Page 37 of Staying for You

She smirks. “Now you’re taking the words out of my mouth?”

I take a step closer. “I’m sorry.”

“You said that,” she whispers.

“But you didn’t acknowledge it or accept it,” I remind her, a teasing tone to my voice but I’m not really teasing at all.

“Nope.” She grins widely and now she’s the one teasing me.

I shake my head, look away from her briefly, then feel the corner of my mouth turn up.

“I’m a shithead.”

“Kind of, yeah.”

My head whips in her direction when she agrees with me and she shrugs. Takes a deep breath and licks her lips. “Not today, but after your family leaves, I’ll tell you why I’m here. Truth is, Iamlicking my wounds from my divorce. But not because I miss him or wish that our marriage had worked out.”

Hearing her use my words makes me feel like even more of an ass.

“Whatever the reason you’re here, I’m glad.”

We hold each other’s gaze for one, two… five seconds. I want to wrap her up in my arms and hug her. Keep apologizing until she knows without a doubt that I mean it.

She breaks the stare first, looking beyond my shoulder toward the door. “Your sister’s here.”

I turn around and guffaw. Olivia’s face is plastered to the window. She’s making a blowfish face then laughing at herself. My word. It’s like she’s still a bratty twelve-year-old who won’t leave me alone. She had finally grown up, then she had Brody and it was like her playful side took over once again. “I’m not even a little bit surprised. She’s a meddler.”

“I like her.”

“Yeah,” I agree half-heartedly. But in reality, I like her, too. She’s not just my sister, she’s my friend, too.

I wave her inside and she immediately barrels through the door, shouldering in dramatically.

“My brother is an ass, but he means well,” is the first thing out of her mouth.

Chloe’s head pokes into the still open doorway. “Is the coast clear?”

“What are you two nutjobs doing here?”

“Making sure that you didn’t run her off.”

“I’m good, promise,” Cami assures them.

“Great! Then we can finish our conversation.” Liv pulls not one, but two bottles of wine out of her coat and waves them in the air. I don’t drink a lot of wine but do keep a few bottles on hand, which she clearly sniffed out. Chloe grabs me by the collar of my coat and pulls then pushes me toward the door.

“Go on. Get. You’re no longer needed here.”

“Isn’t that her call?”

Cami gives me a cute little wave. “Bye, Owen.”

Liv makes an explosion sound. “Dismissed!”

I chuckle. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. You three have fun.”

“Oh, don’t worry! We will.” She shoos me out the door. Just before it closes, I hear her say to Cami, “Let me tell you the story about when Owen went through a phase where he only wore women’s underwear.”

“Shit.”

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