“Yeah, I was less scared of telling her than you.” I shrug apologetically when Trista’s scowl deepens. “Heck,shewas scared of telling you.” That earns me the angry kitten look, the one that inspired Brian’s nickname for her when they were kids. Yeah, those two were very literally born to be together. “Does she know about you two?”
“We had a celebratory return dinner with all the parental units and told them. We were planning on telling everyone else once I find a ring,” Brian answers from my back, and I turn to him, realizing he’s making French toast and that it smells amazing.Lucky Trista. “And the girls sort of found out by accident.”
His face turns impossibly red at that last sentence, and Trista throws him a dirty look, the kind I would not want to be on the receiving end of, so I decide to do the brotherly thing for a guy who is pretty much a little brother to me and deflect.
“Well, your hair’s the wrong color, but I’m still happy to officially call you a brother.” I clap Brian on the back before redirecting my gaze to Trista just in time to catch the exaggerated eye roll accompanied by a broad smile. “You feel like apartment hunting with me after breakfast? I want to find a perfect place. Whether Lauren stays with me or not, my current place isn’t really family-friendly.”
“Sure.” She tilts her head to the side. “Are you looking for a place for Lauren as well, in case she doesn’t move into yours?”
“No. I don’t think that would go over well, what with her parent’s story and Jason.”
“Huh.” Trista inspects me closely. “That’s interesting.”
“What?” I frown at her amused glare.
“Lauren never talked much about her parents, not to me, anyway.” Then she smiles, big and bright. “Can I help decorate the nursery?”
“Obviously.”
“Awesome. You two okay here?” She walks over and kisses Brian on the cheek. “I want to call Lauren.”
Brian swoops Trista into a chaste kiss before grinning down at her in that adoring way that really should have clued her in on how smitten he’s always been by her. “The farther away you are from the kitchen, the better, Kitten.”
“B!” She swats his arm but still laughs.
A small part of me breathes a sigh of relief because I almost took this away from her. And seeing her like this, so happy, so whole... It calms a part of me that was hurting for a long time.
And it makes me hopeful that maybe there are other parts that can be healed as well.
* * *
Lauren
Answer.I tell myself for the fifth time, staring at Trista’s name flash on my phone.It’s an inevitable conversation. Just get it over with.
I slide the green button and stare.
“Lauren?” I hear after a second or two. “Are you there?”
“Uh, yeah. Hi.”
“Why is everyone so scared of me?” Trista sighs, and the thud and pained groan that follows have me stifling a laugh.
“What did you do to yourself this time?” I ask my eternally clumsy friend.
“Kicked the damn armchair leg,” she grumbles in response, and I can’t hold the laughter back. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay. The not-always-morning sickness isn’t too bad and seems to be getting better the closer I get to the second trimester.” I rub my still flat stomach in thought. “Are you mad at me?”
“I don’t know,” Trista whispers. “I’m mainly worried, I guess, about you and about Mikey.”
“I’m worried about him, too,” I admit, sliding onto one of the barstools at the breakfast counter. “When he was here a few days ago, he was having a really rough time bridging his pain over losing his family with Naomi to his happiness with having one with me.” I frown. “Isn’t it weird, though? That he’sthathappy to have a family with me? He barely knows me.”
“You lived together for almost eight weeks, Lore. I’d say he knows you pretty well.” Trista goes silent for a few moments before continuing. “He knows you better than I do, and I’m starting to realize you know just as much about him.”
“What do you mean?” I wonder, though deep down, I know. Michael and I were always prone to go deeper with each other than we seemed to be able to go with others, even those people we’ve known for a long time, even with family.
“How often do you tell people about your parents, Lore?” Trista asks in a gentle voice but doesn’t wait for an answer. “And whatever the answer, I can guarantee Mikey talks to even fewer people about Naomi being pregnant when she died. He never talked to me about that, to anyone except for maybe Maddie. If it hadn’t been brought up during the murder trial, we never would have known.”