Gold (All that Glitters #2)(74)

“So…you didn’t even date until after Mom divorced him?” Bryna asked in surprise.

“Of course not! Well, I didn’t even really know him. Then, I got to know him, and we fell in love. Neither of us expected it. We both had kids who were nearly adults. We were both divorced. We never thought it would work. But then, one day, we decided that the past was the past. What was important to us was our kids and being happy. We knew everything else would work itself out.” Celia smiled down at little baby Zoe. “And it has.”

“So…you love him?”

“Love him?” she asked with a giggle. “We have a baby together! Of course I love him. I’ve never loved anyone more.”

“But how did you know?” Bryna asked.

“That I loved him?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, wow. No one has ever asked me that before.” She looked up thoughtfully contemplating the question. “I don’t know really. I can’t place it exactly, as if there were a moment when I didn’t love him, and then suddenly, I did. I couldn’t go a day without thinking about him. I always smiled at the thought. I stopped being able to imagine a life without him in it, and I was okay with that. I just knew. There was no going back.”

Bryna looked at Celia with uncertainty. How could it have been that easy? Nothing is that easy. She had put so much effort into all of her relationships, and they hadn’t panned out at all. If love is effortless, then how am I supposed to find it?

“Okay…”

“You know you don’t have to find love at eighteen.”

“Almost nineteen,” she reminded Celia.

“Yes…almost nineteen either. Look at me. I didn’t find it until I was almost forty!”

“Hmm…that’s true. Thanks.”

“Anytime, Bryna.”

Bryna stood and reached down to lightly pinch baby Zoe’s cheeks. She had a lot to think about. “You’re cute, little missy. You must have gotten that from me.”

Celia laughed. “Probably. She’s lucky to have a big sister like you.”

“Maybe I’ll come see Zoe again.”

“I’m sure she’d love that.”

Bryna and Celia shared a smile.

On her way out, Bryna shook her head in confusion. She’d had a completely civil conversation with her stepmother, and it hadn’t been terrible. Actually, it had been perfectly normal. She had no idea what had just happened.

“How was my little girl?” her dad asked once she was outside the room again.

“Good. I think she probably wants to see her dad though.”

He smiled brightly and then rushed back into the room. It was as if he were twenty years old again. Zoe had reenergized him just like Celia had when they got married. Why didn’t I see it before?

“So, you like the baby.”

Bryna turned around in a rush and saw Pace walking toward her.

“I’m surprised,” he continued, “that you came back from your vacation for this. After you were so adamantly against it, I didn’t think you’d show.”

“Yeah,” she said. She didn’t have it in her to argue with him right now.

“Aren’t you going to gloat?”

“About what?” she asked.

“Barcelona? This strange life you’re leading?”

Bryna arched an eyebrow. “No. There’s nothing to gloat about. I’m glad summer is almost over. How is Stacia?”

“You’re asking about Stacia?”

“Yes. I miss her,” she said plainly.

Pace softened at the mention of Stacia. A rare genuine smile touched his lips, replacing his typical sneer. “She’s good. She misses you, too.”

“So, you’re still together then.” She had suspected as much since she hadn’t heard from Stacia at all. She had only heard about Stacia through Trihn.

“We’ve been together all summer. She lives here in the city, you know.”

“Right. Her dad is the USC coach.”

“Her dad is…something,” he said uncertainly. “A bit controlling.”

“I’m not surprised. Has to be hard to try to control all that wild child in her.”

“Yeah. She’s fun that way.” He smirked.

There’s that * again.

“Ew. I can’t. Gross.”

Bryna walked away from him. She’d thought they were working toward a civil conversation, too, and then he had brought that shit up.

“Hey,” he called, following her. “Do you think you could talk to her?”

Bryna narrowed her eyes, wondering what the catch was. “Why?”

“She’s still upset that you’re mad at her. I don’t like to see her like this,” he admitted.

“I’m not going to talk to her because I care about what you say. Let’s make that clear.”

He nodded.

“I’ll do it because I care about Stacia. You just happen to be associated with her at the moment.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

Bryna left the hospital lobby and took a cab back to her father’s house in the Hills. She dropped her luggage in her old room and stared around with a small smile on her face. It felt surreal to be back home. She hadn’t been back since Thanksgiving, and she hadn’t even realized she had missed it.