Page 99 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 4

“Who kissed you? Maia, stop celebrating for chrissake,” Rhodes rumbled and rubbed at the back of his neck.

“It was so dreamy, Maia,” Emily breathed. “I thought I was going to die. He was so romantic!”

“It was so dreamy…” Zach imitated in a high voice while snarling and making quacking motions with his hand.

“You shut up!” Emily pointed her finger at Zach’s face. “Maia, tell him he’s not allowed to hurt my boyfriend. Or any other guy I date!” she added for good measure.

I patted her back. “Bro, what’s up? Why did you fight him?”

“Did you miss the part where he was kissing her and touching her ass?” Zach deadpanned.

“Kid has an excellent point…” Rhodes cut in.

“Daddy! Not cool.” Emily’s eyes narrowed as she glared in his direction. “All I know is that you need to lay off dude! I am not your girl, I’m never going to be your girl, and you can’t go around beating up the boys I like. Period. I’m going to my room. Maisie!” she called out like my baby sister wasn’t hiding in the corner as all this went down.

She pushed off the wall. “I’m here, Em.”

“Our room. Now. We have to do damage control because somebody may have ruined my entire life!” She growled in Zach’s direction then did an about-face and stormed out of the kitchen and toward their room.

After about a month of Maisie living in the guesthouse, the two of them asked if they could share a room. Since the bedrooms in Rhodes’ house were ginormous, and Mom was cool with it, they bunked up and became best friends.

“Hey,” I put my hand to Maisie’s shoulder. “Don’t forget, you leave for therapy in an hour.”

Maisie smiled. “I won’t.”

“Besides all this drama, therapy is going good yeah?” I liked to check in every couple weeks.

She nodded. “I like her very much. Right now, we’re working on the idea of me making one friend that wasn’t given to me by Emily.”

I tilted my head. “I don’t understand.”

She dipped her head and her cheeks turned red. “All of my friends are Emily’s. And they are nice, but the therapist wants me to make a friend of my own. She says it would be good for me to put myself out there.”

“Oh honey, that’s a great idea,” Mom interrupted.

“I think so too,” Maisie agreed. “Today I actually complimented a girl sitting next to me in math class on the dress she was wearing. Turns out it was one she made herself. She says one day she’s going to be a famous designer. I told her she was definitely on track. Then she asked for my cell phone number, but I don’t have one.”

I blinked, standing there like a stupid idiot. I remembered getting Mom one. And when we went to the store, we’d taken Zach because he was learning to drive. He’d straight up asked for one.

“Honey, shoot. I’m so sorry. We’ll get you one on the way home from therapy. I don’t know why it didn’t dawn on me sooner,” I apologized.

Maisie shrugged her shoulder. “I didn’t have anyone I needed to call before. Now maybe I will.”

Behind Maisie I could hear Mom sniffling. Rhodes went over to her and patted her back. “It’s an oversight, we’ll take care of it right away.”

“But you shouldn’t have to,” Mom croaked. “I’m supposed to be providing for my children, and it’s my child and her husband doing all the heavy lifting.”

Husband.

I loved hearing Rhodes called that. We’d married three months after getting home from Colorado. None of us had ever seen the ocean, so that first weekend we were all home together, we went to the beach. Every last one of us felt the calming healing vibes of the ocean, finding the experience so uplifting and freeing. I’d decided there and then that I wanted to get married right where I’d felt free. Rhodes thought it was a wonderful idea. We’d only invited a handful of people to witness it. My best friend Sam of course, Alana and Christophe, Marisol and her family, and us. It was perfect. After the ceremony, Marisol and her kids cooked us a Mexican feast, and we drank margaritas and danced under the stars until our feet were too tired. It was one of the most beautiful nights of my life.

“Maisie, go on ahead but be ready for therapy,” I instructed.

“Okay, Maia. Love you, Mom!” she called out and then headed to her room.

“I’m outta here,” Zach snarled.

“The hell you are!” I hollered. “Zach, you cannot beat people up at school. Not Emily’s boyfriends, not anyone. You are not that person.”

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