Chapter 11 #2
She nodded. “I am, and I… I want you to be there. I’ve been trying to picture my wedding day, and I just… every time, all I could think about was you and how we used to dream about our weddings when we were kids. We even had that wedding book, do you remember?”
I could feel Miles’s eyes on me as I nodded. “Yeah, I remember.” My voice was quiet, just a whisper. I’d forgotten about that silly wedding book. Well, maybe it was more like I’d purposefully not thought about it.
It’d been something that Maggie and I had bonded over when we were young, so I hadn’t wanted to remember because it always made me think of her. And that had… hurt.
She sent me a sad smile. “I miss you, Winter. I’ve missed you since the moment I turned my back on you, and I know there’s nothing I can say to make up for what I did to you. But I’m hoping we can try to… form a relationship again and move forward from here.”
I stared at her for a long time, holding onto Miles for dear life. “What about Mom and Dad?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t give a shit what they think or do. If they make me choose again, I’d rather have you in my life and at my wedding than either of them.”
Hearing those words made my eyes water, and I sniffled.
Miles switched the hand holding mine so he could use his right hand to rub my back. I leaned into him a little, grateful he was here, grateful for his comfort.
Magnolia stared at me for a long, long time before she started crying too, saying, “I’m so sorry, Win.
I’m so, so, so sorry. I wish I never let them get into my head.
You were gone, and they were just… there.
Always there, always saying such horrible shit about you, and when they told me I had to stay away from you or they’d cut me off, stop paying for my college, I…
I made the wrong choice. And I’m so fucking sorry. ”
Seeing my sister, my little sister, crying, almost openly sobbing, and apologizing made my heart hurt so bad it was like someone was sitting on my chest. And I knew, I knew how manipulative our parents were.
Of course they’d been in her ear about me.
Of course they’d turned her and our other siblings against me. I wasn’t there to stop them.
Before I could think twice about it, I pulled away from Miles and stood, then walked around to the other side of the table.
I gently pulled Maggie up and wrapped my arms around her.
She fell into me, hugging me tightly as she sobbed into my shoulder.
Tears ran down my face too, and when I looked over Maggie’s shoulder at Miles, he had tears running down his cheeks, but he sent me a shaky smile and a nod.
He approved of me hugging my sister and potentially forgiving her. Of course the man with a huge heart would encourage forgiveness. Of course he’d encourage me to form a relationship with my sister again.
The hurt of what happened, the pain of her absence for so long, would never go away.
But she was right. Maybe we could move forward now and forge something new.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to trust her fully, at least not anytime soon, but I could try.
Better yet, I wanted to try.
After a long, long hug, we parted, and I patted her shoulders before sitting in my seat. Miles wrapped an arm around my back and reached for my hand with his left one again. I took it and leaned into him, humming in approval when he kissed my temple.
Miles was very shy about public displays of affection, but he didn’t seem to care at all right now. He only wanted to offer me comfort, him and his big, giant heart.
After Maggie retook her seat, I asked, “So… how have you been? What are you doing for work these days? How did you meet Nash?”
She let out a small laugh. “I’m doing well. I’m actually a doctor. A pediatrician, to be exact.”
My eyes widened. “What? Seriously?”
She grinned, though it was watery. “Yeah. I decided to go to med school after I had a friend pass away in college.” She waved that away.
“That’s a story for another day. But anyway, yeah, I went to med school, and since I’ve always loved kids, I decided to go into peds.
I work at a practice with five other doctors and a wonderful group of nurses.
I do rounds at the hospital too, and I love it. ”
“That’s amazing, Mags. I can’t believe it. Wow. A doctor. I bet Mom and Dad were happy.” As soon as the words were out, I cringed.
She cringed too, but then she rallied. “Uh, yeah, I guess. I don’t really talk to them very often anymore.”
Well, that explained why she’d reached out to me then. “Why not?”
“They don’t approve of Nash.”
I had no clue who this Nash guy was, but I wasn’t surprised.
Our parents didn’t really approve of anyone.
They were stuck-up snobs, and by the time I’d been a teenager, my mother had been so resentful of her empath magic, she’d begun ignoring it altogether.
So even if she picked up on amazing vibes from this Nash guy, she’d ignore them. “Why?”
Maggie sighed and pushed a strand of her white-blonde hair behind her ear.
“He’s a musician. He’s in a band, yeah, but that’s mostly for fun.
His actual job is working at a studio as a session musician.
That means he fills in for bands or plays extra backup parts when they’re recording and things like that.
It’s a steady job, and he loves it. He also teaches some music classes on the side, so…
yeah. He’s really talented, and he’s a really great guy.
I think you’d like him. But… you know how Mom and Dad are. ”
I nodded because I could only imagine what they thought of him. “Well, he sounds cool.” And I sounded like an absolute dork. He sounds cool? What the hell was that? And why did I care? Was I trying to impress her? It should be the other way around after everything.
“How did you two meet?” Miles asked, saving me from my spiral.
She smiled again, but this time it was brighter, fuller, truer.
“He was babysitting his niece, and she fell off the swing and broke her arm. I happened to be doing a round in the ER, so I saw her. He was so upset, freaking out that it’d happened on his watch, so I took him out in the hall to calm him down, and afterwards, he gave me a huge hug.
“I… liked it and thought he was cute, but he left without saying anything, so I didn’t think anything would come of it. But the next day, he showed up at the ER with a bouquet of flowers to thank me and ask me out. I said yes, and the rest is history.”
I shot her a grin. “That sounds like something out of a movie.”
