“I take it the therapy is working, then, since he didn’t stomp out at the prospect of waiting,” I say, and Daisy laughs.
“Yeah, it’s been going pretty well,” she agrees.
“I still can’t believe you got Landry Reed to go to counseling in the first place. But if anyone can convince a guy like him to change, it’s you.”
She smiles. “Thanks, but it was actually his idea. Well, Loren probably planted the seed, but Landry’s the one who wanted to go, so he could be prepared for fatherhood.” She shrugs shyly when I cast a concerned glance her way.
“Are you …”
“Not yet,” she replies. “But we plan to start trying as soon as I get cleared by my neurologist.”
My chest warms at the thought of my baby sister having a baby. It’s followed by a familiar ache, but I ignore the feeling and pull her in for a hug. “That’s great news. You and Landry are going to be amazing parents. And I’ll be here for whatever you need.”
“Thank you,” she croaks over my shoulder. “That means a lot … to both of us.”
“Of course. You know how much I love you guys,” I reassure her, although my mind is already drifting back to Claire and how she might react to this news.
“I guess I’ve been a little worried we’ve been usurped,” Daisy says with a light laugh and settles on the small couch, gesturing for me to join her as Juniper curls up at her feet. “And … well, you and I never really got the chance to talk about everything that’s happened in the last few months.”
I frown as I join her. “I guess we haven’t. But you know I’m happy for you. And, not that you even needed my blessing, but I gave it to Landry months ago. If anything, I’m proud?—”
“Rowan,” she interrupts me. “That’s not what I meant.”
I shake my head in confusion, and she sighs.
“I know youthinkyou’re really happy for us, but you haven’t been acting like yourself since you found out Landry and I were living together, and especially not since we told you about the Convalidation. It’s okay to be upset with us, or even jealous in a way. But you’ve got to quit stuffing all those feelings down inside.”
I blink back in surprise. “I don’t … I’m not angry at either of you. How could I be?”
“Because your best friend went behind your back and married your baby sister—your favorite sister, at that!” she repeats incredulously. “Heck, I was ticked off when I found out about you and Claire, and it’s not like you weremarried.”
“Oh. I mean, sure, I was a little hurt when Landry told me you’d gotten legally married … especially since you’d kept it from me for so long. But it’s only because you’re both so important to me. I’d have liked the chance to help you with your health insurance problems and him with his anxiety or whatever, which I’d actually been trying to get him to open up about for, what, the better part of a decade, at least.” I say that last part with a scoff, then immediately glance up to check Daisy’s expression. But she only nods encouragingly, so I continue.
“I may not be as cute and bubbly as you, but I’d like to think I’m a supportive friend, and it really did take a lot of patience and understanding to put up with his grumpy, emotionally constipated ass all these years. Yet it only tookyoua few weeks to convince him that he needed therapy …andJesus.”
“Okay, that’s not a hundred-percent accurate, but I like the direction we’re headed,” Daisy says, gesturing with her hands. “Keep going.”
“What did you bribe him with, anyway?” I ask as if she hadn’t interrupted me, cursing under my breath a second later. “No, don’t answer that. I don’t wanna know.”
She snorts. “I promise you, he’d never have taken me up on that kind of offer. I was the one pursuing him … and ogling him every chance I got.”
I frown. “I’m not sure that’s any better.”
“The point is, Landry looks up to you as much as I do. He was determined to do the right thing, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness and mine, all because he couldn’t bear to disappoint you,” she explains.
“That’s not what I’d have wanted for either of you, though.”
“Of course not, but this is Landry we’re talking about. He needed to hear you give us your blessing. The man is pretty literal,” she says, smiling.
“I’ve noticed,” I say on a short laugh. “But I still wish you’d have told me everything sooner. It made me feel like the two people I trusted most didn’t …”
I trail off and roll my lips in. “This isn’t about you and Landry’s secret marriage at all, is it?”
“Maybe a little,” she replies with a shrug.
“Okay, fine,” I concede. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell youabout all that stuff with Claire from the beginning. I was embarrassed of the way I’d acted and afraid of seeming like a hypocrite, especially in front of you.”
She leans forward and boops my nose. “You’re forgiven, silly. I want to know why you weren’t honest with Claire, though. She’s a lot like Landry, a hard egg to crack, but very fragile on the inside. Yet, you coaxed her into opening her heart to you without granting her the same courtesy. Can you imagine if I asked Lan to talk about his childhood trauma and refused to let him help me a minute later when I had a seizure?”
