Page 154 of These White Lies
Somehow, without either of us trying, this place became home.
He is home.
Work is different now, too. I loosened my grip, just a little, and to my surprise the world didn’t end. My associates handle client meetings and contracts, and my paralegal manages schedules, keeping us all flowing. Initially, I was irritated that nothing fell apart when I stepped back. The plates I’d killed myself to keep spinning in the air for years didn’t come crashing down without my micromanagement. Eventually, I accepted that relying on my team doesn’t make me weak, and it gives me the breathing space to live a life I never imagined I would have.
Brady doesn’t hover or scold if I work late. He just orders food and puts it on the desk next to me. There are times he’s gone for days at a time, and I won’t lie and say I don’t hold my breath until he safely comes home to me. I still hate the idea of failing at anything, but he’s helped me accept everyone falls down sometimes. Taking the hand that pulls you back up isn’t weakness. It’s partnership. For the first time in my life, I truly understand what that means.
Thanksgivingwith my family was better than I expected. Maybe it was Brady’s presence and the glares he sent my cousins andbrother-in-law every time one of them made a snarky jab, or maybe it was because my sister, Caroline, finally snapped half-way through the turkey dinner.
“You all sound like assholes,” she’d said flatly. The rare curse word coming out of my sister’s mouth shocked everyone into silence. “If one more person makes a passive-aggressive comment about Beth’s choices, I swear I’ll start handing out detentions.”
“Do they do detention in elementary school?” Our brother couldn’t help but tease, but his wife elbowed him hard, and he mumbled an apology.
Brady didn’t bother to hide his grin. Caroline’s outburst had bled the tension from the room.
Later, sitting by the fire pit and after a bottle of wine, I finally summoned the courage to apologize to my sister.
I watch the flames, the words sticking in my throat. “I’m so sorry, Caroline. About the accident. For destroying your dreams.”
She stares at me like I’ve grown two heads and then… laughs in my face. “Are you being serious right now?”
I flinch. “You wanted to be a ballerina, and because of —”
“Oh my god, Beth. Get real. I was a kid. Who knows what I would have wanted to be a few years later?” She peers at me a little blearily from the wine we’ve had. “Have you been worried about this?”
“Of course I have. Because of me?—"
“Hold up.” Caroline lifts her hand. “I love you, Beth, but holy shit, you’re conceited.”
“What?” I jerk back. This is not the reaction I expected.
“I hate to break it to you, sis, but you don’t”—she holds up a finger—“haveneverdictated my life. Which is a pretty awesome one if I do say so myself.”
“It is.” I nod. “You seem so happy.”
“Because Iamhappy. So, stop being a weirdo or a martyr or whatever else is going on in your giant brain and pour me some more wine.”
“We’re out.” I tip the bottle, and only a few drips hit the ground.
Caroline sticks her lower lip out and pouts. “Can you get it? You know because I have a”—her lips curve in a devilish smile—“limp. It’s sooo hard for me.”
“You are such a brat.” But on my way to grab us a new bottle, I plant a smacking kiss on top of her head.
The lock clicks,and I glance up as Brady steps through the door, shrugging off his coat. He’s dressed in a black sweater and dark jeans, hair rumpled like he ran his hand through it one too many times.
“Smells good in here,” he says, sniffing the air.
“Don’t get too excited. It’s cinnamon candles. I haven’t been brave enough to try baking again after that last burnt batch.”
He grins and drops his coat over the back of a chair. “Candles, cookies, giant tree… you’re turning us into a Hallmark family.”
“Please,” I scoff. “You’d last ten seconds in a Hallmark movie before someone called the cops.”
That earns me a laugh. He crosses the room, stops in front of me, and looks down at the blanket wrapped around my legs. “You warm enough?”
“Yeah.”
He leans down, brushes a kiss across my temple, then drops onto the couch beside me. His arm hooks around my shoulders automatically, pulling me in against him.
