re impossible.’’ I fought my smile but gave up when my lips trembled with the need to stretch wide. That man turned my head and emotions upside down.

“Ready to get in?’’

I cringed and shook my head. “Never, but we better.’’

“It’ll be okay. Ava is a great kid.’’ He walked in front of me then, and I let his tight ass distract me, giving me ideas that weren’t suitable for a ten-year-old presence, but it was unstoppable, just like my regrets for leaving his apartment the previous week plagued me continuously even though I knew better.

Some said the heart wanted what it wanted, but the same applied to my body.

Without knocking, Wyatt stepped in the house. “Hey, look who I found outside.’’

Intimidated, I stood just inside the door with my purse tightly held in hand and my car keys in the other while my eyes stared at the end of the hall leading to the kitchen and the living room until a young girl flanked by Lydia and who I assumed was Danny Burton appeared.

Ava was all legs and elbows, thinner than I expected from the pictures on the fridge, but her cheeks still held that round shape kids always had. Her eyes, big and brown examined me just like I did her, but her mouth kept a small smile that steadily stretched until it broke her face in two and she clapped her hands.

“Wow! Wyatt didn’t lie when he said you had the same eyes as Mom. And you’re so tall!’’ She quickly walked to me, stopping briefly in front of Wyatt to let him ruffle her straight light brown hair. “Do you dance?’’

I blinked and then looked up when I heard two male laughing. Lydia wasn’t laughing though. Her eyes, so like mine, shone with unshed tears and a pained smile on her lips that trembled further once her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Uh, no, I don’t dance. I heard that you’re terrific, though.’’

She shrugged instead of bragging. “I’m okay, I guess. Can you show me your tattoos? Wyatt said that—''

“Hey, peanut, maybe you could let her walk in the house before you throw at her all your questions,’’ Wyatt cut her off, interruption the flows of words coming from an overexcited Ava who didn’t sound too bothered by my presence.

“Wyatt’s right,’’ Lydia said after taking a deep breath and surreptitiously drying her eyes before her daughter turned around to look at her. “Let’s all go to the living room. It’s good to see you again, Marissa.’’

I smiled at her and then exchanged a few words with Danny who was very open and sincere in his greetings. It was a bit unnerving the way his chocolate eyes seemed to scrutinize me, but I supposed as a cop it was his usual behavior and I couldn’t blame him for wanting to make sure his family was safe by gauging me.

“We’re in the living room now. Can I ask her more questions?’’ Ava blurted as soon as we all sat on the corner couch with Ava between Wyatt and me and Lydia and Danny in two armchairs.