Page 72 of Where the Little Birds Are (Little Bird Duet 2)

He harrumphs before winding his freakishly long arms around me and squeezes. “I figured as much. Couldn’t hurt to ask.”

I just smile against his chest.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Corbin / Present

The talk with my father yesterday left little to be said, yet it was exactly what we needed. He patted my hand, squeezed my shoulder, and sat by me while Mom just watched with glassy eyes. She’s wanted this for too long and we finally succumbed to a different kind of inevitable fate.

Because of Kinley.

Because of this baby.

It was Mom who suggested that we turn off our phones for the remainder of the day because even she, who avoids tabloids like the plague since seeing me featured in my fair share of them, knows how this industry works. By the time we turn them back on, they’ll be plastered with every kind of article there is to read.

It was Kinley’s Mom who suggested we stay another day. And maybe to both our surprises, we agreed. It seemed easy. The place we’d both been eager to escape from a decade ago became the one place we needed to escape to now.

Studying Kinley as she bounces a blond toddler on her lap, I notice the flattened state of her lips as her and her mother speak in low tones in the living room. Based on the straight posture of her mother’s spine, I can tell they’re laying it all on the table—years of frustration all being voiced today.

But it’s what they need.

My eyes go to Dad across the room, where he speaks to Kinley’s father about the custom hutch he’d built to store the collectable Holstein cow figurines Kinley’s mother collects. I know if I stand up and walk over to the large piece of furniture, there’d be two different copies of large white checks hanging on the back wall between the model trucks and shot glasses on display.

Gavin’s first milk check.

Kinley’s first royalty check.

A small hand brushes my arm, snapping me away from the corner of the room where the two men talk, and focusing instead on my mother. “You look lost in thought.”

I hum out a reply, leaning back in the chair I occupy with two half-empty boxes of pizzas to my right. “Did you know about Parker when you told me there was a lot about her I didn’t know?”

Her expression says it all before she even opens her mouth to confirm it. “Yes.”

Swallowing, I find myself nodding. “Did you meet him? Get to know him?”

Her hand falls into her lap. “I only met him once. She kept him to herself for a while, denying anything was going on between them if anyone asked. And after they made things official, she didn’t talk to me as much. She moved to the city with him, you know. I think she needed distance from here.”

My jaw ticks.

Her smile is sad. “I understood why. It wouldn’t have been fair to him if she kept in contact with her ex’s mother. But if you’re asking because you want to know if he was good for her, then yes. I believe he was exactly what she needed.”

Before I can even open my mouth to reply, she cuts me off. “But if you’re asking if she was good for him, then no. Regardless of our limited contact, it was clear to see that you were it for her. She and Parker shared something special, but nobody can force love.”

Eyes traveling back to the room connected to this one, I notice Kinley and her mother gripping each other’s hands. They both look at Sam, Gavin’s son, and smile over whatever he’s rambling about on his aunt’s lap.

Her mother touches her stomach.

And Kinley holds her palm there.

“You told me it was better to let her live her life instead of disrupting it,” I mention, turning back to my own mother beside me.

Her lips curve upward. “I did.”

My brows raise as if to ask why.

She laughs and pats my arm. “Darling, when have you ever listened to me? I knew as soon as you said you got the leading role that it was only a matter of time.”

I don’t say anything.

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