In the car, I apologized to Meg for not thinking of her safety.
“No need to apologize, but try to go easy on them. They love you.”
“I know they do, but they need to mind their own business.” I signalled a left turn. “I’m still pissed they told Dad.”
“They had to, besides he would’ve found out. And then he’d be pissed at everyone for keeping him in the dark.”
True. It was hard to keep something that required a 9-1-1 call a secret in a small town. A small town where your mother owned the local coffee shop, your twin brother was a former cop, and your dad was a retired county detective.
I’ll never have another secret.
“But now he’ll worry about me.”
Meg coughed out a laugh, all but calling me an idiot when she said, “Of course he will.”
“I know he loves me, but we don’t need to give him more reasons to worry.”
“Madi, you want your brothers to trust and respect you, but you need to return the favor. Their guts are telling them there’s more to this, which means they won’t let it go.”
Well, fuck.They weren’t being overprotective just to be obnoxious. And as much as I didn’t like their meddling, I trusted them and their instincts. Even though we didn’t see eye to eye.
Why didn’t they tell me?
Probably because you’ve been pig-headed, and they didn’t think you’d listen.
I would have.
Would you?
Meg interrupted my self-chastising. “Madi? Are you okay?”
I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel.
“Yeah, just realizing you’re right. I need to back down a little.”
“But not too much,” Meg said. “You don’t want to inflate their egos.”
“Agreed.”
Jay walked us to the fucking door when we got to Mom’s house. She was hosting and had kicked Dad out for the evening.
The door was unlocked, so our knock served as a courtesy warning before we walked in.
“Hi!” Mom and Beth called out as we filed in. Jay included.
Reminding myself I’d just promised to respect their need to be protective, I kept my sarcastic response to myself.
“They’ll be safe here. You can go home now,” Mom said after hugging Jay.
“I’ll be at Nathan’s, call me if you need me,” Jay answered.
“Jay, we’ll be fine. Cate’s a total badass and will kick the ass of anyone who interferes with our girl’s night out,” Ashley said as she and Nathan walked through the still open door.
Cate laughed and shook her head. She wasn’t as quiet as Blake, but she still wasn’t used to Ashley’s outgoing, unfiltered personality.
Neither am I.
“Blaszek,” Jay greeted Nathan with a nod and a smile.
