Page 60 of A Smooth Operator

"Dallas was so kind to ask me to join y'all," Echo cut in, fear dripping from her.

My mother smiled tightly. "You clean up nice, girl. Dallas, let's go inside. We have guests." The way she said it made it sound like Echo wasn't one.

My father wiggled his eyebrows at me, silently saying, "Fix this, son," and took his wife into the house.

"Why did you do that? I was about to introduce you to my mother as my date, Echo."

She caught her lower lip between her teeth and her eyes were moist suddenly. "I can't do it."

"Do what?"

"Deal with what will come if people know."

Fuck! I had thought her reticence was about how I'd treated her, and now I was realizing this was about how she'd always been treated by all of us. Just now, my mother had insulted her.

I put an arm around her and kissed her hair. "Baby Doll, I'm not going to let anyone—"

"I'm not ready," she blurted out. "For any of this."

"You look beautiful." I needed to calm her down, I realized. She was nervous as hell.

We went into the house, which had been transformed into party central. Mama knew how to throw one hell of a shindig.

Lani immediately spotted Echo and me, and I felt my girl stiffen. She immediately put some distance between us so that no one would think we were together. I wanted to push the point, but she looked just about ready to throw up, so I didn't.

This was a bad idea. Echo wasn't ready, and my grand gesture of inviting her in front of all of Memphis to tell them what she meant to me was backfiring like a mother fucker.

"Hi, Echo." Lani looked repentant, and I was relieved to see that she had a conscience. She had told me she was sorry for how she talked about Echo and how she treated her. Lani had her own insecurities plaguing her—but unloading those on her friend wasn't the solution. Echo had blocked Lani's number as well, so I knew this was the first time my sister had the opportunity since that day in my club to make amends.

"Lani." Echo stared down at her feet. She wore cute pink sandals. Her toes were painted red. I knew how little Echo did to make herself up, so the fact that she'd bought a new dress and shoes and had a pedicure meant that she'd wanted to look her best for me. It warmed my heart.

"I'm so sorry for how I have treated you," Lani said in an unsteady voice. "I've been a bitch to you, and you've always been a friend. Dad told me how you're such a hotshot scientist and the company is lucky to have you. I'm really ashamed of how I talked about you."

Color me surprised! I never thought a day would come when I'd see my sister say the things she just had.

"Thank you for your apology," Echo mumbled.

Now that I'd gotten to know her better, I knew that Echo didn't throw out platitudes like "it's okay" to make anyone feel better. The way Lani treated her, the way I talked about her, none of that was ever going to be okay.

"Can you forgive me and be my friend again?" Lani asked humbly.

I wanted to give my sister a hug. This display of self-awareness was more than I'd ever seen or imagined from her. In fact, if I hadn't witnessed it myself, I wouldn't have believed it was possible.

"I can forgive you, Lani, but we can't be friends. We haven't been friends since you started to hang out with Marina and her group. You liked to lord upon me that I was the help, and you were doing me a favor. You never treated me like a real friend. We can't be something we never were."

Lani's face fell, and I felt sorry for her, but also proud of Echo. She wasn't being mean or cruel, just politely honest.

Before Lani could say something, Tommy wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, Poopy Pants, looks like you—"

"Quit being ugly, Tommy. You call her that again, and I'm gonna re-arrange your fucking face," I snapped. "Control your fiancé, Lani, or he'll not be invited anywhere Echo and I are."

Lani pushed Tommy away from her, feeling embarrassed. Here she was, trying to make it right with Echo, and her future husband was continuing to be a dick.

"Echo and you?" Tommy, who had no sense of self-preservation, chortled. "Please tell me you're not diddling the—"

I grabbed Tommy by the shoulder and kneed him in the balls. Echo and Lani gasped. I did it in a way that I knew no one noticed. Just two bros hugging. I held Tommy as he wheezed, all but doubling down.

"You show her respect, or I'll cut your balls off," I whispered in his ear. "Nice seein' you, Tommy. Lani, glad you said what you did to Echo. You may as well be the first person to know, she and I are—"

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