Page 32 of Breathe Again

I smiled, happy to see him happy, and even happier to have Sophie to myself. She already had Olivia by the hand, leading her to the kitchen, where she was, no doubt, baking.

“Smells good in here.” I hummed as I caught up with them.

Olivia already perched on a stool at the breakfast bar. Lucy, Dean’s basset, was in her dog bed in the corner. It was a scene worthy of painting.

“Hang on. I’ll get Olivia to cut the bread for us. It’s fresh out of the oven. It’ll be awesome dripping with butter!”

She grasped my hand as she flew by me, bringing it to her lips and kissing the back of it. She stopped abruptly, peering at me closely.

“Are you alright, Mara?”

Her soft, green eyes studied me silently. She could detect pain like a metal detector picked up bottle caps in a back alley. My heart rate kicked up. I didn’t want her to know. I especially didn’t want Dean to know and feel sorry for his younger brother.

“I’m okay!” I rushed to reassure her. “Struggling a bit lately for some reason. Emotionally. Just came from my mother. Zale is working a lot. He’s tired.”

“Ah, okay.”

That was Sophie. I could give her a bunch of disjointed phrases and she would give me understanding. The lie burned in my throat but the shame that kept me quiet burned hotter.

“You want to talk about it, any of it, I’m here. Whatever it is, it stays between us,” she said, indicating the invisible string that linked us.

Tears sprung to my eyes. Horrified, I beat them back. Sophie saw and turned at once to distract Olivia. It was just a minute, but it was all I needed. Thinking back on it later, it was her honest compassion that undid me.

“How is Gavin settling in? You mentioned he had some homesickness?”

She laughed. “It was short-lived. He’s good, enjoying his first taste of freedom.”

I laughed with her. “I bet.”

Gavin, their youngest, was nineteen and off at university. He had a tough time the first semester, unused to the close quarters and the lack of privacy. Over the Christmas break he’d had time to regroup, and he’d gone back with a few tools in his mental tool chest.

Empathic, like his mom, black haired, blue eyed, and already heavily built like his dad, he was a smart kid, and adaptable. I knew he’d find his own way to cope.

“Yes, he joined the boxing league and made a few good friends. He has settled into the new semester quickly, he’s getting used to dorm life, and hasn’t run out of underwear yet, so all good.”

Gavin had his mother’s gift, his father’s looks, and his uncle’s demeanor. I’d always had a soft spot for him.

“And Derry?”

I adored Derry, a cloned version of her mother, but bigger on the inside, impossible as that was to imagine.

“You know Derry, if she doesn’t like something, she fixes it. If she can’t fix it, she crushes it.”

I laughed. “She looks like you, has your energy and charm, but her dad’s drive and persistence. She’s unstoppable.”

“She’s almost finished school,” Sophie mused, “she’s never been at loose ends, and now, for the first time, she’s not sure what’s next. It’ll be an interesting summer, seeing her work that out.”

I hummed in agreement. Derry at loose ends could be a powder keg.

We ate fresh bread in Sophie’s warm kitchen. Sophie served up chunky homemade soup, more fresh bread, and wedges of cheese and apple when Dean and Zale came in from their walk.

Sophie was who I’d always wanted to be when I grew up. I admired her immensely. I’d fallen way short.

In the car on the way home, I sighed happily as she waved us off, standing on the porch beside Dean. Olivia buckled herself in the back, happy to have given out two of her cards, only two more to go, one to Bex and Rhys tomorrow, and one to Willa. Hopefully, she would be there tomorrow too.

“I love those guys.”

“Me too.”

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