“Yeah, how often is he going to see his Uncle Luca? He’s going to grow up knowing of you, seeing you a few times a year at most.”
“And it will still be better than your mom’s influence over him,” I retort.
She rolls her eyes. “You know what I’m getting at. I don’t like that you kept this from me. I don’t like secrets, and this was a big one.”
“The next time I run your mom out of town, I’ll let you know.”
Her cheeks redden with anger. I take hold of her hand and urge, “Harps, you want your mom in your life, I can’t stop you. You want her back in Willow’s Peak, that’s on your mom to show you’re important enough for her to risk my wrath. She’s a cunt, always has been, always will be. You’re not gonna change her. Gunner isn’t gonna change her. She will always be the same. She will always let you down.”
“You think I don’t know that about her? I know, Luc.”
“Then why let her back in? I can’t explain how much I hate her. Actually, despise her. You ask me to go back on my promise and not kill her, I won’t, but don’t hate me when she lets you down or causes my mom stress, and I take it out of your hands.” Her eyes fill with water, I quickly add, “I might be here in the city, but there aren’t enough miles in the world I wouldn’t ride to come help you. You say Gunner’s family circle is small, so is mine, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep them safe.”
She tilts her head back on the head rest and lets out a long sigh.
“I don’t want you to kill her.”
“Then I won’t.”
She smiles for the first time since arriving.
“Come inside for a while. Get a drink, stretch your legs before you drive back,” I suggest. “Tor would love to see you.”
“Does she know what went down.”
She knows everything, fuck, she was there. But for the sake of my old lady’s relationship with my sister, I lie straight through my teeth. “No.”
And if Lily tells her different, I’ll make her death look like suicide.
I climb out of the car, round it, and open her door for her. I hold out my hand and help her out of the car.
“Just so you know, you didn’t have to ask me not to kill her, you could’ve just told me how it is.”
She snorts. “Leo said the same thing.”
Arching my brow, I mutter, “Did he now?”
“Yeah, told me to tell you to lay off. That I’m a Jackson and it would carry.”
“Yet, you didn’t.”
“I’m all about the politeness these days.”
Her laughter reminds me of her manic days but she’s well, she’s doing okay.
I open the back door for her, and she slips inside, and the kitchen becomes shrouded in shrieks. My heart pounds at my wife slipping back to her old self. In this moment there’s no room for her grief. Her excitement to see Harper has me wanting this moment to last forever so she’s not sad any longer.
“What are you doing here?” Her smile slips, then she asks, “Did we arrange this, and I’ve forgotten?”
“No.” Harper laughs pulling Tor in for another hug. “Luca didn’t even know.”
Tor squeezes her and though it shouldn’t, jealousy ripples through me.
“I wanted to talk to Luc.”
“Everything good?” she asks, backing up and looking between us.
“Yeah. Can’t a girl surprise her brother?”
