“The flowers or the food?” Katy teases.
“Both. That’s a lot of everything.”
“You haven’t seen the living room yet, or the den. I’ve never seen so many flowers in my life,” she admits as Banner pulls a chair out for me. “As for the food, it started last night. And then this morning, the breakfast foods started arriving.”
“Wow. I need to get kidnapped more often,” I joke as I sit down. I wince when I feel the death glares I’m getting from Katy and Banner. “Too soon?”
“It will always be too soon,” Banner growls.
“Sorry.”
He sighs before leaning down and kissing my temple. “It’s just gonna take me a while to get over it, so bear with me.”
“You got it, Banner.”
“As adorable as you two are together, Sorrow needs to eat.”
“She’s right. Pick your poison. I’m pretty sure we have every breakfast item you could possibly think up.”
“Em…”
“How about a plate with a little of everything?” Katy suggests. When I nod happily, Banner moves to the counter and does just that.
I look at Katy, who is staring down at her plate, and frown. “Hey Katy?”
She lifts her head and pastes a smile on her face, but I can see how brittle it is. “I’m fine, honestly.”
“Liar,” I whisper. “They told you, didn’t they?”
“My parents played a part in this. And my dad…God…I can’t even...” She blows out a shaky breath. “I needed to know.”
“I know. I just wish that you didn’t.”
“I just don’t understand them. They had the life people dreamed of. And they can’t blame being shitty people on Alec dying because they were shitty to me before he was gone. And by the sounds of it, to others too. I mean, blackmail and extortion? Who do they think they are, the mafia?”
Banner snorts at that, but he doesn’t stop her. She needs to get it off her chest.
“I was done with them, you know that. That was the whole point of getting emancipated. But still…When I saw Dad had sent me a letter, I couldn’t help but hope that maybe down the line…” She sighs, not needing to finish.
I reach over with my good hand and rest it on her wrist. “It’s not foolish to have hope. Sometimes, hope is all we have. It’s pulled me through even the darkest of days. That said, they don’t deserve you. They don’t deserve either of you. They never did. Sometimes you have to fight for what’s right. But sometimes, the right thing is to walk away. You cannot love the toxic out of someone. Love isn’t an antidote to the poison they drip-feed you. Anything good they had in them; they gave to the pair of you. Take it. Run.” I stop talking as she swipes at the tears on her face.
Banner walks over and pulls her from her chair before wrapping his arms around her. “Whatever happens, Katy, you’ll always have me.”
“And me!” I chime in. “Banner says he’ll marry me so we’ll be officially sisters. But just so you know, if we ever get divorced, I’m claiming custody of you.”
“You can’t just take my sister.”
“Can too.”
He rolls his eyes, making Katy laugh. “Lucky for you, Sorrow, it won’t be an issue because once my ring is on your finger, I’ll never let you go.”
“So what you’re saying is, if I need to run, now would be a good time to do it.”
“I’d like to see you try to run when you’re handcuffed to the headboard.”
“Okay, impressionable teenager in the room,” Katy jumps in, looking far calmer than she did before.
“Sorry.” I pretend to lock my lips and throw away the key.
