Page 95 of On the Ropes
Midge leaned in. “When her parents were still alive, they threw one of the best Pride parties in Philly. Your father, he reminds me of them. But of course…” She cleared her throat. “Of course, Maria and I lost people. When we got married. When we adopted Dean and started our family. My only brother doesn’t speak to me. Two of Maria’s four sisters refuse to acknowledge that I exist in her life at all. Cousins, aunts and uncles, friends. People at work.”
My heart grew heavy. “I remember those stories the most from our support group.”
“Me too,” Maria said softly. “It’s one of the commonalities in all of our experiences.”
Under the table, Dean’s hand found my own again. “The counselors would always tell us that you find the people who love you more loudly than the ones who don’t,” he said. “That’s your real family, your found family, in the end. To me, it’s what the park represents.”
He caught my eye and held it. The sweetly tender look on his face only amplified how fiercely I’d been denying what was really going on between us. What had I bragged to my sister that first night?
I just sleep with people I already know I won’t fall in love with.
Clearly, I’d become quite the expert in lying to myself.
