Matt & Brooklyn: A Standalone in the "Again for the First Time" Family Saga (AFTFT Book 2) (17 page)

“I miss the beach, too,”
I eventually replied, rereading my message over and over, making sure my subconscious mind hadn’t tricked me into typing
‘I miss you, too’
instead.

“Aunt Brook, the light’s green.”

When TaLia alerted me, I smashed my foot against the gas, causing the car to jerk when I took off into traffic. She gave me a look, but I ignored it.

Parking was scarce, which meant it was bound to be crowded inside. Lia hopped out of the car before I could even shut the engine off, probably already making a list of stores she wanted to hit, items she wanted to make me go broke buying. With the cryptic message from Matt still on my mind, I eased out of the car, too, feeling the sun beat down on me when I did.

“Okay, so where are we starting?”

“I need accessories,” she said, beaming.

This girl…

“I feel like I need to put you on a budget before you get ahead of yourself. You’ve got exactly $100 to spend, so don’t go crazy in here,” I warned.

She nodded, still grinning. “I won’t. Promise.”

We stepped inside and the massive crowd confirmed the suspicion I had when we first arrived. This warm weather had clearly brought
everyone
out. Lia directed us where she needed to go and I followed with my wallet in hand like some sort of sponsor. The store she had in mind came into view when we turned the corner and she picked up her pace. I did the same, but only moved quickly enough to keep her in my line of sight.

Loud dub-step music bombarded us when we entered, but that didn’t seem to bother Lia. She headed straight for a rack of sunglasses off to our right. I hung back and eyed a few things, but had no intention to buy anything for myself today. I spotted a cute necklace and grabbed it to show Lia because it looked like her style. My eyes drifted up when my name was called. It was Lia wanting me to check out a pair of glasses she tried on. After I gave her a thumbs-up, she held on to them and went on to a new pair.

I looked back down at the rack of necklaces that caught my eye, but a familiar face had me doing a double-take.
Mel—Nick’s, soon-to-be ex-wife.
She saw me, too, and eventually started making her way over.

The smile on her face definitely seemed forced, but I was sure it was just because she didn’t know how to take me. I’d been a bit standoffish with her from the beginning because of how she’d treated Lissy when Luke first started bringing her around. There was no quicker way to get on my bad side than to mess with my family. However, once she and Lissy started warming up to one another, I eased up on her. I was pretty sure that was the only reason she felt comfortable coming over to speak.

“Hey! How’ve you been?” she asked, being overly nice.

My cheeks tightened with an insincere smile, too. “Pretty good. And you?”

She nodded and I was pretty sure we were both thinking about her situation with Nick. Of
course
she wasn’t okay.

“I’m hanging in there,” was all she said back.

There was awkward silence between us, but the super-loud music made it easier to tolerate.

“Talked to Matt lately?” she asked, probably already knowing the answer to that—he and I were close. We
always
talked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I just came back from visiting him, actually.”

She seemed surprised by this. “Oh, okay! Must’ve been nice to get away.”

“It was,” I agreed.

She paused and pushed her dark hair behind her ears and some of the pretenses she walked over here trying to uphold seemed to fall away. She seemed bothered by something, but wasn’t speaking on it.

“How’s the rest of the Valente crew?” she asked. “Bonding over conversations about how many ways they’d like to kill me?” There was a smile on her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

I hadn’t expected her to bring up Matt’s family, but I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that she’d snoop a bit. After all, I was probably the first connection she’d had to the Valente’s in quite a while. From what I understood, she and Nick only communicated to argue.

“They’re all fine,” I assured her, although I knew her inquiry into how they were was only a Trojan horse. If I had to guess, she didn’t care a whole lot about the family; she was fishing to find out what the census was on her and Nick’s divorce.

She folded her arms across her chest and I stared at her discreetly. She was defensive, maybe thinking I, too, had passed judgment. However, based on what I’d heard, she had every reason to kick Nick to the curb. Matt agreed, although he’d never leave his brother in the wind just because it wasn’t in him to do so, which I understood.

“It doesn’t really matter what they think,” I offered up even though she didn’t come right out and ask. “I don’t think anyone blames you for what you did.”

A look of understanding passed between us and she eased up a little more. “I wasn’t sure,” she answered. “I figured he’d poisoned them all with his lies.” She shook her head and let the frustration she felt show through. “We all know he’s the master at that.”

Despite the way I felt about her in the beginning, I understood Mel in a way. Even her initial issues with Lissy were rooted in loyalty. Her cousin, Catarina, had been in an extensive on-again/off-again relationship with Lissy’s husband, Luke, before they met. She knew that Luke moving on would undoubtedly cause her cousin to tailspin, so she ended up disliking my sister by default. Seeing as how she eventually saw the error of her ways, she and I had no problems. Because I’m protective over my family the way I am, I probably would’ve been the same way.

“Regardless of what Nick says,” she added, cutting into my thoughts. “I’m not the bad guy.”

I frowned at her a bit, wondering why it would even cross her mind that anyone thought she was. “Don’t even worry about it, Mel. We all know about the cheating. Any woman in her right mind would’ve—”

“It was more than that,” she interjected. Her eyes drifted toward the ground, and she didn’t explain.

“More than the cheating?” I asked, glancing over to make sure I could still see my niece. She was fine, off in her own world picking up what looked like way more than $100 worth of stuff. I’d deal with that later, giving Mel my undivided attention again as I folded my arms over my chest.

She pushed a hand through her long hair. “I never said anything because I thought I could eventually change him.” The words were cryptic, but spoken with enough concern that I found myself listening harder.