“Right? That’s what I thought. I felt like I was in one of my favorite romance movies for the first few months that we dated. He’s really sweet and super talented, and he… he loves kids.” She met my gaze. “We’re hoping to start a family next year.”
My eyes widened at that. The last time I’d seen my sister, she was only nineteen, and now, here she was, a grown woman, getting married and talking about having kids. That was… crazy.
And now… maybe I could actually be a part of that, be a part of her life.
“That’s amazing, Mags. Really amazing.”
She sent me a small smile. “I really want my kids to know their Uncle Winter.”
My eyes watered, and I choked out, “Me too.”
She reached a hand across the table, holding it out in invitation, and I didn’t hesitate to hold onto her with my free hand for a few seconds.
When she released me, she asked, “Soooooo how did you two meet?”
I glanced at Miles with a watery smile, and he smiled back before saying, “We actually went to high school together. You, um, were a grade below us, right?”
She stared at him for a long moment before her eyes went wide. “Wait. Miles? As in emo kid Miles?”
I winced at that, but Miles snorted. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“Holy shit!” My sister stared at me with wide eyes. “You’re dating your high school crush!”
I laughed and nudged Miles, murmuring, “See? Told you I liked you back then.”
Miles looked down, all shy and cute, but he had a smile on his face.
We chatted for another hour before Maggie got up to use the bathroom, and as soon as she was out of earshot, Miles asked, “How’re you holding up?”
I nodded and leaned even harder into him—I still hadn’t let go of his hand, even though my palm was all sweaty. “I’m okay. Still… shocked, I think, but I’m… good. It’s really good to see her.”
He nodded. “I bet. If, um, if you want to see her again soon and maybe try to meet her fiancé, we could have a cookout at my house next weekend. We can ask Lyric to come over too.”
My heart melted into a pile of goo. Holy shit, he was the gentlest, most amazing, kind-hearted man I’d ever met. God, I really loved him, didn’t I?
But it was way too soon to tell him. I knew he was still waiting for me to leave, even though I swore I wouldn’t. It was going to take a lot more time to fully gain his trust, and I knew he wasn’t even close to hearing those words from me. He probably wouldn’t even believe me if I said them.
I smiled at him. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not. It’ll be good to use the grill one last time before it gets too cold out, and I… think it’ll be nice to spend time with them, to get to know your sister again, and to meet Nash—wait, did I say the right name?”
I laughed. “Yeah, you did.” I leaned in to press a soft, lingering kiss to his lips. “Thank you, sugar butt. For being here with me today and for letting me invite them over. I really appreciate it.”
Like I knew they would, his cheeks flamed, but he looked pleased. “I’m happy to do it.”
And the thing was, I knew he meant that.
So I kissed him again.
Magnolia came back to the table and smiled when she caught us snuggling and kissing, and I was relieved to see that she wasn’t homophobic.
I’d had boyfriends when we were still talking, but Mom and Dad had always kind of just ignored me when I talked about them or about liking guys at all.
They acted like I said nothing. It was gross.
And I’d been afraid that their feelings about it could’ve transferred over to her the same way their feelings about me and my arrest had.
But luckily, she seemed happy for me.
It made me feel a little more confident about having her over.
Well, having her over to Miles’s house.
“Miles and I are having a little cookout next weekend, and we were wondering if you and Nash would like to come? I can text you the details so you can talk it over with him and let me know—”
“No,” she cut me off and winced. “Sorry. I mean, no, I don’t have to let you know. We’ll be there.”
“I haven’t even said what day it’ll be yet.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care. We’ll make it work no matter what.”
My heart warmed, and when I was quiet for a bit too long, Miles said, “We’re just figuring things out now, so what day works best for you guys? It’ll be a really small group.”
She made a face. “Hm. Would it be weird to do it on Friday night?”
Miles offered a shrug. “We can make that work.”
They talked it over, and all I could do was sit there in wonder at my boyfriend. Gah, my boyfriend. I was so happy he’d finally agreed to use that label.
He always acted like I was almost… doing him a favor by being around him and supporting him, but didn’t he understand how much he was supporting me too?
After we chatted for another hour—I absolutely didn’t expect to be here this long—we finally got up to leave.
Maggie came in for a hug, and we held each other for a long time.
When she finally let go, I asked quietly, “You’re really coming next weekend?”
Her gaze softened. “Yes. I promise.”
I sucked in a breath and nodded before Mags moved over to Miles.
Before I could stop her, she pulled him into a hug. He was tense and clearly uncomfortable, but he hugged her back, and then she left with a wave.
Miles turned to me. “Are you okay, sweet cheeks?”
I grinned at the nickname. “Yeah, honeybuns, I’m okay.”
He rolled his eyes, then grabbed my hand and cleared his throat. “Um, she, uh… she really loves you and is really sorry she didn’t contact you sooner. She’s missed you and regrets taking your parents’ side when everything went down.”
I blinked at him, and my eyes widened in surprise. “You read her?”
“I… kinda didn’t have a choice. I’m really sorry.” He looked upset, like he was worried I’d be mad.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not upset at all. Promise, lovey.”
“You sure? I really didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Of course I’m sure, and I know you didn’t. It’s actually really nice to hear that since I know she couldn’t have faked it.”
He blew out a breath in relief. “I… almost didn’t tell you because people always get mad when I do that, but I didn’t want to keep it from you.”
I cupped his cheek. “I’m glad you told me. I never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me. Don’t hide yourself, okay? Please.”
He blew out a breath and gave me a nod with a shy smile. “I’ll try.”
I pressed a kiss to his lips, then took his hand and led him out of the cafe, more than ready to go home—to his home—and relax on the couch with my boyfriend cuddled into my side.