Levi shrugs. “He’s right. If you love her, you should go for it. Raven is a good girl. Yes, she got off-track a bit, but who hasn’t? Maybe it’s her I should be apologizing to.” He scratches at the back of his head and laughs. “Okay, so I tried, but my mother said give her a few days. She said most apologies stick better thatway.”
“It’s been more than a couple days.” My heart ticks back to life. “And for the record, you haven’t apologized to meyet.”
“Sorry.” He nods. “And that’s about all you’re getting out of me.” He shrugs. “She’s my sister.” Levi reaches over and thumps my hand with a knuckle bump. “And you’re my brother. At the risk of sounding like a pussy, I love you both. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. It’s what my dad always taught us, and now I’m teaching you. If you love my sister, don’t waste another day withouther.”
“What if she’s done withme?”
He grimaces as if the pain were his own. “Then I’ll be here to help you pick up the pieces. That’s what brothersdo.”
We get up, and Levi offers up that same slap-hug we’ve been gifting each other for years on the odd formal occasion, but today it feels like something else. It feels like a true hug from abrother.
He gives my shoulder a hearty sock. “When this is all over, I’m buying you a realdrink.”
“When this is all over, I’m going to needit.”
Who am I kidding? The only elixir that will make this better is Ravenherself.
I’m coming to get you back, Raven. And if you put up a fight, just know you’ll get one rightback.
Raven and I belongtogether.
We alwayshave.
Lightning in a Bottle
Raven
They saywhen life comes at you with its pants down, you can either bend over or go home, and I chose the latter. When I showed up on my mother’s door with nothing more than my purse and my mascara down to my chin, I didn’t expect her to let me in with open arms, but she did. I didn’t expect her to draw me a bath or warm my PJs in the dryer and have them waiting for me when I got out, but she did that, too. And I didn’t expect her to give me time to sit in my old bedroom, cry into my pillow at what a mess I’ve made of my life for days on end, but she did that, too. But on Wednesday afternoon, exactly four days after my life imploded on me, she invites me down to the kitchen and makes us both a cup of steaming hot tea and pulls out those biscuits she knows I can’t resist that she seems to have a never-ending supply of. We take a seat at the wrought iron dainty breakfast table my father painted white about a million years ago. I can still see him in the yard with cardboard on the grass. My mother eschewed his desire to putter around the house. They could more than afford the help, but my father said hard work grounded him. Just the memory makes me wince. I had become intolerable even tomyself.
“This is about a boy,” she says knowingly, waving her teacup, powder blue Wedgewood china. Nothing but the best for our impromptu tea party. Her dark hair frames her face, softening her features as her sky blue eyes glow over the rim of her teacup. My mother doesn’t take her gaze off me, and while I was growing up, she never dideither.
“You always know, don’t you?” I give the round little cookie a quick dunk and burn the tips of myfingers.
“I was young, too, once, you know. Had my heart stomped on a time or two before meeting your father, and he’s not getting a free pass either. Before we were engaged, he said some hurtful things to me. I reacted much like you did before I decided it was time for him to come crawling back tome.”
A light laugh tickles me from the inside. “He did love you something fierce. Can I ask what he said that was soterrible?”
Her jaw tightens as she sets her gaze to the ceiling. “He accused me of being materialistic.” She shakes her head with disappointment. “I believe the word he used wasshallow, but that’s what he meant. I was so concerned about the things he could give me. I needed a man who I could trust to build a future with me. My mother drilled it into my head that it was just as easy to marry a rich man as it was a poor man.” She points a freshly polished red fingernail my way. “You better believe it’strue.”
“Oh, I know it.” I tap her knee with my foot. “My own mother told me the same thing. She beat that into my skull every day with a diamond studdedhammer.”
She chortles at the thought. “Hammer of love, dear. Hammer of love.” Carefully, she sets down the fine china in her hand. “Listen, I just wanted the best for you.” She reaches over and picks up my hand. “But a rich man can break your heart just as easy as a poor man. And I don’t want that to happen. Love is far more complex than any world currency. I’m afraid there is no shelter from a broken heart when you get down to it.” A heavy sigh expels from her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for giving you such God-awful advice. Is it too late for an apology? Or have I ruined your sweet younglife?”
“You’ve ruined it,” I say, placing my own teacup next to hers, and I get right down to brass tacks, telling her about my time abroad, missing Brody, loving Brody from afar once I came back. My horrible attitude toward him and ThePelican.
She waves it off. “Dear child, that’s a handful you’ve got there. But I agree with you on that last point. Why would you ever want to work in a bar when you have an MBA from a prestigiousuniversity?”
I open my mouth and close it. “To be truthful, I thought it was beneath me. It was a great job for Low, even Lex in all her madness—but me? I couldn’t pick up a rag and start mopping up countertops.” I hide my face in my robe a moment before coming back up for air. “Everyone was right about me. I’m a terribleperson.”
“Nonsense.” She slaps my knee. “You are an amazing young woman. A strong young woman who understands what’s best for her. Levi can’t pay you what you’re worth. Why take a demotion in life when you could be earning high six figures and traveling the world? You’re young, with no attachments, no husband, no children. I think this is a prime opportunity foryou.”
Anguish a mile wide rides through me, and my mother holds up a finger as if to stopme.
“But you’re a woman in love.” She tosses a hand in the air. “And love makes just about anything possible. Even working at a bar for minimum wage just to be near the boy you can’t seem to keep away from.” Her eyes connect with mine. “Brody Wolf.” A horrible moan works itself up her throat. “Ah, what the heck. He’s always been a sweet kid. He’s got that boyish face that will never grow old and thick head of hair I’m betting he’ll keep. Make sure he watches what he eats, and you could have a handsome young man on your hands for the next five decades if you’relucky.”
A dull laugh bounces through me. “He is the best.” My voice grows threadbare. “But I’m afraid he’s done with me. I have the whole world convinced I’m a gold digger. And just a few short months ago, they probably would have been right.” I tell her all about Brody’s good fortune, and she about inhales all the oxygen out of theroom.
“Well, I’ll say.” She taps a hand over the table like a gavel. “But you know what? They would be wrong. You’re no gold digger. You’ve been hanging around that bar trying to get his attention, and at the time he didn’t have two naked nickels to rub together. You remind him of that while you’re fighting for his heart.” She pulls me up by the hand and marches me in the direction of my oldbedroom.
