1
Sanctimonious
“Sanctimoniousarse,”Noellesnortedwith laughter.“What does that even mean?”
I rolled onto my side and grinned at my best friend.
Between us on the wide bed she now shared with my eldest brother Hawk, cushioned by their plush, buffalo plaid comforter, lay their six-week-old son.With his sleepy face turned to the side, and his tiny arms thrown up beside his head, he slept, fully trusting the world he’d been so recently thrust into to hold him.
My first and only nephew.
Named after my dead brother.
I shoved that thought from my mind and focused on what I had, not what I’d lost.
Her face soft, Noelle caressed Hunter’s satiny cheek with her finger before returning her attention to me.“Why did you call him that again?”
I traced a line in the comforter with the tip of my finger.“Remember before Christmas when we had drinks at your brother’s house?”
“Max’s house?”
I looked at her incredulously.“Do you have any other brothers?”
She laughed.“Don’t give me a hard time!I’ve still got pregnancy brain!”
I nodded wisely.“Which is why I’m not having kids.Anyway, someone brought up Paul.”
Paul, who I’d lived with for five years, who at that time was not yet my ex-boyfriend.
“Ew.”
I sighed.“I know.”
There was no love lost between Paul and Noelle.Or Paul and Hawkley, Paul and Max, or Paul and my mom.I snorted to myself.There was never any love between Paul and my dad.By the end, there was no love lost between Paul and anyone.
Including myself.
“Hawkley and Daire took it upon themselves to tell me I should want more for myself.”
“Ouch.”
“Yes, ouch.I expect that from my brother, but from Daire?I hardly knew the guy back then.And the fact that I crushed so hard on him as a teen made it so much worse.”
“He is easy on the eyes.”
“This is true,” I admitted.“He said I needed to find someone who appreciated me and that I shouldn’t hang onto some schmuck who didn’t know his ass from his elbow.So, I told him to shove his nosy elbow up his sanctimonious arse.”
Noelle laughed.“He still talks about that.”
“Yeah?”I paused, unsure how I felt about them talking about me.“When did you see him?”
“He came over last week with Max to see Hunter.”She wagged her eyebrows.“He asked about you.”
A tiny butterfly took flight in my stomach.
I squashed it.
“I saw him at The Beaver Dam a couple of weeks ago.He was with the queen bitch bee of the Brady Bunch,” I informed her.
