“No.I mean, sort of.But not the way we are now.”
Her dark eyebrows went up, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.“How do you mean?”
“We’re a blended family.Decker’s our half-brother, from our father’s first marriage.”
She nodded.“He looks a lot different from the rest of you.And without meaning to overstep, he’s got a kind of stern vibe with you guys.Is it an older brother thing?”
He was more than ready to share this part of his past with her.“Sort of.Our dad died of a heart attack when Gavin and I were seven.Then we lost our mom shortly after that.”
“I didn’t know you were so young.”Her expression filled with empathy.“That must have been really hard.”
“It was.Gavin and I were scared, but it was way worse for Marley and Decker.They raised us, saw us through school, and Decker sent money home to us from his pay after he joined the Corps.We didn’t see much of him after that.”
“But you all moved to Crimson Point to be together?”
“Deck would never admit it, but he wanted a fresh start for us just as much as we did.CPS gave us that chance.And it’s been the best decision we’ve made.”
Her smile was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her.“I’m really happy for you.Even if Decker is still a tough nut to crack.”
He grinned.“You’re not wrong.He’s always been tough on Gav and me, but he’s mostly bark and no bite.And he’d do anything for any of us.”
She nodded.“I saw that when we were all searching for Carly during the riots.Anyway, it’s great to see you all so close now.Not every family’s like that.”
He detected a note of wistfulness in her voice.“You seem close with yours.You’re really tight with Bristol, and I know you spend a lot of time with your mom.”
“My relationship with my mom is...a work in progress.”She ran her finger around the rim of her water glass, lost in thought.“I want what you have with your family.So I’m trying my best to leave the past in the past.Which isn’t easy for me.”
He was bursting with questions but remained silent and kept watching her.And she rewarded him a moment later by continuing.
“My dad walked out on us when I was four.Left on a work trip one morning, nothing unusual.No clue anything was up.I stood on the front step waving at him as he drove away.That was the last time I ever saw him.”
He imagined her as a little girl, standing there waving at her dad.And the pain she must have felt when he never came back.
She blew out a breath, shifted in her seat.“Anyway, my mom struggled after that.Fell apart for a while.”
Shit, he knew exactly what that looked like and felt like to live with as a child.Watching your only remaining parent become unable to function.
“We moved in with her parents for a couple years, but they didn’t get along, and she kept picking these loser men over and over.You don’t know what a relief it was when she finally met Bristol’s dad.Although I didn’t trust him at first either.But the damage from all of that was done a long time ago.My mom and I drifted apart for a long while.”
“What do you mean by damage?”
She looked at him.“Me.I wound up repeating the toxic cycle.”She gave a rueful smile, shook her head.“Hate to say it, but it’s the truth.So you guys weren’t the only ones who came to Crimson Point to start again.This is version Two-Point-Oh of my life.”
He recognized the gravity of her telling him this.She was finally opening up and telling him something real because she was finally starting to trust him.Really trust him.And, shit, it felt good.
“And how’s it going?”he asked.
Laughter glinted in her eyes.“Until last week?Fucking amazing.”
He chuckled, but then her expression shifted, her gaze fixed on something behind him.“Heads up.”
