Page 42 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t give a shit what they think or do. If they make me choose again, I’d rather have you in my life and at my wedding than either of them.”
Hearing those words made my eyes water, and I sniffled.
Miles switched the hand holding mine so he could use his right hand to rub my back. I leaned into him a little, grateful he was here, grateful for his comfort.
Magnolia stared at me for a long, long time before she started crying too, saying, “I’m so sorry, Win. I’m so, so, so sorry. I wish I never let them get into my head. You were gone, and they were just… there. Always there, always saying such horrible shit aboutyou, and when they told me I had to stay away from you or they’d cut me off, stop paying for my college, I… I made the wrong choice. And I’m so fucking sorry.”
Seeing my sister, my little sister, crying, almost openly sobbing, and apologizing made my heart hurt so bad it was like someone was sitting on my chest. And I knew, Iknewhow manipulative our parents were. Of course they’d been in her ear about me. Of course they’d turned her and our other siblings against me. I wasn’t there to stop them.
Before I could think twice about it, I pulled away from Miles and stood, then walked around to the other side of the table. I gently pulled Maggie up and wrapped my arms around her. She fell into me, hugging me tightly as she sobbed into my shoulder. Tears ran down my face too, and when I looked over Maggie’s shoulder at Miles, he had tears running down his cheeks, but he sent me a shaky smile and a nod.
He approved of me hugging my sister and potentially forgiving her. Of course the man with a huge heart would encourage forgiveness. Of course he’d encourage me to form a relationship with my sister again.
The hurt of what happened, the pain of her absence for so long, would never go away.
But she was right. Maybe we could move forward now and forge something new.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to trust her fully, at least not anytime soon, but I could try.
Better yet, Iwantedto try.
After a long, long hug, we parted, and I patted her shoulders before sitting in my seat. Miles wrapped an arm around my back and reached for my hand with his left one again. I took it and leaned into him, humming in approval when he kissed my temple.
Miles was very shy about public displays of affection, but he didn’t seem to care at all right now. He only wanted to offer me comfort, him and his big, giant heart.
After Maggie retook her seat, I asked, “So… how have you been? What are you doing for work these days? How did you meet Nash?”
She let out a small laugh. “I’m doing well. I’m actually a doctor. A pediatrician, to be exact.”
My eyes widened. “What? Seriously?”
She grinned, though it was watery. “Yeah. I decided to go to med school after I had a friend pass away in college.” She waved that away. “That’s a story for another day. But anyway, yeah, I went to med school, and since I’ve always loved kids, I decided to go into peds. I work at a practice with five other doctors and a wonderful group of nurses. I do rounds at the hospital too, and I love it.”
“That’s amazing, Mags. I can’t believe it. Wow. A doctor. I bet Mom and Dad were happy.” As soon as the words were out, I cringed.
She cringed too, but then she rallied. “Uh, yeah, I guess. I don’t really talk to them very often anymore.”
Well, that explained why she’d reached out to me then. “Why not?”
“They don’t approve of Nash.”
I had no clue who this Nash guy was, but I wasn’t surprised. Our parents didn’t really approve of anyone. They were stuck-up snobs, and by the time I’d been a teenager, my mother had been so resentful of her empath magic, she’d begun ignoring it altogether. So even if she picked up on amazing vibes from this Nash guy, she’d ignore them. “Why?”
Maggie sighed and pushed a strand of her white-blonde hair behind her ear. “He’s a musician. He’s in a band, yeah, but that’s mostly for fun. His actual job is working at a studio as a sessionmusician. That means he fills in for bands or plays extra backup parts when they’re recording and things like that. It’s a steady job, and he loves it. He also teaches some music classes on the side, so… yeah. He’s really talented, and he’s a really great guy. I think you’d like him. But… you know how Mom and Dad are.”
I nodded because I could only imagine what they thought of him. “Well, he sounds cool.” And I sounded like an absolute dork. He sounds cool? What the hell was that? And why did I care? Was I trying to impress her? It should be the other way around after everything.
“How did you two meet?” Miles asked, saving me from my spiral.
She smiled again, but this time it was brighter, fuller, truer. “He was babysitting his niece, and she fell off the swing and broke her arm. I happened to be doing a round in the ER, so I saw her. He was so upset, freaking out that it’d happened on his watch, so I took him out in the hall to calm him down, and afterwards, he gave me a huge hug.
“I… liked it and thought he was cute, but he left without saying anything, so I didn’t think anything would come of it. But the next day, he showed up at the ER with a bouquet of flowers to thank me and ask me out. I said yes, and the rest is history.”
I shot her a grin. “That sounds like something out of a movie.”
“Right? That’s what I thought. I felt like I was in one of my favorite romance movies for the first few months that we dated. He’s really sweet and super talented, and he… he loves kids.” She met my gaze. “We’re hoping to start a family next year.”
My eyes widened at that. The last time I’d seen my sister, she was only nineteen, and now, here she was, a grown woman, getting married and talking about having kids. That was… crazy.
