Page 36 of Unravel You

“Why do you think she has this crazy idea that you and Anabelle should get together? She wants to marry you to the neighbor. Could she be more obvious?” Wesley rubbed the inside of his wrist.

It took a lot of guts to make this decision and follow through. He was good at what he did, though Mom kept dragging him down. Same way she did with me.

“All this time, it was about spending time with us?”

“Exactly. And for the record, before I left, I took Mom and Dad camping for a whole week. No cell phones, no Wi-Fi. Just us and a big case of booze.” He did a mic-drop gesture. “Boom. Quality time.”

“I’m here for thirty days.”

“Have you seen her? She’s in her element. She dragged Anabelle all over the place trying to get this house ready for you. Asshole, she flew to Italy to get you your goddamn marble tile.”

This was how Zack got away with bear-hugging strangers. He was a telepath or something.

“Okay, Dr. Phil. I get it.”

Zack stood. When he got on a roll, there was no stopping him. “Are you sure? Do you really get it? Because I talked to Anabelle earlier.” He glanced over at Wesley, and he shrugged. “Our beautiful referee is getting the brunt of it. Why do you think that is?”

“I’m obviously failing today.” I rose to my feet to grab the bottle of bourbon. “Just tell me what else I’m doing wrong.”

“She’s the one keeping you in Arizona.”

“My business keeps me there.” I looked behind me over my shoulder.

“You know that’s not true.” Wesley met my gaze, daring me to lie to him.

“Unfortunately, brother, I don’t have the answers.” Zack moved to the edge of the patio. He sipped from his glass, stretching his neck to see beyond the trees.

“I’m glad Zack was here for this conversation. I don’t know what to tell you other than you can’t keep throwing your money away on investments that don’t make sense. You might as well give her this house too. Why the hell not?”

Zack turned around, laughing. “Didn’t we just prove Mom doesn’t want money? Though that’s not such a bad idea.”

“It was a joke, not an idea.”

“She wanted to save this house for a reason. Dad couldn’t care less. And he’s the one that grew up here. Look at what she’s done just to have us all here again.” Zack had a point there.

I gripped a bunch of my hair. “I literally just told Valentina this was her house. What am I going to tell her? ‘Hey, I’m going to give it to Mom instead. Good news, she might be nicer to you if I do.’”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say it like that.” Zack regarded me as if my ranting made sense.

“You guys are no help.”

Mom walked onto the patio carrying a tray of cold meats. “I swear dinner is almost ready. We had a little incident in the kitchen. The gas line wasn’t connected properly.” She shook her head.

“It’s fine, Mom.” Zack put his arm around her. Mom’s eyes got a brilliant quality to them.

I rose to my feet to go find Valentina. It was getting dark, and I didn’t really trust her to be out there on her own. She’d already proven she could get lost on her own. Wesley stalked over to me and pinched my shoulders.

“Sit down,” he whispered in my ear. “Listen to Dr. Phil.”

“So, Mom, Wesley and Derek have something to tell you. Oh look, we’re out of crackers. Sit. I’ll get them.” Zack kissed Mom on the top of her head and left us to deal with our bad news.

“Derek wants you to keep Gram’s house,” Wesley blurted out. Coward. He couldn’t start with his bad news.

I glared at Wesley. When I turned to face Mom, she was in tears, hugging herself.

“I mean, you already moved in.”

“Derek.” Mom walked around the chairs to hug me. “What a lovely gesture, but you know I can’t take this house from your new bride. It wouldn’t be fair to her. Where would your kids live?”

---