The Forever Girl (Wildstone, #6)(35)

“Of course not, because you’re allergic to asking for help.”

Maze turned to walk away, but Heather was in the doorway. “Morning!” she said with way too much morning cheer, telling Maze she was here as the peacemaker, as usual.

“Hope you’re hungry,” Caitlin said.

Heather nodded. “Starving. Walker took Sammie outside to see the birds. She was a little cranky. He’s got a way with her.”

That was because Walker had a way with all women.

“So where’s the boyfriend?” Heather asked Maze.

She was buttering the toast and took an embarrassingly long moment to realize Heather was talking to her. “Um . . . maybe he went back to bed?” She sniffed. “Wait, is something burning?”

“Oh my God.” Caitlin yanked open the oven. Smoke curled up to the ceiling. “It’s the biscuits. Dammit!” She pulled out the charred mounds and stared at them. “You know what? It’s fine. Totally fine. I can make more. It’s all fine.”

Dillon came into the kitchen. “What burned?”

“Nothing! I’m fine!”

Dillon lifted his hands. “Okay then.” He started to head back to the living room.

Maze shook her head at him. “Dude, when a woman says she’s fine, it’s code for she’s not fine.”

“Caitlin and I don’t speak in code, we speak our minds like adults,” he said, and walked out of the kitchen.

Still holding the cookie sheet, smoke curling up from each individual biscuit, Caitlin pushed out the back door and dumped the biscuits onto the ground. Roly and Poly ran through the kitchen and outside, snorting and squealing. They took one sniff of the charred mess and vanished back into the house.

Maze peeked out. “You okay?”

“Everything is totally one hundred percent fine!” she yelled.

A few birds flocked to the biscuits, pecked at them, then flew off.

“Great, even animals won’t eat them.” Cat sagged. “It’s a metaphor for my life.”

Maze stepped out and shut the door behind her. She used a towel she’d grabbed to take the hot cookie sheet from Caitlin, which she set aside before wrapping her arms around the sister of her heart. “It was just a few biscuits, Cat.”

“It’s more than the biscuits!” she wailed.

Maze sighed. “I know.”

Cat hugged her back tight and held on. “Are you getting hives from the prolonged hug?”

“Yes.”

Caitlin let out a watery laugh and tightened her grip like a true sister. “You’re avoiding me.”

“Are you kidding me? You’ve kidnapped me and are holding me—literally—against my will for a week. How in the world can I avoid you? Please tell me, so I can do it.”

“You know what I mean.” Cat pulled back and wiped her tears. “You’re avoiding being alone with me. You don’t want to be here.”

“It’s not that.” Maze tried to collect her thoughts. “It’s not you, and I’m sorry if I let you think that.”

“You won’t talk to me, which means it is about me. I want this all out in the open, it’s past time. Just talk to me, dammit.”

Now Maze sighed. “Fine. I’m worried you’re rushing this whole marriage thing.”

Caitlin’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“The wedding. You’ve only been with Dillon for what, a year? I’ve got things that have been growing in my fridge for longer than that. What’s the rush? I mean, they say you don’t really know someone until you’ve been with them for well over a year, and even then you have to see them in a variety of emotional situations to make sure you can deal with their reactions.”

Cat’s eyes had narrowed. “What kind of emotional situations?”

“Like . . . say if a toddler is coming at your pristine, fancy white couch with sticky fingers.”

Caitlin sighed. “He loves that couch. Look, I know what this is really about. It’s because I’m getting married before you.”

Oh, the irony of that statement. “No, it’s not. And wow. Is that what you think? That I’d be jealous because you’re getting married?”

Cat tossed up her hands. “I don’t know what to think, you don’t talk to me. Do you think you’re the only one who’s struggling to find her place? Who feels like she doesn’t belong? Do you know I feel guilty because my childhood was damn good and I know it?”

“You lost your brother and childhood home in one fell swoop, Cat. You’re allowed to be as fucked up as the rest of us.”

Caitlin sighed, and a lot of the air seemed to go out of her sails. “I just want you to consider my family yours. I wanted to give that to you.”

Suddenly Maze’s throat was burning like the biscuits. “I’ve always admired how you keep people in your life,” she managed. “You keep people, even when they don’t always deserve to be kept.”

Caitlin was clearly astonished. “If you’re about to tell me that you don’t think you deserve to be kept, I’m going to hurt you, Maze. I mean it. Oh my God. You’re so stupid.” She yanked her back in for another hug and this one hurt.

“Can’t. Breathe.” Maze tried to tap out, but Cat just tightened her grip.