Page 181 of A Little Complicated

I blink away the moisture from my eyes. “I’m supposed to be holding up?”

Her sad laugh warms me as she squeezes my knee. “Ditto.” Letting me go, she reaches for the last tissue in the box and dabs beneath her eyes. “Life has dealt me a lot of shit over the past few decades, Lia, but the past little while takes the cake.”

My heart clenches as I peek at her. “I’m really sorry I hurt your son. I know so much has happened since then that it probably doesn’t even feel like it matters, but—” I hiccup. “I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, Ophelia.” Her smile is sad as she reaches for my knee again. “We all make mistakes. And trust me, I made plenty when I was your age.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“I know,” she whispers. “But our sweet Archer, he…” her bottom lip trembles. “He wasn’t one to hold grudges, and neither am I. He loved you, Lia. And I know it hurts right now, but he’d want you to be happy and to live your life to the fullest. I know it with every fiber of my being.”

She’s right. I know it too. But it doesn’t make this easier to accept. He should be here. He should be sitting by me, comforting me, promising me Maverick will be okay. And in a way, I feel like Archerispromising Maverick will be okay. Because without him, Maverickwouldn’tbe. The realization only makes me feel worse. Like I’m betraying my best friend all over again for thinking of his brother when we just started to mend things between us.

“I feel guilty,” I whisper. “That I want Maverick to be okay when Archer is…when he’s…” Moisture floods my eyes, and I cradle my head in my hands, unable to say the words aloud. It’s like my body’s rejecting it. The reality that Archer’s gone. That I’ll never see him again, and because of him, his brother’s in surgery and has a chance of surviving. Of living a full life.

“I know, Lia.” She rubs her hand up and down my back. “I know.”

“I feel so broken, Aunt Mia,” I cry.

She sniffs quietly. “We all do.”

She’s right about this, too. We’re all broken. Archer? He was a piece of us. All of us. And with him gone…we’re all missing a vital part of ourselves. A part that can never be replaced.

Why’d you have to die, Archer?

“And what if Mav—” My words break with a quiet whimper. “What if he—”

“He’s going to be fine,” she promises. “I know it.”

“How do you know?”

Unwavering, she stares at the closed hospital doors where her son is currently fighting for his life. “Because he has to be.” She wipes beneath her nose with her tissue and lets out a slow, shaky breath. “Bad things happen to good people all the time. But good things can happen, too, and I think that’s what we need to focus on. The odds of Archer being a match is…it’s a miracle, Ophelia. A very heart-breaking miracle. We can’t dismiss it.”

“I know,” I whisper.

She’s right about this too. We can’t. It wouldn’t be fair to Archer or Maverick. For everything they went through to get here.

“Listen to me, Ophelia.” Aunt Mia grabs my hand and pulls it into her lap. “When my son wakes up with his brother’s heart, he will need you.” My tears roll down my cheeks and drip off my chin as I hold her stare. “He will need all of us, but especially you. I’m not going to lie. When I found out about you dating both my boys, I was kind of pissed.”

I let out a pathetic whimper, and she continues. “Especially because they’re twins. I thought, who would do that? Who would act like they could exchange one boyfriend with another identical one?”

“I didn’t—”

“I know, Ophelia,” she murmurs. “That’s the thing. You didn’t look at them that way. You never did. They weren’t one and the same to you. Ever. You were connected to both of my boysindividually, seeing the best of them and recognizing their differences. Their strengths and their weaknesses. I can’t thank you enough for that. For proving to them they’re their own beings. Proving they’re different and unique. Proving they never needed to live up to each other or compete with each other to still hold value. You cared about each of them individually. Loving them individually.”

My lips part on a sob, but I swallow it back, holding onto Mia’s hand for dear life.

“I think Maverick will need the reminder now more than ever, Ophelia,” she whispers. “Please don’t fail him.”

Closing my eyes, I take a deep, cleansing breath and nod. “I won’t. I promise.”

57

MAVERICK

My nose itches.

I wrinkle it and reach to scratch the thing but stop trying when I realize my arm feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. My eyelids are heavy, too, as I slowly pry them open. The bright light burns like a bitch, causing my dry eyes to water. I blink the moisture away and take in my surroundings.

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