While Lena ran away with the party idea, looping Brie intoa conversation about pastries, Delia quietly said, “I should’ve known better than to bring that up in front of my mom. There’s nothing that woman loves more than throwing a party, and I have a feeling our soft opening is about to become a lot grander.”
“She could turn it into the Met Gala for all I care,” I told her as I bent and pressed my lips to hers. “As long as you’re at my side.”
“Always,” she promised.
“Get a room!” someone—Cal—yelled, and I pulled away from her, grinning sheepishly at her parents.
Lena had hearts in her eyes while Leon glared daggers at me.
Honestly, that felt pretty par for the course, and I didn’t mind one bit.
After dinner, Ezra, Hansen, Rik, Liam, and Alfie all left, and the rest of us retired to the back deck. Though it was cold as hell out, an array of heaters and a massive fireplace, logs crackling and sparking with flames within, kept the chill away. Delia and I curled up on a loveseat together, a blanket tucked around us, my hands drawing idle circles on the skin of her lower back. Around us, her family was in various stages of winding down, though Ella and Brie were playing some sort of card game that involved a lot of slapping each other’s hands. It was probably the most animated I’d ever seen the second youngest Delatou girl, and I had to admit, it was a good look on her. Even with the pink hair and fingers decorated with delicate tattoos, Ella more closely resembled her sisters with a smile on her face.
“What's the deal with Ella and her boyfriend?” I asked Delia quietly.
“You picked up on that?”
“Hard not to,” I said. “The way he acted at Birdie’s that nightwas appalling, and the way he treated all of you when he came to Lawless? He’s lucky I didn’t punchhimin the face.”
Delia snorted but said, “I’m glad you didn’t. It only would’ve made things harder for her.”
“Why is she even with him?”
Delia sighed heavily, her entire body rising and falling in my arms. “She’s always been more free spirited than the rest of us. Alfie is a singer or rapper or something—albeit a terrible one—and I guess when she met him, she felt a kinship with that side of him, with the artist he apparently is. Now, I just think she’s afraid to leave, afraid to give up on something she’s given so many years to.”
I hummed in understanding. “She reminds me a lot of my sister in that way. I know growing up with six older brothers who messed up more often than not wasn’t easy. She had a habit of sticking with things even when she was miserable because she didn’t want to be seen as a failure. My mom struggled a lot after Dad died, and Aria tried to make herself as small as possible, not wanting to add to Mom’s stress.”
I had always secretly hoped that she’d grow out of that one day, that she’d take chances on the things that made her happy instead of doing something because she thought she was supposed to.
“How come you didn’t go home for Thanksgiving?” Delia asked suddenly, apparently jumping ahead on a train of thought inside that beautiful brain I’d clearly missed. “Why didn’t you go see them?”
“Well…today is the anniversary of my dad’s death,” I said quietly. Delia gasped softly but didn’t speak, so I pressed on. “It’s just too hard sometimes. To go back there andfeel his memory everywhere, like a ghost that won’t let go. I miss him fiercely, and I’m happy to have those memories, but…I can’t afford to spiral again, you know? I’ve been doing so much better since I moved up here. It’s difficult to think about going back and potentially ruining all my progress.
“Plus, with the distillery—and you,” I added with a poke to her ribs, “I haven’t really had time.”
“Did you talk to them about coming out here for the opening?”
“They don’t really have the time either,” I said. “They’re all busy with their own lives and jobs.” I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “But it’s okay. I’ll see them soon, I’m sure.”
Delia lifted her head and placed a kiss on my chest, right over my heart and the coordinates tattooed there.
“When you’re ready, QB,” she said, burrowing deeper into me, “we’ll do it together.”
“Do what?”
“Go to Dusk Valley.”
“You’d do that for me?”
She tilted her face up to mine and said, “Haven’t you figured out by now that I’d do anything for you?”
“Back at you,” I said hoarsely.
“Plus, I’m part of your family now, just like you’re part of mine.”
“Am I really?” I asked.
She shrugged and nonchalantly said, “I sure hope so,” though the tightness around her eyes told me my answer meant more than she was letting on.
