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“Go. Your father will be out of it for a while. I’ll send you any updates.”
“Okay.” It doesn’t take much for me to agree. Sitting on hard plastic while my mother justifies her money-motivated decision to stay with my father hasn’t been a blast.
Silently, Crew stands and offers me his hand.
I take it. “Bye, Mom.”
It feels wrong, leaving her sitting there all alone. I can’t picture my father holding a vigil if the roles were reversed. Never before have I tried to analyze my parents’ relationship this closely. I just took it at face value. I know why I’m peering closer now—I have something to compare it to. I want everything they’re not.
Crew says nothing as we leave the hospital and climb into the waiting car. It’s dark out. I don’t know what time it is. What day it is, even.
I stare out the window, seeing nothing. Even once we pull into the garage, my eyes don’t focus. My limbs don’t move.
The door on my side of the car opens. Crew leans in, unbuckling my seat belt and lifting me into his arms.
I press my face against his warm neck, inhaling the familiar scent of his cologne. “You smell good.”
“I showered.”
His steps are sure and solid as he walks over to the elevators. I don’t open my eyes.
“He was with his mistress when it happened. Not my mom. She doesn’t care. She says she never cared. I hope that’s true, or else I’m screwed.” I squeeze my eyes tighter. “I can’t even remember the last time I was this tired,” I mumble. “And I’m always tired.” Crew somehow manages to hold me and also flash the card to get the elevator moving. “You’re so strong.” I sigh. “I feel like everything is falling apart. LikeIam.”
His grip on me tightens. “Nothing is falling apart, Red. Everything is fine. Your dad will be fine.”
“I know. I’m relieved. You know why? Because my first thought when I heard he had a heart attack was that if he died, I would have had to take over Ellsworth Enterprises. Or sell it. Or…I don’t even know what I would have done. How sad is that?”
“It’s understandable. Your relationship with him is complicated.”
“Allof my relationships are complicated.”
The doors open with ading. I open my eyes to the familiar sight of the entryway to the penthouse I’ve started thinking of asours, notmine. Crew doesn’t set me down and I don’t ask him to. He just strides for the stairs.
“Have you talked to your dad?” I ask.
Crew shakes his head. “I’m sure he’ll call about something work-related soon. Until then, I’m not getting involved in the Candace drama.”
I blink. “Wow. I completely forgot about that.”
“You’ve had a lot going on.”
“You should talk to them, Crew.”
I used to think that Arthur and Oliver were closer than Arthur and Crew. That Oliver resented Crew for usurping and outshining him. But I realized Crew is the glue holding his family together on the flight to the Alps. Arthur and Oliver both rely on him to handle whatever needs handling. I don’t like that I’ve become another burden Crew has to carry—literally, at the moment. I lean on him, need him, rely on him, and he’s never needed my support the same way.
“You should sleep.” He lays me down on the soft fabric of my comforter. “Staying up all night can’t be good for the baby.” I can’t distinguish his concern for me from his concern for the baby. He carried me to bed once before I was pregnant. Would he have carried me tonight if I wasn’t?
“I tried to sleep on the plane,” I mutter.
“I know, baby.” The soft tone of his voice temporarily soothes my worries.
“My dad is fine. You can go back to the chalet. Spend Christmas with your dad and brother. Your family.”
He says nothing for a long minute. I don’t want him to go, and I’m worried he took it the wrong way—that I do. I wish it were brighter in here. The hall light doesn’t illuminate his whole face; most of it is shadowed. I can’t see his expression, but I can feel something pulsing in the air between us. Before I can decide what it is, he speaks. “My family is right here.”
Five words, and they decide more between us than the two-hundred-page document that was supposed to govern this arrangement. If our story had a different start, I’d respond to that sentence with three. I’d admit he’s become my whole world. The first thing I think about when I wake up and the last before I fall asleep. The first person I’d call with good news or bad.Myfamily.
Pretty promises can be deceptive. All I hear in Crew’s words are truth. Not ugly, but real.
