Page 23 of Safe With Me

“Don’t be. It’s fine. Things happen, right?”

I nodded, but there’d be no way I’d ever be okay with Keely not being in my life. Granted, we were sixteen years apart so we didn’t have typical sibling arguments, but my cousin Chloe was the closest thing I’d had to a sibling growing up. As much as we squabbled, I’d never cut her off or stand for anyone hurting her.

“So, your father and your stepmother live in Kelly Lakes, but your mother doesn’t?”

I took her lead for a change in subject.

“My mother lives in California with her second husband, who never liked kids very much. That’s why, once she remarried, I got shipped back to my father in Kelly Lakes.”

“I thought you’d always lived here.”

“Nope. From kindergarten until eighth grade, I lived with my mother in a town in Putnam County. I’d visit my father on the weekends, or he’d take me somewhere.”

“That must have been hard to move back at that age. Especially going into high school.”

“It was. My parents had a brutal divorce. I saw things get ugly between them quite a few times.”

She shook her head. “I’ve only known your father a short time, but I can’t imagine him getting ugly with anyone.”

My stomach always rolled when I let my mind drift to those years. How I’d be sick over it all but could never show it.

“He would always back off for my sake. My mother would tell me things about him that I knew couldn’t be true. But I was a kid, so what did I know? When I had to come back to live with him, it took me a long time to believe that he wanted me there, not that I was just plopped on his doorstep to take care of until I turned eighteen.”

I popped off the carpet and eyeballed the dresser.

“Is this good?”

I turned to Lila, so much sympathy in her pretty gaze I had to look away.

“I’m so sorry you went through that. Do you still talk to your mother?”

I hadn’t talked about this in years, and even then, I’d never went into any real detail. My mother was the villain in this story, and I guessed if I ever admitted to how it made me feel, I’d have to call her one.

For some reason, it still hurt to do that.

“I do. Sometimes she’ll come to New York if her husband has a business trip here.”

I left out the part about how, even though I was twenty-five, my mother was still trying to poison me against my father.

“I always have to mute things in my life for her. Which is weird to have to do with a parent. She hates that I’m a cop. So does my father. But I can never show how close I am with my father or how happy I am living here.”

That, I had never admitted to anyone. It was a lifelong burden you would have thought I’d become used to, but as I got older, all I did was resent it more.

I was happy with my life, but I always wished she could stop trying to make me miserable because she wasn’t happy with hers.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to give you a sob story as I put together your furniture.” I went back to pushing the dresser against thewall when she squeezed my shoulder, sending a zing right down my spine.

“You sound like you’ve been holding that in for a bit. Don’t apologize.”

I swiveled my head to her warm smile that soothed me as much as it kicked up my pulse.

“If a trade makes you feel better, can I tell you something that’s been bothering me?”

I nodded without a word and turned around, bracing myself for what she might say.

“I feel like since we met, I’ve given you a bad impression. Loitering around Claudia’s bar?—”

“I told you not to worry about that. I just thought you needed help.”

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