Page 115 of Tempting Fate

“Charlie’s right.” Crystal gathers me in a bear hug. I tower over the short woman, yet her softness envelops me. “Honey wants what you have, but she doesn’t know how to get it. Her behaviour is just a way of compensating for the emptiness inside her, mo ulaidh bheag.”

I smile when Crystal calls me her little treasure in Gaelic, but I refuse to back down. “She threw rape in my face… I’m not going to feel sympathy for her.”

Crystal laughs. “I’m not asking you to be sympathetic. I’m telling you to ignore her pettiness because reacting to her is beneath you.”

“Fine,” I huff.

Despite the urge to hunt Honey down and pound on her face until her Botox runs free, I heed the older woman’s advice and settle for giving Nadia a hug.

“Bear’s a prick,” I whisper. “You deserve better.”

Extricating herself from my embrace, Nadia quips, “Do I really?”

“Yes.” Although I know she’s alluding to the whole giving-Sander-drugs-in-secret fiasco, I do my best to reassure her. “He’s got a beautiful diamond at home, yet he chooses to slum it with Botox Barbie… that’s a deficiency in him, not you.”

All my best friend gives me is an insincere quirk of her lips as she rushes out of the kitchen like demons are snapping at her heels.

“What did I say wrong?”

Charlie hands me the knife I discarded when Honey interrupted me and silently urges me to continue chopping the chicken into bite-size pieces. When I get back to work, she takes up a workspace next to mine to help me construct the salad and subs.

“Nadia has her own shame and regret to work through,” Charlie murmurs. From the opposite side of the bench, Crystal makes a sound that tells me she agrees. “Just be gentle with her. Make sure she knows you’re a soft place for her to fall when the time comes. That’s about all you can do in situations like this.”

Slanting a sideways look at her, I ask, “Are you speaking from experience?”

“Of course, she is,” Crystal interjects. “We’ve had plenty of practice at it too. You’re not an easy girl to comfort, Cherub.”

Charlie lets out an inelegant snort. “Loving a bear with a sore head would’ve been easier.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” my stepmother declares. “Everyone puts shields up when they’ve been hurt. Just took us more time than we expected to knock yours down.”

The other women squashed into the kitchen murmur their agreement, and Crystal sidles around the end of the bench to give me another hug.

“I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”

“One step forward at a time, Lilianna… that’s all we expect from you.” Charlie punctuates her statement with a light pat on the back of my hand. “It’s all we can expect from anyone.”

Our conversation halts when a couple of the younger kids enter the kitchen looking for a snack. Shooing them off because preparation is finished and they’ll ruin their appetite with a treat now, we all grab a dish or two and head for the rec room. The prospects have set up long trellis tables to hold all the food needed to feed more than eighty people. With other chapters and our allies arriving every few hours since they received our S.O.S. call, the compound is close to bursting.

With vocal enthusiasm, everyone eagerly tucks into the proffered food.

When the other old ladies see their men, they light up and easy conversation fills the room.

I keep to myself.

I can’t shake the anxiety that’s been rising in me since my run-in with Honey.

What if something happens to make mine and Zeke’s fake separation permanent?

I’m sitting by myself, a plate balanced on my knee, having found a scarce quiet corner, when my man slides into the chair next to mine.

He nudges my arm with his elbow.

“Holdin’ up okay?” he asks in a quiet voice.

“Not really.”

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