Page 103 of Off the Wall

“Hello?” My dad waves. “Who’s Nori?”

“She’s the woman Cash accidentally fell for,” Lauren says. When I glare at her, she scoffs. “What? You didn’t do iton purpose. Show me the lie.”

I drag a hand over my head. “Shouldn’t we be focused on Tilly right now?”

My mother comes toward me, her eyes sparkling. “You’ve met someone?”

Oh, no.

“This is wonderful news!” She glances at my dad. “See, Eddie? I was right!” She aims her firehose of a grin back at me. “I told your father you just needed a little more time.”

“Four years,” my dad huffs. “Long time.”

“I’ve been busy,” I say.

“We know, and we’re very proud of you, sweetheart,” my mother says. “We can’t imagine how hard things were for you. You know. After everything.”

“Leave the kid alone, Theresa,” my dad groans. “Cash doesn’t need you dredging up the past. Just because Daphne wrecked?—”

“Whoa.” I lift my palms. “No one wrecked anybody.”

“Of course she didn’t, sweetheart.” My mother presses on a smile.

“Seriously.” I glance around the room, taking in the faces of my family, wondering what they’ve been thinking all this time. “I’m not wrecked. In fact—good or bad—I learned a lot from everything that happened.”

“He sure did, Tilly.” Lauren sings this at the bassinet. “Your Uncle Cash learned that Nori is the perfect woman for him. Didn’t he?”

“Wow.” I guffaw. “Are you still high on pregnancy hormones?”

“Nope.” Lauren sends my parents a crooked smile. “You should’ve heard him gushing about her yesterday. He sounded exactly like Cullen did when he met me. Completely smitten. Weren’t you smitten when you met me, Cull?”

My brother nods. “Completely.”

“Turns out Cash and Nori are neighbors,” Lauren adds, digging the ditch even deeper. “He went on and on about meeting her at this restaurant. Then another time her carbroke down, and he let her borrow his bike. There was also this whole incident with the pool at their apartment complex. Cash saved her.”

“You saved her?” my mom gasps.

“He did,” Cullen interjects.

“And she has this dream of buying a tea shop now.” Lauren grins at my parents. “It was adorable.”

Great.

“I did not go on and on,” I grumble.

“You did,” Lauren insists.

“Hold on.” My dad tugs at the brim of his ball cap. “You mean to tell me all this happened while you were in labor?”

Lauren cocks her head. “I’m an excellent multitasker. And Cash was kind enough to distract me in between contractions with all his smitten-ness.”

“Complete smitten-ness,” Cullen agrees. Then he rounds on me. “So what happened when you got back to the building? Did you see Nori? Did the video turn out to be a problem?”

“Oh, my.” My mother’s hand flutters to her throat. “What video?”

“Notthatkind of video, Mom.” I stuff my hands in my pockets. “It was just a social media thing.”

She waves my comment away. “You all know I only go on Facebook to get messages about mahjong.”

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