Page 179 of Push

“I’ll be okay. I’m a better man when you’re beside me.” He kissed my head. “Thank you for giving me another chance.”

“Tobias, you said this was afamilymeeting.” His mother’s lips pursed, and she flicked an invisible speck of dirt off the cheery daisy tablecloth.

No one else sitting at the tiny café table spoke a word. I couldn’t even see Tanya’s face because it was stuck on the menu. I fought the urge to check my phone. I wasn’t worried aboutNoah being with Cat, but I silently prayed for an excuse to escape sitting at a table across from Toby’s mother.

He’d wanted to rip the Band-Aid off—talk to his family all at once. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of his brilliant plan. Catching up for a late Sunday lunch, pretending to be one big happy family, was a disaster waiting to happen.

Toby slung an arm around my shoulders. “Gwen’s family.” He smiled down at me, his chest puffed up, proud. I liked that a lot. “She’s my wife.”

“Please don’t remind us,” Sarah spat back.

Toby only smiled. “She’s my wife. She’s my wife. She’s my wife.”

Head still stuck in the menu, Tanya snickered.

Sarah’s murderous glare slid from Tanya to Toby. “Must you always act so stupid?”

Toby’s face barely started drooping before I launched to his defense. “Don’t you dare call him stupid.”

Tanya was oblivious to everything. Her hand shot up, waving to the waiter. “Can I get some fries over here?” she called out.

Sarah stared at Tanya. “You aren’t actuallyeatinghere?” she asked her with disbelief.

“I will be if they ever bother to serve us.” Tanya clicked her fingers to get a waiter’s attention. She grunted when no one headed in our direction and turned to Toby. “Alright, little brother. Start talking. I’m all out of fucks to give—”

“Tanya!” Sarah shrieked. “Language!”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t drive for three hours straight on my only day off this week for a repeat of the Great Christmas Lunch five years ago.”

A round of grimaces flashed around the table. That was a memory bomb Tanya didn’t need to drop. After Toby’s father had hit one too many Baileys and told Sarah precisely what he thought of her, she’d made sure that everyone was just asmiserable as her. No one had escaped that lunch without crying at least once.

Toby slumped in his chair. He was losing his nerve. I rested my hand on his thigh—high, almost indecent, and just where he liked it—and gently squeezed.

He nuzzled his nose into my neck. “There’s that magic stuff,” he whispered.

“Oi. Gross.” Tanya made a gagging noise. “Now, it’s a repeat of the Bleach My Eyeballs Pool Party.”

I pressed my palms into my eyes and ducked my head, face burning.

Toby laughed, waggling his eyebrows at me. He clearly wasn’t embarrassed to be reminded about being sprung with his head stuck under my dress.

“You should’veknocked,” he told his sister. The scandalized look on Sarah’s face when the meaning finally clicked only made his laughter roar louder.

Tanya waved her hand to hurry him up. “No more trips down Awkward Memory Lane,” she said. “Get on with it.”

“I think our mother should probably do most of the talking,” Toby replied.

Sarah’s spine straightened, and her shoulders went back. “I have nothing to say.” Her chin lifted.

“What about on the subject of Ian?” he asked.

Tanya snorted. “No one’s interested in talking about your dumbass friend.”

“Brother,”Toby corrected her. When she rolled her eyes, he added,“Half-brother.”

“Wait—that’s—you’re not joking?” Tanya’s jaw hit the floor. “Is this true?”

Every pair of eyes at the table slid to Sarah. She sat there, void of any emotion, glaring straight ahead. She refused to respond, so Toby did it for her.

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