He proceeded to clean me up, wiping me with a gentleness I would never had guessed he was capable of. “Works for me. I’ll pencil you into my calendar.”
“Appreciate it, beautiful. Now give me one last kiss to tide me over until I see you again.” He tangled his fist in my hair and used the hold to tip my head in the exact position he wanted before growling, “And make sure it’s a good one.”
I could definitely do that.
“You’re in love.” The statement was spoken by Ms. Weatherby, with Tali nodding in agreement.
I sputtered in my teacup, my eyes ping-ponging between my neighbor and my sister. “Pfft. That’s ridiculous. I’m not in love. You need to go back to the eye doctor and have him check your prescription again; I think you may need to go up in thickness.”
Ms. Weatherby narrowed her beady eyes. “Child, I’ve got the peepers of an eagle.”
“You’re blind as a bat!” I countered. “I had to put big fat labels on all your canisters so you’d stop poisoning everybody with that toxic lemonade you always made everyone drink!”
She waved me off like it was nothing. “Then call it intuition, but I know love when I see it, and you, missy, are in love.”
“She’s right,” Tali confirmed. “Your cheeks are always this shade of pink that I now realize is whisker burn, and you’ve been walking around for weeks now with this dopey, glassy-eyed look. You were so out of it the other day that you walked into the wall.” She narrowed her gaze speculatively. “I wonder what you were thinking about then. Or who?”
I threw her a withering look. “Remind me why I thought it would be a good idea to invite you to tea today?”
“Because you’re a good sister and knew I needed to get out of the house today before I lost my freaking mind.”
To say things had changed in the Allen household would have been a serious understatement. When Nick decided he was going to do everything he could to win his family back, he’d really pulled out all the stops.
At first, when Tali told me he’d informed her he had no intention of moving out of the house they owned together, I was certain that he was going to be found dead in a ditch somewhere and my big sister was going to be convicted of murder, leaving me to raise my niece and nephew all alone.
He’d been banished to their guest room, but apparently he didn’t complain about it. He’d also taken some time off work, time that would end with him working from home two days a week to be closer to his family. For the time being, he was doing all the things around the house that had been neglected while he’d spent all his hours at work.
He’d cleared the gutters, replaced the rotted board on their front porch, painted the shutters around all their windows, and fixed that faucet that had been dripping in the master bath for months.
When he wasn’t making repairs, he was making breakfast for the kids and packing lunches. He’d taken over the school drop-offs and pick-ups. But the thing that made me positively giddy was that, apparently, he’d taken to being as touchy-feely as he used to be. Tali called them his sneak attacks. If she was at the sink washing dishes, he’d come up behind her and kiss her neck. If he passed her in the hallway, he’d brush his palms along her hips. If there was a reason or an opportunity to touch her, he took it.
Tali liked to pretend like it was annoying the hell out of her, but I knew her better than that. She might not be willing to admit it yet, but she was softening to him. I had a good feeling that it was only a matter of time before all was right in their marriage again.
“Whatever,” I grumbled, stuffing a chicken salad finger sandwich into my mouth then speaking around it. “I don’t love him.”
“Love who?” Ms. Weatherby asked.
“Her new man,” Tali sing-songed. “He’s the older, handsomer, more responsible brother of her ex.”
Ms. Weatherby’s attention whipped around to me. “The one who put his hands on you?”
I sighed and nodded.
She studied me closely, her eyes so shrewd I felt like she could see right through me. “And he’s a good man?”
Ah damn, she wasn’t going to let this go. “Yes,” I said quietly, staring down into my teacup. “He’s incredible.”
“So what’s the problem then?”
I looked up at her and finally laid it all out. “His wife died only a few months after his son was born. It was the most tragic, heartbreaking story I’d ever heard, and I’m the first relationship he’s been in since she passed.”
“Oh, wow,” Tali breathed, her eyes going wide. “I didn’t know that.”
“We were only supposed to be taking it a day at a time, no expectations. I wasn’t”— I swallowed down the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat—“I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him.”
“Well, whether you were supposed to or not, you did,” Ms. Weatherby stated plainly. “No sense in fretting over it. Your heart’s already decided what it wants, and I’ll tell you, child, it’ll win out every single time. All you can do is sit back, enjoy the ride, and hope you don’t fall off.”
Another pearl of wisdom from my brilliant neighbor.
Tali looked at her with big, mystified eyes. “Wow, Ms. W. I really hope I’m as cool and insightful as you when I’m your age.”
One bushy white brow went up as she looked my sister up and down. “You wanna be like me, then stop stringin’ that man of yours along and forgive him already. I’ve known you two hours, and I know that’s what you’re gonna do. Your sister knows it. Hell, everyone in town probably does. Just admit it to yourself already and begin workin’ to heal that breach.”
We both sat in stunned silence at her brilliant dressing down. Then Tali burst into laughter. “You’re like a crotchety psychic. I think I want you to be my best friend.”
Ms. W snorted and sipped her tea. “Darlin’, you and everyone else I meet. Go ahead and get in line.”
25
Pierce
I bent to greet Titan who was waiting just inside the door when I got home. It was nearly midnight, and I was so fucking exhausted I felt it down to my bones. The only saving grace was that it was Friday night, and I had the next two days off.
“Where’s our girl, huh?” I asked, mindful to keep my voice low.
As if he understood exactly what I said, Titan trotted back toward the living room. The television was on, the volume low, casting shadows on Marin’s sleeping face.
Leaning over the back of the couch, I brushed the hair off her forehead and whispered, “Hey, baby. Let’s get you into bed, huh?”
Her eyelids fluttered briefly before opening to half-mast. She let out a sleepy yawn and stretched her arms over her head. “Pierce?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. Come on, let me help you upstairs.”
“Wha time’s it?” she murmured as I picked her up off the sofa and carried her to my room.
“Late.”
She hummed and burrowed her face into my neck, letting out the cutest little snore. She was dead to the world again before I even made it up the stairs. She stirred briefly when I laid her on the bed and undid the button on her jeans so I could pull them off.