Her eyes lifted to mine and then she shook her head. “Dammit.” She was clearly frustrated as she pushed a tear away from her cheek. “Even with all that bastard has put me through, I still love him.” She smiled a bit, but it was one of those smiles that only slips out because you’re embarrassed. I imagined that was
exactly
what it was—embarrassment. She felt like a fool for loving a man who didn’t deserve it…

But we’ve
all
been there at one point or another in our lives. I had no room to judge her.

She looked up when I touched her arm, letting her know I wasn’t thinking anything bad about her. Swiping at another tear, she found her words. “Just tell his brothers to look in on him,” was all she’d say. And to my surprise, she walked away, hurrying from the store before I could stop her, before I could ask her what exactly it was his brothers were supposed to be checking in on.

*****

I stood in the living room with my hands perched on my hips, giving Lia the hardest side-eye ever. She was all smiles while my wallet was empty. An array of pink, blue, and white shopping bags lined my couch. The smile and begging eyes Lia gave me, coupled with the guilt of possibly missing her sweet sixteen in September—plus every holiday in the coming twelve months—all worked together to coax more cash out of me.

“Thanks, Aunt Brook,” she said as she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. “You’re the best.”

“I better be,” I said with a smile. I helped her grab her new things and led the way to one of the two guest rooms upstairs, passing Dallas as he pounced down to the first floor.

A flip of the switch brightened the room, showing off the beautiful sea-foam, blue walls that reminded me of the ocean I’d just left. I finished painting the white trim right before graduation, so the room was finished just in time for Lia’s stay. While I was away, I had my dad bring by the TV from the basement that no one ever used, too. I figured Lia, being a teen, would probably spend a lot of time in her room here, so I’d make her as comfortable as possible. When she walked in behind me, her eyes lit up at the realization that she’d have her own space here.

“I didn’t even know you finished it!” she said, dropping her things—shopping bags and luggage—inside the closet. I did the same when she finished.

“Yup. Just for you,” I added.

“This is so cool. I think I could stay here forever.”

The smile on my face dimmed at her words, but not because she wasn’t welcome here. Again, I thought of the possibility of me leaving, but I also thought about the trouble between her and my sister. This needed to be addressed sooner rather than later, especially with Lia making comments like that.

I sat on the edge of the bed and then told her to do the same. I think she sensed a lecture coming because her shoulders slumped a little and she wouldn’t make eye contact.

“Okay, listen. You already know I love you and you already know you can always come to me when you’re going through something, but… you
also
need to know that I’m not taking sides.”

Lia didn’t say anything, just listened.

“Me letting you stay here isn’t because I’m okay with how you’ve been treating your mom lately.”

She nodded, but still said nothing.

“I wanted you here so you
both
could clear your heads and figure out how to fix it. You’re both frustrated and I get that, but, Lia… you’re still a child, baby girl. The way I heard you yelling at your mom today?” Her cheeks flushed red when I called her out on her behavior. “That’s not okay. And I think we both know you owe her an apology when you get back home.”

Bean was one hell of a mom and I’d seen her bend over backwards to provide for her kids after Chris decided to walk out on them. Lia and CJ had been kept in the dark on a lot of things, but the rest of us all knew how Bean struggled. For the first two years, Chris wasn’t giving her any money for bills, food, or anything else, but Bean never missed a beat. She picked up more piano students while still holding down her full-time job. She’d almost pawned some of the expensive jewelry she acquired over the years, but the family pulled together money for her to pay her mortgage so she wouldn’t have to do that. The bottom line is: she deserved better from Lia than what she’d been getting lately.

“What happened today?” I asked.

Lia picked at the chipped, pink nail polish on her fingers and wouldn’t look up when she answered. “I was just mad.”

I nodded. “Okay… we all get mad, so I get it, but… mad about what? You know you can talk to me and it’ll stay between us.”

She blinked a few times and there was so much pain behind her eyes it nearly broke my heart.

The words weren’t coming to her freely, so I started asking questions. “Was there something she wouldn’t let you do?”

Lia shook her head.

I thought some more, wanting to gently lead up to what I
thought
the problem might be.

“Did she put you on punishment for something?”

Another shake of the head.

I nudged Lia and smiled. “Did it have something to do with a boy?”

She smiled, too. “No… well, not really.”

My heart skipped a beat. As protective as I am over my sisters, TaLia and even my younger nieces, Destiny and Mallory, Lissy’s and Aura’s daughters, were perhaps in for the
worst
of my hovering. I at least knew my sisters were old enough to handle themselves, but these little girls had so much life ahead of them, so much to learn; it honestly scared the hell out of me. If I could, I’d lock them up until they were twenty-one and I decided they were old enough to go out and experience the world. But then again, if I shielded them from everything, they’d
never
be ready.

Taking a deep breath first, I prodded a little more. “Now, when you say it didn’t
really
have anything to do with a boy… what does that mean exactly?”

Lia chuckled a bit, knowing I was trying to seem casual. “Not like that, Aunt Brook. Relax.” The little bit of light that had come back to her eyes faded again before she explained. “My dad was there when I got up this morning.”

My stomach turned. If Chris had been there when Lia woke up that morning, that meant he must’ve spent the night. I found myself wondering what the hell my sister was doing, knowing he’d cheated multiple times, knowing he’d lied to her for so many years, but I would do my best not to pry. Even though it felt like
all
of my sisters’ wellbeing was my business, it wasn’t my place to weigh in on their life choices unless they asked my opinion. And Bean hadn’t done that.