Page 31 of Defending Our Ever After

“I want you to hear this from me, Trisha,” I sign, sitting across from her in the living room, not ten feet from a couple of the others, but knowing that we might as well be in our own bubble. “I was hung up on Shelby for a while. A long while.”

Continuing after she presses her lips together, I tell her about meeting Jace and Shelby when we were barely more than kids ourselves. How the anger I felt at how he treated her made me feel more protective than anything, but that I put her on a pedestal in my mind and used that image to justify never dating or getting serious about anyone.

“That’s very honest,” Trisha signs back to me when I finish. “And now?”

“Now, even before you arrived, I knew she was in the right category all along. We’re good friends, we never would have survived as anything else. I’m truly happy she found Aiden.” Shaking my head, I let out a deep breath before I continue. “You made a comment about her last night and I probably should have clarified things then, but I didn’t want anyone else saying something and upsetting you.”

“I’m glad you didn’t say anything last night. We both needed that. Well, I did, I mean.”

“Oh no, I did too!” I quickly sign, over emphasizing the last part and happy to see her smile. “And I’m finding myselfneeding thatagain.”

“Eddie, want to come give me a hand?” Mike calls out to me from across the room. I look over to see him carrying his toolbox and while I don’t know what he has in mind, I sigh and excuse myself, caressing the top of her hand before I cross to help him.

Heading toward the stairs, I start to suspect what he has planned—the snickers from behind me, quickly confirm the project he has in mind.

Entering my room, Rachel is sitting in the old recliner, feeding Sara, and Mike asks her to give us the space.

“I built this bed for Shelby when she was a girl,” he says, lifting the mattress off the floor to lean it against the wall.

Following his lead, I do the same with the box spring that I had left on top of the remains of the bed.

“It’s fine craftmanship,” I tell him, managing to keep a straight face. “I’m sorry for breaking it.”

“Well, it survived Shelby jumping on it as a kid. Then when she and Jace were sneaking around as teenagers. Next, she and Aiden, but yep, last night proved too much for it,” he replies with an odd grin on his face as he scratches his head while we take apart the remains of the frame. “Come to think of it, I recall catching Max and one of his girlfriend’s sneaking out of here in the middle of a party. Not what I had in mind when my wife showed me a picture of what she wanted for our daughter when she outgrew her crib.”

“You’re laying it on pretty thick there, Mike,” I tell him. “Want me to repair it?”

“Maybe another time, if you don’t mind just sleeping on the mattress for the time being. I asked the others to let me have first dibs on giving you shit; so, don’t think you’re going to get off this easy.” With that, he finally cracks a smile.

“Well, I sure hope you and your wife had a turn. Back in the day,” I say with a wink once we have laid the box spring and mattress on the floor and start carting the solid wood pieces downstairs.

“We sure did,” he deadpans.

“Hey! What happened to Mom’s bed?” Julia calls across the yard when she sees me carrying the headboard to the storage shed.

Russ’s laugh tells me he either figures it out quicker, or Mike has motioned to the broken piece that he’s carrying.

“Wait! Did you and Trisha hook up?” Julia asks and I find myself actually blushing in response when she stops in her tracks, waiting for an answer. Russ wraps his arm around her waist, encouraging her on their way to the main house.

Their heads are together so I can’t make out the rest of their conversation, but Mike clicks his tongue at me.

“Y’know, you can tell her to mind her own business,” he tells me.

“Yeah, but then she might get nervous about asking me something that’s more important. I’ve always tried to answer all of her and Dylan’s questions,” I explain my reasoning to him.

“Wise, especially from a man who only has an infant.”

“That’s how my dad was with me. From the time I could remember, he’d always listen when I spoke and I never felt like any topic was off limits.”

Following Mike’s lead, we quickly find a corner of the shed to stack the wood and thinking about the family I’ve come to think of as my own, I hurry, anxious to get back to Trisha; not that they’ll tease her as much.

Chapter 12

Julia

“Can we stop there to warm up?” Rachel asks me when she spots Elsbeth’s house.

“It’s freezing in there, Rachel. It’s not like we keep a fire going when there’s no one living there,” I remind her, taking a deep breath to remain patient. “Besides, keeping moving is the best way to stay warm.”

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