Page 77 of The Fighter

“I don’t really like people.”

“But you like my brother.”

I leaned forward. “I like your brother the most.”

She pulled her lips between her teeth and let them out. “What do you like about him?”

If anyone else asked me, I might have told them to fuck off, that I didn’t owe them an explanation. But for his sister, I could be honest. I gestured around the lavish apartment with the million-dollar view. “He makes everything matter.” Her mouth opened, and her eyes widened slightly, like she hadn’t expected that answer. But I wasn’t done. “He’s surprisingly witty. He eats like a caveman, and I find it disgustingly endearing. He gives great hugs. The best. And I don’t evenlikehugs. He has dimples when he smiles. They used to be more rare, but now he’s free with them, and I still treasure every one like it’s the last. He makes a mean omelet. He sleeps deeply with his face smashed on the pillow like an elderly cat. Sometimes I check to see if he’s still breathing. He kisses like he would die without it,” I sucked in a breath. “And he’sgood. He oozes goodness.”

The light smacks of tiny fists on a heavy bag filled the silence left by my words. Tav laughed. Holden shouted something, and then his little feet came running out of the gym.

Amara swiped at her face with the heels of her hands as Holden launched himself at her. Tav looked between us, sending me a confused look, but I gave him a smile. Everything was okay.

He joined me at the island while Holden told Amara all about the gym and all about how Tav let him hit the heavy bag. Amara smoothed his hair off his head as he talked and she asked him questions, but the boy’s attention shifted quickly when he spotted the leftover food from breakfast on the table. He chomped on a piece of bacon, sending crunchy bits flying all over the countertop before spilling Amara’s coffee all over the floor and making it worse by falling in the puddle of brown liquid.

Amara’s bright eyes met mine. “Tav’s not the only caveman in the family.”

And that made me laugh out loud.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Tav

By lunch, Amara was still at Con’s apartment. After lunch, Holden’s eyes began to droop, and when Amara suggested taking him back to her apartment for a nap, Con suggested he use the spare bedroom.

Holden was asleep before his head hit the pillow, and we left the door open a crack, so we’d hear him when he woke up. From outside the door, I stared at his little face slack in sleep, barely able to believe that I had been able to play with him this morning, talk to him, make him laugh. This was a dream come true.

When I finally left the doorway, I entered the kitchen to find Amara and Con once again in some weird stare down with each other. “You two okay?” I was nervous. I needed them to get along, and I knew Con was trying, but he was alsoCon. And Amara was still wary. Of both of us.

“So what’s the plan here?” She crossed her arms over her chest and addressed her question to Con. “I have a job. I can’tjust shack up in an apartment with Holden for an indefinite amount of time.”

“You’re on a short-term leave with pay.” Con’s hands were in his pockets, and he might have looked relaxed to Amara, but he wasn’t relaxed to me. “I have done work with your firm, so I talked to your boss. I have hired a temp to fill your position for now. She will do a serviceable job until you can return to your position. Holden’s preschool is on its spring break for the next week, so his absence won’t be noted. His jiu jitsu instructor is aware that Holden will miss this week’s practice.”

Amara’s face was getting redder and redder the long her spoke. Finally, she sputtered. “You can’t be serious.”

Con was so very serious, and he said so. “I am.”

She turned to me, and I could see the anger there, and a flare of protectiveness. “Is he this controlling with you?”

“No,” I answered honestly. “He’s only controlling about my safety or my health. Then he takes charge. When I had a concussion, the doctor said no orgasms, so he didn’t fuck me for a week.”

“Tav!” Con’s eyes bulged.

“He didn’t get off either,” I explained to my sister, knowing she’d get it. We used to always be open with each other about sex. “Like in solidarity.”

Con was losing it. “JesusfuckingChrist, Tav. This is your sister and?—”

“No.” Amara held up a hand. “I’m glad you told me that, Tav. It makes me like him more.”

Con’s jaw dropped, and I felt a smug satisfaction that we shocked him. I raised an eyebrow, and his gaze shifted from Amara, to me, back to Amara. “So this is the way it’s going to be. I’m outnumbered.”

I felt a flutter in my chest as Amara laughed, but the sound choked off on a sob so quickly that my head spun. Her headducked, and she pressed a sleeve-covered hand to her mouth. “Shit,” she whispered. “Sorry. Normally I’m not so… emotionally fragile.”

I stepped to her side, playing with the ends of her hair the way I used to do. “It’s okay. What happened? Did something upset you?”

She waved her hand. “Yeah, this.Thisupsets me.” Her head tilted back until our eyes met. Fresh tears clung to her bottom lashes. “I felt so alone these past five years, like I lost an arm. I had Holden, but I didn’t have you. The anger I felt toward you burned off in six months, and then it was just an ache. But I didn’t know where to find you. How to get in touch with you.” She smacked my chest. “I didn’t even know if you were alive!” A sob shook her shoulders. “And I’msorry.The guilt is tearing me apart. I never should have gotten involved with Dennis. This is my fault?—”

“Dennis was a manipulator.” Con spoke up swiftly. “You were, what, nineteen when you met him? And he probably love-bombed you. He made you feel special. He was charming when he wanted to be, and you were not the first woman he’d conned. You wouldn’t have been the last either.”