I glance back at her.
That’s literally the funniest thing she’s said in a decade. “We used to laugh all the time. Now it’s all about work and responsibilities and what’s right fora family like us. I know you and Dad worked hard to build all of this, and I love our mission and our purpose at work, but at home…at home, I want to be happy. I want to laugh. I want to love my life and know that when I’m seventy-four, I might have regrets, but I don’t want them to be that I sat on my couch being boring and afraid of what may hurt me outside my doorstep. And thatincludessex.”
She wrinkles her nose and goes pink in the cheeks.
And my doorbell rings.
I sigh and pull up my phone to check and see who’s there, and the minute I catch sight of what the doorbell camera is recording on my porch step, I gasp.
“What?” Mom lunges across the room like she’s a freaking mountain lion. “What is it?”
It’s Theo.
It’s Theo, but it’s notjustTheo.
It’s Theo, in baggy jeans and a thick Carhartt jacket and a black beanie, like he’s in disguise, with what looks like acat carrierhanging on his shoulder.
He shifts his weight and stares at the door for a minute, then looks down at the doorbell. An old beater truck sits in my driveway behind him.
That’s so Theo.
Have half a billion dollars in the bank, still drive the truck that grounds him.
“What’s he doing here?” Mom asks.
“Shh.”
He squats down in front of the doorbell camera and looks straight at it. “Hey. I don’t know if you’re in there,” he says. “I don’t know if you can hear me. But in case you can—I get it if you don’t want to talk to me. I was an ass. I was a certifiable ass, and you deserve so much better than that. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Laney. So I brought the kittens. I don’t have to stay. I’ll go if you tell me to. But if the kittens would make you feel better, if they’d cheer you up—they’re yours. For today. For tomorrow. For forever. You can have my kittens for as long as you want them. If you want them. If you’re not here, and you see this later, the offer still stands. Send Sabrina to get them if you don’t want to talk to me. I just—I just want to do something—anything—to help you get better. And this is the best thing I could think of.”
“Kittens?” my mom says. “Kittens are—”
“Let him in.” I swipe my eyes and cheeks. Thatasshole. He’s bribing me with his kittens. And Iknowhow much he loves his kittens. “Let him in. Or I’ll do it myself.”
I don’t have to ask her twice.
“I’ll hang out and wait for a few minutes in case you’re seeing this,” Theo says over the doorbell camera. “But if the kittens get cold, I’ll—Gail. Hello.”
My mom doesn’t immediately answer, and when she does, I brace myself.
But there’s nothing cool in her polite, “Please come in.”
It’s warm.
Kind, even.
I wouldn’t know she didn’t like him if I were a random fly on the wall. Idoknow she doesn’t like him, and even I can’t detect any lingering animosity.
I kill the stream on the video as Theo steps inside the door. My foyer is small, so it’s only a moment before Mom leads him into the living room, where I’m propped on the couch.
His brown eyes land on me, and I’m so mad that I’m crying right now.
I don’t want him to see me cry.
I don’t want him to know he hurt me.
Fuck Theo.
But I love Theo.
