I was never this forceful with my sisters. It had been drilled into my brain to be a peacemaker and give them whatever they wanted. But everything with Holden, our volleyball losses tonight, and the long workday had sapped all my patience.
Ari: Wait. I wanted to tell you the official name for Baby Girl.
I exhaled, feeling like a jerk.
Me: Yeah. Okay, sorry. I would love to hear it.
Ari: Great! Because I think you’re gonna love it. You used to talk about this name all the time…
My stomach cinched and my fingers stiffened aroundthe phone. Ari wouldn’t…
Ari: Madeleine Rose. Nickname: Maddie Ro
Someone gasped so loudly that I jumped. And then I realized it was me. I’d gasped.
Because that wasmybaby girl name. The only baby name I’d ever picked out. I’d doodled it across notebooks from fourth grade on. Claimed it any time baby names came up. And I only shared it with family and close friends to prevent a situation just like this.
Andusedto talk about it?
I’d never stopped. She knew full well that name was mine. Once again I was blinking back tears.
Moving to Seddledowne was supposed to have stopped the waterworks, especially when it came to my family, not make them worse. This jerk move Ari was pulling had nothing to do with a town, I reminded myself. No, my family made me cry anywhere and everywhere. They weren’t partial to one particular setting.
Two sharp knocks pulled me around, and I spun in my office chair, a scream on the edge of my lips. But it was just Holden.
JustHolden.
Pshaw. Those two words next to each other were a complete oxymoron. He leaned against the doorjamb, all cool and unaffected like he’d invented the suave lean against the doorjamb move.
“Geez.” My hand pressed against my chest. “What in the world? I thought you left.” At least, I’d hoped. I hadn’t raced out of the gym at warp speed for kicks.
“Nope. Right here.” His arms folded across his chest and I wanted someone to punch me in the sternum to get my stupid heart to stop reacting to his every movement. It was ridiculous.
I gripped the armrests for emotional support. “I see that.” He wanted me to ask him why. It was written all over his smug smile. But I wasn’t going to. I just wanted to go home, take some ibuprofen to stop the pounding in my head, and go to sleep. I was done with having my heart flicked into a constant tailspin.
His head cocked and his eyes narrowed.
Dang it. He’d seen my tears.
I whipped around to face the monitor and discreetly wiped them away.
He walked over and sat down on the edge of my desk, right next to the keyboard, looming over me, demanding my attention.
I leaned back and exhaled. “What do you want, Holden?”
“I want you to tell me who I need to beat up to get those tears to stop.”
I dropped my head in my hand and pushed the phone in his direction.
While he read the message, I massaged my temples, eyes closed. I doubted he even remembered me telling him about the baby name. It was months ago, during Silas’s and my reset.
“Hey.” He grabbed my wrists, stopping the massage. “Come here.” He pulled me to a stand and into his arms, situating me tight against his rock-hard chest. Something about being next to him, secure in his embrace, made the tear ducts flow. I pressed my face into his neck and cried until his collar was soaked.
Okay. So I could be done with Holden Dupree right after this hug.
He stroked my hair. “Ari is a first-class a-hole,” he said once the crying had stopped. “Text her back and tell her no. That’s your name and she can’t have it.”
“It’s just a stupid name. There are thousands of others.”
