Page 110 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“Fuck,” Cian muttered, reaching out to pull my hair as he strode down the hallway.

“I want liptick, too,” Sean said as they disappeared.

“Well,” I said, turning back toward them. “That timing couldn’t have been better. I noticed it right before we got out of the car.”

Aisling laughed.

“Sersh,” Aoife called. “Can you come stir this while I finish the biscuits?”

“Notice she didn’t call Ash,” Saoirse said smugly as she left the room.

“I can stir food,” Aisling said dryly. “But I’m still in a careful-around-Aisling bubble, so they don’t ask me to do much.”

“How are you feeling?” I asked quietly.

“Still sore,” she said with a shrug. “But it’s not so bad anymore.”

“The bruises look better.”

“Most of them, yeah.” She smiled crookedly.

“I’m glad.”

“Now if I could just sleep,” she said with a humorless laugh. She waved me off when I winced. “I’m going to talk to someone. I made an appointment next week. We’ll see how it goes.”

“I think everyone should go to therapy,” I replied.

“You go?”

“I have, yeah.”

“Did it help?”

“Definitely.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “Aoife’s been on me about it. Which, between me and you, she probably needs it more than me. This whole limbo thing with Richie is really fucking with her.”

“She’s been through a lot,” I said, not really sure what she was referring to. “All of you have. If I thought Cian wouldn’t laugh in my face, I’d try to get him to go.”

“I’ll give you a million dollars if you convince my brother to go to therapy,” she said with a snicker.

“Do you have a million dollars?”

“I’ll get it,” she replied firmly.

“Dinner’s on,” Aunt Ashley called as Cian and Sean came back down the hall.

“I peed on the toe-lit,” Sean announced.

“Nice job, bud,” Aisling said as she stood. She was still moving carefully. I pretended not to notice.

“You didn’t tell me I had lipstick all over me,” Cian murmured as he pulled me up from the couch.

“You didn’t let me change my sweater,” I countered.

We crowded around the little kitchen table. Cian and Saoirse sat on folding chairs, and Sean used one of the barstools from the counter so we’d have enough seats. Cian’s thigh pressed against mine as he poured me ice water from the pitcher being handed around.

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

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