“Tina is her mother,” Naomi insisted. “Family doesn’t stop being family just because one of you does shitty
things.”
“That’s exactly what happens to families, and you need to quit this loyalty to your fucking sister. She doesn’t deserve it.”
“It’s not loyalty to Tina, you idiot,” Naomi shouted back. She shoved against my chest again, but I was immovable.
“Educate me,” I insisted.
“If Waylay had anything to do with letting Tina in, how is that going to look in the guardianship hearing? How am I fit to take custody when I can’t even keep criminals out of my house? They’ll take her away from me. I’ll have let her down. I’ll have let my parents down. Waylay will end up with strangers—” Her voice hitched.
I grabbed her and pulled her into me. “Baby. Stop.”
“I tried,” she said, fingers curling into my t-shirt.
“Tried what?”
“I tried not to hate Tina. My whole life, I tried so hard not to hate her.”
I cupped the back of her head and buried her face in my neck.
“Don’t fucking cry, Daze. Not over her. You’ve given her enough.”
She sucked in a breath and blew it out.
“You can use me as a pillow if you wanna scream it out,” I offered.
“Don’t be sweet and funny right now.”
“Baby, those are two things no one has ever accused me of being.”
She pulled back and took another steadying breath. “This is not what I was expecting when you said you were taking me to lunch.”
“I expected the yelling, just thought we’d be doing it naked. We good?”
Her fingers were tracing little circles against my chest. “We’re good. For now. I’m going to go collect myself in the bathroom.”
“I’m gonna eat some more of your mom’s cobbler.”
She gave me another one of those wobbly smiles that made me feel things I didn’t want to feel. I reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s gonna be fine. No one’s takin’ Way. Nash and I’ll take care of it.”
She nuzzled her cheek against my hand. “You can’t solve my problems for me.”
“Oh, but you can solve everyone else’s?” I pointed out. “You gotta stop worrying about making everything okay for everyone else and start thinkin’ about making it okay for you.”
She didn’t say anything, but I felt like my words had landed.
I gave her a playful slap on the ass. “Go on. Go scream into some hand towels.”
A minute later, Nash came out of the bedroom. “Grave is sending some boys out to see if we can lift any prints. Where’s Naomi?”
“Bathroom. You find any prints in the landlord’s office?” I asked Nash.
He shook his head. “It was a clean job.”
“What are the odds they split up? Tina took the storage unit, and the boyfriend took the office.”
Nash thought about it. “It plays.”