Page 7 of Forbidden Romeo

“Mallory!” Mom scolds, a catch in her voice. But my big sister doesn’t hear her or doesn’t seem to care that she’s not only hurting me with her outburst, but breaking Mom’s heart, too.

“I tried to come home. You know I wanted to be here for Dad?—”

“What I know is that because of you, I wasn’t with my own father the night he died. And the biggest kick in the teeth? You couldn’t even be bothered to be there with him when he died.”

Her words are like bitter arrows, their sharp tips piercing through my heart and leaving behind a trail of hurt and regret.

When I look at my sister, we look so alike in all the ways that don’t matter. But all I see in return is the reflection of our fractured relationship; and a gaping wound between us that may never fully heal.

My eyes slide to my mother who now has her face buried in her hands, her shoulders trembling with silent sobs. Holden stands beside her, clearly unsure what to do, but trying his best to comfort my mom with awkward pats to her back.

“You and I can talk later,” I say. “I know you don’t care about hurting my feelings, but you’re hurting Mom?—”

"I’m hurting Mom?” Mallory’s voice cracks like a whip. “Take a look in the mirror, Katie. There’s only one absent daughter in this family and it sure as shit isn’t me.”

My face burns. Deep down, I know it’s true. She’s right. I haven’t been around. There’s a good reason why, but right now as we’re all grieving Dad, none of those ‘good’ reasons matter.

“You act like this place doesn't exist except when it's convenient for you. But we're still here, living life whether you drop in or not."

“You haven’t dropped in either,” Holden says. When Mallory and I both whip around to face him, he dips his chin sheepishly, but adds more quietly, “How long has she been living away from home without a single family member to visit her?”

“I have young children,” Mallory says, her eyes narrowing. “Besides. You aren’t part of this family.”

“That’s enough!” Mom roars and steps between us, turning her glare on Mallory first. “You don’t get to determine who is part of this family. We accepted Brent immediately. If Holden is Katie’s person, then he is part of this family regardless of what you say. Second, Holden makes a good point. It’s true Katie hasn’t come home as much as any of us would have liked, but it’s not a one-way street. We are all to blame for this fractured family. But instead of playing the blame game, maybe we can all come to a truce and agree to try harder? For your father’s sake.”

Still stinging from Mallory’s accusations, I cross my arms, but give a nod all the same. I’m used to eating crow. I’ve done it my whole life. "Truce,” I agree. “For Dad.”

Mallory’s blue eyes flash, but her sharp nod tells me that this is far from over. “Fine.”

With a sigh, Mom leans against the bar. "Now that that’s out of the way, there's something I need to talk to you both about.”

Mallory’s expression immediately softens, melting from anger to concern in a blink.

Mom takes a deep breath. "In the spirit of having more time and freedom to visit not only you girls, but also my sister in Florida… I've decided to sell the pub. It's just too much for me to handle on my own. And it’s the main reason your father and I never got the chance to see the world like we’d always wanted."

Even though I feel like I've been punched in the gut, I know she’s right. This place was Dad’s dream. He poured his heart and soul into it for over 30 years.

But it was never Mom’s dream.

"But… you can't!" Mallory cries. "Dad built this place from the ground up. It was his whole life!"

Mom crosses to Mallory and pulls her into a hug. "I know this is hard," she says, gently. "But we have to be practical. I’m not as young as I used to be and your dad did most of the heavy lifting here.”

“Let me buy it,” Holden blurts out.

We all whip around to face him, startled. “What?”

He swallows with a nod. “I mean, I… I can invest. Hire a staff to run the place for you. You can still oversee what you need to, but with help. More help than you’ve ever had. You could travel while still collecting profits.”

“Profits,” Mom snorts. “This place never saw any profits. We made enough to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads and that was it.”

Holden’s expression softens. “We can change that, if you’re open to some adjustments. You can even maintain 51% ownership so you have final say.”

Mom's eyes widen in surprise, her brow furrowing as she weighs the possibilities at Holden's offer. She opens her mouth to respond, but Mallory cuts her off. “You’re not actually considering this, are you?” Mallory's face grows stormy, her cheeks flushing pink. "This place was Dad's heart and soul. We can't just hand the reins over to some outsider!"

“Mallory,” Mom warns with a voice I’ve seldom heard from her. “We’ve covered this already. Holden is Kate’s person. He’s part of this family?—”

“Yeah, for the time being!” Mallory shouts, wheeling on Holden. “Until he fucks her over again! You don’t know what he did to Kate back in the day, Mom, but I do. He’s not a good person.”

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