Page 23 of Broken

I needed Mia around more. I prayed she understood that I couldn't bring Aine here, that I'd never brought her here, but it would be nice if they came to visit down there once in a while.

Mia and Dani would run the entire city on a weekend. Shit, Mia and Danielle in the same city limits might be a horrible idea. I could just picture the hearts that would break because of the two. Men and women alike would be fawning at their feet for attention.

I met the sisters at the diner that we used to eat at in high school every Friday morning. The problem with small towns, and never leaving them, you go to the same places as an adult that you did as a kid.

The place hadn't changed much over the years since I left home. It had the same greasy sweet smell, old fifties style music playing softly through small speakers in the corners of the walls, and pictures of all the local sports teams the diner sponsored over the years.

I spotted Mia right away, sitting in the same booth that our little group would crowd into on those mornings before school. The person sitting across from her did not look like the Tess I remembered.

The soft-spoken shy kid grew into a beautiful woman with short blonde hair with small pieces of pink peeking through the bottom. Loose curls swept back to reveal ears with piercings from lobe to conch, and I couldn't tell from here, but it looked like a tattoo peeked out from behind her ear.

"I ordered you coffee, and water with lemon," Mia told me as I slid into the booth next to her. " I didn't think you acquired a love for mornings in the past twelve years."

I hated mornings, at least I used to. Aine made things different. She made life worth living. She made mornings bearable and chased away the darkness. Aine was everything right in my world, and she had been all mine for the past eleven years, and I was about to share her with my best friends.

"Thanks." I gave her a small smile and sat down across from her. Our server came and quickly took our orders. she seemed to know Mia and asked her some questions about the store, and a fun time to stop by. I quirked my eyebrow and got a smirk from Mia in response.

"She's in high school. She likes to come in for a tarot reading once a month. She always asks when she's going to fall in love."

"Cute." I felt like an outsider, an alien on a foreign planet trying to navigate through a culture I didn't understand.

Waiting for our food to come, we got all the obligatory small talk out of the way. I told her about my job at the resort. I told her about Danielle and how they would get along great. I was stalling. She wanted the real details, but I just couldn't do it.

"What about your little one? What's her name?" Tess spoke up. She had been mostly silent the entire time we talked. Replying to emails and texts on her phone.

"Aine. She's incredible. She loves tacos and Emo music. She loves old movies and she's my very reason for existing." I beamed at Mia, all the pride in the world for my daughter etched across every feature on my face.

"Aine. Interesting name choice, Sin." The look Tess gave me made me uncomfortable. My skin itched under her gaze; it was as if she were trying to see through me into the darkest parts of my soul.

Mia diffused the tension between us. "How old is she? What's she like?"

"She's eleven. She has a fiery personality and is quick-witted and sarcastic."

"Kinda like her mother." Probably the kindest thing Tess said to me so far. She was angry. "But, Sin, who's her dad? Do we know him?"

"Tess!" The air around our legs swished, as what I assume was Mia's foot connected with Tess's shin. "It's cool, Babes. That's a detail we don't need if you don't want to share it. Right? Tess."

"I just don't understand the big deal; it could be anyone. If you do the math, maybe she got pregnant before she left Lakewood. What if that's why she left."

Tess was absolutely pissed off and holding a grudge. She was also one hundred percent correct and didn't even realize it. Fuck. I was so fucked.

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say that wouldn't be a lie. Mia must have sensed my panic, and understood that I just couldn't give her that, she gave my foot a little tap under the table.

I gave her one of my own, and we both laughed loud enough that the elderly couple in the booth across from us, gave us an odd stare. "Whatever. I have appointments. I'll see you for dinner tonight Mia?" Tess stood up to leave, looking at her sister, intentionally avoiding my eyes. Ouch.

After Mia confirmed their plans, Tess left without so much as a goodbye my way. At least one person in this fucking town was angry with me and treated me the way I expected when coming home.

"I'm sorry she's so bitchy. She took it really hard when you decided to cut everyone off and to find out about your daughter hurt her a lot too."

I could tell they were both hurt and had every right to be angry at me. For so many reasons other than keeping them out of our lives for so long. We were like sisters. I spent more nights at their house than my own growing up. Their parents always made sure to include me in any family outing or vacation. Mia was right last night when she said she had always been by my side.

I quietly started to cry right then, when I realized that I kept so much from Mia. Mia missed out on so much, and so did Aine and I.

I was alone when I had Aine, I didn't have any family there to hold my hand and comfort me. I needed my Mia then, and I still do, Aine does too. We have Dani, yes. But we need our Mia.

She pulled me for a hug. She didn't understand why I didn't reach out, but it didn't matter now, at least not to her. Tess would take some time.

fourteen

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