Page 63 of Reckless
I stayed still beside her.“Yes.”
“Your dad is quiet and thoughtful.In some small ways he reminds me of my dad especially when he talks about books.”
“Pedar expects a lot from his sons.It’s different when you know you’re expected to be the best because he’s the best.”
“I don’t get that vibe.He’s just kind to me.”
“It’s because he told me to treat you like a queen in my life.”
Kelly laughed under her breath, and the sound did something low and physical to me that I disliked on principle.
“Queen sounds rather lofty and that’s more your mom.But she’s kind.Earlier she told me to saffron in warm milk when I can’t sleep,” Kelly said.
I looked at her.
“When?”
“At lunch.”She glanced over at me.“She’s the only mother figure around me so it was a little nice to be singled out.”
“Not remotely.”I should have said something light.Instead I heard myself say, “You should be frightened.”
She turned fully then, the terrace rail at her back, drink in one hand, hair moving in the wind.
“Because she’s planning some wedding of ours where I’m dressed in white?”
“It’s more.When my mother likes someone, she treats them like they’re already hers.”
The words landed between us with a weight I had not intended.Kelly’s expression changed, little by little.
And because I was apparently incapable of learning, I added, “She won’t be casual with you now.”
Kelly looked back toward the room through the open doors where my mother stood laughing with Avril and Hope and my father as if she had not rearranged three people’s emotional equilibrium before dessert.
Then she watched me again.“Why does that sound like a warning and not a brag?”
Because if Kelly let herself soften toward that kind of welcome before this arrangement had even fully started, the ending was going to be uglier than the beginning.
“I’m being helpful,” I said.
She snorted softly.“That is not your best look.”
“No?”
“No.”Her eyes stayed on mine one beat too long.“I prefer you insufferable.”
“Why?”
“Because insufferable I can resist.”
“And this?”
She sighed.“This I’m still deciding about.”
My voice lowered.“That sounds dangerous.”
“For which one of us?”
“Both.”
