“Tillie—”
“What?”
“He’s a musician.”
I scoff. “So?”
“So if you are dating, they’re not the most loyal type of boyfriend, are they?”
“What do you mean?”
She inhales deeply through her nose and slumps. “Well, they are… loose with women.”
“Oh, Roxie, Ryan hasn’t had a girlfriend in ages.”
“Exactly, he doesn’t havegirlfriendsfor a reason. It’s so he can flick from girl to girl, and I’m not wild about the idea of my sister being one of said girls.” I purse my lips. “Are you even his girlfriend?”
I pause and bite hard on my lips. We haven’t had this talk. Sure, we spend all our time together, and now everyone knows about us, but we’ve never madeusan official thing.
“Well, a label doesn’t matter,” I defend, but is she right?
Roxie sighs. “Be careful, Tillie. Please don’t give him your heart, okay?”
Thankfully, I’m saved by my niece, grateful for the interruption.
“Mooom… Auntie Till, come see,” Savvy calls out, and we rush to the living room to see Ryan holding a Lego guitar. He handsit to Savvy, and she rushes around the room, playing the guitar and making sounds from her mouth.
It might be hardnotto give him a piece of my heart, seeing as he just stole some of it.
“He’s amazing,” Donny whispers, making me laugh.
Roxie’s harsh stare softens, and she slants her stance with a “Ha.”
“Yeah, he’s a lady-killer,” I murmur, and she rolls her eyes at me.
“Ryan’s so cool, Mom. I wanna learn guitar now, not drums.”
Roxie laughs. “Well, praise the Lord for that. A guitar I can handle.”
“Can you teach me, Ryan?”
“Savvy, no. He’s too busy,” Roxie chides.
“I’m sure I can come by once in a while to give you some pointers,” he says.
“Yes,” Savvy exclaims and launches into Ryan’s arms. He embraces her tightly, and there’s not only contentment on his face, but his eyes are a little misty, like even though he’s happy right now, he’s a little sad too. I’m not sure what that’s about, but seeing him with Savvy is adorable. She pulls back from him and continues to play her little Lego guitar around the room.
“Okay, we’d better go. Thanks for looking after Piper and Hunter for me. It will be around three weeks before we’re back.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. You know Savvy’s gonna spoil them,” Roxie informs.
Chuckling, I nod. “Yeah, I know.”
“It was awesome meeting you,” Ryan says, grabbing my hand, which inadvertently sends sparks through my skin.
“Great to meet you too,” Donny almost yells, and we look at him with a smirk. “Sorry, I’m excited.”
Ryan leans forward, taking Donny into a man-hug and back slap thing. Donny’s face lights up as he hugs Ryan back a littletoo enthusiastically, and I giggle to myself as Roxie dramatically rolls her eyes.
