Page 182 of Severed Rivalry
“Tell me when you’re ready. We’ll find a way to make it happen. You go too far away though and your mom will be stressed.”
“Define too far away,” she starts.
“What’s too far away?” Sariah asks from the hall.
“Nothing,” Renée and I say in unison, and I wink at the younger of the duo.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
I lift the now full coffee pot. “Want a cup?”
“Definitely,” Sariah says.
I flip my gaze to Renée asking her the same with my eyes.
“Nah. I’m not supposed to with this.” She points to her head.
“Don’t tell Ayla that.” I laugh at my own joke and don’t bother to explain why to either of the women who stare at me.
Pulling two mugs down, I fill one then the other and doctor Sariah’s up with honey and cream. I place it in her outstretched hands just as my phone dings quietly.
Liam: All good.
Me: That’s it?
Liam: That’s it.
Me: Okay. We just woke up. Both my girls are home. Both required hospital visits. Long night. I’ll tell you when we catch up.
Liam: {Thumbs up emoji}
My brother. I’ll never understand him.
I take a deep pull of coffee and rewind my brain. “Née, did Rosie need something?”
“What’s wrong with RoRo?” Sariah asks.
“This answer-a-question-with-a-question thing is deeply annoying.” Teenage angst has reentered the chat. She’s down the hall and back again, now only half clothed, before letting herself out onto the terrace with Eleanor as her shadow.
“Where are the rest of her clothes?”
Sariah smiles at her coffee and says, “You’re in for a world of hurt. That’s”—she tilts her head toward the sun-filled backyard—“mostly dressed for that age group.”
I shake my head and blink like I’m a meme waiting to happen. “Say what?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Oh no. I don’t want—” My words come to an abrupt stop. I don’t want last weekend. I don’t want control the way that man did. But, dang, I’m ill-prepared for being a parent to a teenager.
I slide onto the sofa next to Sariah and set my coffee aside. Letting out an exhale, I stare at the carpet between my bare feet and say what I’ve dreaded for too long. “Liam wants to use the girls at Rosie’s as bait for Jonas. He wants to lure him hereand?—”
“What the fuck, Ci?” She jolts so fast, coffee sloshes over her mug and onto her thigh. “Shit, that’s hot. Fuck.”
I rush to the kitchen and get a hand towel and wet it. When I get back, she slaps my hand away as I try to help.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
