Well Suited (Red Lipstick Coalition #4)(80)

“Ma—” I started.

“Don’t interrupt,” she snapped. “Tommy, you find forgiveness in your heart for your brother who tried to protect you.”

He met my eyes, dark and endless as my own. He swallowed.

I waited.

He knew, and he kept me waiting longer before finally speaking, “I know you were trying to protect me, but I’m still fucking mad about it.”

I sighed through my nose, my brows still drawn, but my heart eased. “Wanna hit me again?”

That earned me a flicker of a smirk. “Kinda.”

I rubbed my jaw. “Man, you haven’t taken a swing at me in five years.”

“Six.”

My brows rose with my smile, and we said at the same time, “Clarissa Merryton.”

“You deserved that, too,” he said.

“I did,” I admitted.

Ma smiled, but the expression was tight with exhaustion. “I love you boys more than life itself, and to think your father has come between you at all cuts me to the quick. He has hurt us all enough. I don’t want to give him any more, not one minute of time, not one iota of energy. Deal?”

“Deal,” we said in unison.

“Good. Now, come here and hug your ma.”

We helped her up and wrapped her in a hug. Took turns kissing her cheek. And Tommy and I clasped arms. He pulled me in for a hug, clapping my shoulder with his free hand, squeezing tight enough to sting so I’d know how sorry he was, that I was forgiven, and how bad it’d hurt him—the whole encounter. It was too much, too thick with emotion to even peel back.

But that was what we did. We protected, and we forgave.

Because that was what love was.





29





Automatic





Katherine 37 weeks, 1 day

“Are you sure you don’t want a water birth, Katie?” my mother asked in all seriousness.

“I am unflinchingly sure,” I answered flatly. “I’ve already written my birth plan.”

She waved a hand. “Oh, that’s flexible.”

“No. It’s not.”

Sarah chuckled. “I can’t believe in three weeks, I’ll have a baby to hold.”

“And then another one a few months later,” Mom added.

Sarah beamed. “It’s an embarrassment of riches. A year ago, I was more prepared for Tommy to end up in jail than a wedding chapel, and I figured Teddy for a perpetual bachelor. And look at us all now. Babies and weddings galore.”

I tried to smile, knowing she didn’t intend to dig at me for not marrying Theo.

We’d been living in a constant state of almost. Almost touching. Almost speaking. Almost friends.

Forever seemed like such precious little to promise him to end the almost. But with a glance at my mother, I was reminded exactly why the marriage level of forever was impossible. She didn’t understand words like forever and commitment.

She shook her head, doe-eyed and sighing. “I wish Katie and Theo were having a wedding.”

“Mom,” I warned.

She wore a magnificent pout. “I know, I know. You two just seemed so happy together.”

“We’re happy now.”

She gave me a look.

“What?”

“You are not happy. I have witnessed firsthand your moping around and hangdog looks at each other across the room for weeks. It’s clear you love each other, and I just can’t fathom not being with someone you love.”

“You can’t fathom staying with someone you love either.”

The pout turned to a frown. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’ve been divorced from Dad four times. Can’t you just call a fight a fight and work through it?”

“Your father and I don’t fight,” she said matter-of-factly.

It was my turn to give her a look.

“Have you ever seen us fight?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

“No,” I admitted with a pout of my own.

“Exactly. We’re happy together, and we’re happy apart. Why is that so hard to understand?”

“Because it’s too fluid,” I blustered, shifting on the couch. “It’s lawless, boundless.”

“But honey, that’s love,” she said. “It’s not a straight line, and neither is life. Life is fluid. Why shouldn’t love be?”

I shook my head. “Love isn’t real.”

Sparrow gaped like I’d just burned a stack of tarot cards in front of her. “Of course it is.”

“It isn’t! It’s not some magical patch you can fix your relationships with. Say I love you, and all your sins are forgiven. You throw the word around like hello and goodbye.”

“That’s because the whole world is made up of love. It’s what motivates almost every person on the planet. It’s the energy that binds us together.”

“Energy doesn’t bind people together, Mom.” Impatience, thick in my words.

Her face screwed up. “That’s the silliest thing you’ve ever said, Katie. I can see it binding you and Theo. Your auras are so connected, they practically explode like fireworks whenever you’re in the same room.”