Page 9 of Guarding My Love

He’d been honest with her, but his family didn’t get him much either, so maybe he felt that kinship with his sister.

“That’s what big brothers are for,” he said. “Let’s go in so everyone can see me get my ass handed to me.”

“I’ll stand up for you,” Talia said. “Tell them you had an emergency at work yesterday.”

“I actually did,” he said. “No lie.”

“There you go,” Talia said. “West will back you and you know it.”

“I don’t need anyone to back me,” he said.

“We know you don’t like social events,” Talia said. “Not sure why Mom made a big deal about it.”

“Because it’s Mom and what she does best,” he said. “We still love her.”

Talia laughed. “You don’t live with her and have to deal with it daily. I want to move out.”

“Don’t ask me to be in your corner on that. It’s between you and Mom and West.”

“I know,” Talia said. “I just want to be settled like the rest of you.”

He wasn’t so sure he was settled the way his mother would like, but he was content in his life and to him that was more than enough.

“Things happen when they do,” he said, opening the door.

The two of them walked to the back of the house where the rest of the family was sitting at the table or in the kitchen talking.

He had flashbacks of this growing up.

The noise and the chaos.

No place to go to just have some quiet.

Maybe if he’d had that place as a kid he could have handled things differently.

Or not.

As he’d told his sister, you had to be who you were.

“Foster,” his mother said. “Last one to arrive as always. If you even show up.”

“Good to see you too, Mom,” he said, walking to her and kissing her on the cheek.

He loved her but couldn’t wait until she was several states away.

“What’s your excuse about yesterday?” his mother asked. She had a smirk on her face and he knew she was busting him. She knew her children well, but that didn’t mean he liked to be the center of attention either.

He wasn’t going to be disciplined or talked to like he was a kid, but she’d get her licks in.

“Work,” he said. “Something came up and it took me five hours to fix it.”

He looked over at West to see if he’d get any support there.

“You’ve got more than enough staff that could have dealt with it,” his mother said.

“If Foster said he had to take care of it, then he did,” West said. “He uses his judgment wisely.”

That could have been a shot at him or support. He wasn’t sure which and wasn’t going to question it. Sometimes he overthought too much.

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