Page 42 of Holding You
“Yes.”
“No. I mean, they are busy, and they help me out so much as it is.”
“Well, that’s not okay. I’m going to?—”
“No, no, please don’t say anything to any of them,” I say quickly, my gaze meeting Quinn’s, Sadie’s, and Shay’s. “Please. I don’t really talk about this stuff with them, so it would be weird for me.”
“Do they know how Colt’s family treated you?” Shay asks.
I shake my head. “I never talked about it because, despite all of it, I only really cared how Colt treated me, which was great. But it was still hard not to let the comments get to me. I was always doing my best, but it was never enough.”
I shrug and then shake my head, standing to get a refill onmy drink. “But let’s change the subject from my sad past to the bright future.”
The girls all sayhere, here, and then Brooke adds, “to living with Declan.”
And my smile drops.
Shit. I’d already forgotten that part.
CHAPTER EIGHT
DECLAN
Ruby may have agreed to let Susie and I move in for the summer, but I know her distaste for me wasn’t cured overnight.
I grab a box from the kitchen and carry it out the front door, my mind scanning my memories to see if it can find what I did to her or to anyone close to her.
I definitely didn’t date any of her friends. We are too far apart in age for that. Now, sure, a woman her age is fine to date, but as kids, no way.
That’s out.
I wasn’t in a feud with her brothers. Heck, we barely spoke in junior high or high school.
So that’s out, too.
I jog down the steps, passing Luca and Miles, who are loading my couch into an enclosed trailer that I rented. They are arguing about how to place the furniture.
It’s my shit, and I should probably stop to end the debate, but as long as it all fits, I don’t care.
What I do care about is the fact that I’m moving Susie andmyself into a house with a woman who doesn’t care for me all that much.
I know we are doing this for the kids, but I stand by my comment to become friends with Ruby by the end of the summer, and I feel like I should take this opportunity to mend things.
I grin as I approach her front door.
I don’t think Ruby is going to make it easy for me.
And to be honest, I wouldn’t expect anything else from her.
I kind of like that about her.
She doesn’t give her affection, or whatever you want to call it, away easily. You have to earn it.
It might kill me in the end, but if Susie can learn even an ounce of that from Ruby, it would be awesome.
“Dad!” Susie greets me. “We are downstairs—my room is on the left, and yours is on the right.”
I already know all this, but when the kids made it clear they wanted to be involved with moving day instead of playing in the backyard, Ruby gave them assignments.
