Jen pushed herself up and went back to the lasagna, preparing the plates and reheating them one at a time in the microwave as the other women watched in silence.
Every muscle in her body went tight when her mother touched her arm. “Jennifer?”
I can’t talk to her. Not now. “Tasha needs to be in bed. I think we’ve upset her enough. Will you take her while I get her lunch ready?”
She wasn’t willing to talk about this anymore. She hurt for her mother, but right now she was hurting too. At least Ellen Finn hadn’t left her ménage without the one man she really loved. Jen had to give both of them up and be alone. That seemed to be the only way she wouldn’t end up hurting someone. The only way everyone else would be happy.
***
“Are you sure about this?” Alicia was frowning in Jen’s bedroom doorway as she packed up her things. Her cousins Noah and Rory had come over to help her move, and they were downstairs loading boxes into Rory’s truck.
“I talked to the dean and was able to make a schedule to test out of the rest of my classes for the semester, since it’s nearly over. Next year I only have one class at campus—the rest is field work and I’ve already picked out the hospital so I’m all set.”
“You don’t have to move out.”
Jen sighed. “I do. Tasha won’t sit still for anyone and she has a few months to go before she can safely deliver. Owen and Jeremy are getting married at Christmas and they need help with the planning, since most of the venues are already booked. Dad needs to get more exercise and I—“She pressed her lips together and folded the last of her clothes in her suitcase. “It’s better for everyone if I stay in Stephen and Tasha’s guest room for now.”
Alicia came in the room and took her hand, stopping her. “Have you talked to either of them?”
“I can’t,” she whispered. She’d sent them an email like a coward the night her mother dropped her bombshell.
The next day she’d found out that Trick had been beaten up during one of his cases and she’d wanted to go to him, but she knew if she did she wouldn’t leave. She’d dropped Declan’s class, which wouldn’t look good on paper, but she couldn’t bring herself to face either of them. At this point she was just struggling to make it through the next minute. The next breath.
“I was worried when you first told me about them,” Alicia admitted. “But then I saw how happy you were. You’re a good person, Jen. You deserve to be happy.”
Jen pulled away. “Not everyone gets to be happy, whether they deserve it or not. Sometimes you have to forget what you want and do what’s best for everyone.”
Noah and Rory were standing in the doorway. From their expressions they’d heard every word. “To hell with that,” Rory said, frowning. “What cereal box did you read that piece of wisdom on, Martyr Oats?”
Noah came over to her and pulled her into his arms. “She does seem to be rushing to the front of the Finn Spinster line in a hurry. I always thought it was going to be Solomon or James who suffered for the family, but no. It’s this one. The pretty one with all the brains and potential.”
“I prefer threesomes,” Rory admitted with a shrug. “Have them all the time. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal.”
“For men, I guess it isn’t.” Alicia glared at them on her behalf. “Men can get away with anything.”
“She has a point.” Noah looked at Rory. “You in particular. I’m not sure why, it’s not like you’re better looking.”
Rory glared. “I am, but that’s not why. It’s because I don’t care what anyone says or thinks. I just do it. Nine times out of ten I get away with it.”
Jen pushed Noah away and turned back to her suitcase. “This is the last of it. Just let me close it up.”
“No.” Noah pushed Jen’s hair back and studied her swollen eyes. “This isn’t right, Jen. I didn’t agree with the army that marched over to your professor’s house to warn him away, but I’m glad I was there to watch him talk them all down. He’s a good talker, that Declan Kelley. And he had some great things to say about you. He didn’t give up. Why are you? How can we help you fix this?”
She started crying at the mention of his name. “You want to fix this? The way Ken and Brady fixed things for Tasha and Stephen? Will a blog make this better, do you think? Make it okay for me to—” She shook her head. “The problem is there’s no bad guy to fight or run out of town. You can’t make loving two men suddenly acceptable, just like you can’t make your father stop his decades long hate-fest and forgive my parents for breaking up their three-way.”