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Jude sits next to her hugging her tight. “And miss greeting my favorite lady after a long trip?”
“Who’s kissing ass now?” I mutter.
“Why are they here?” Dad glances at Mom and then back at us. My mom shrugs, but they both have a goofy smile on their faces.
“You have two minutes before I show you to the door,” Dad says.
“Golden boy is here to talk.” Jude intertwines his hands on the back of his neck and stretches. “It’s a conversation that’s long overdue, so of course I’m here to watch the show.”
I glare at Jude. “How do you know?”
“Indie and Lyr.” He grins. “They texted me this morning to let me know what happened at the penthouse. I couldn’t resist coming over to watch the family drama.”
“Get out of here,” I warn him.
He shakes his head, giving me a challenging glare. “Make me.”
“Why do they always digress?” Dad sighs, shaking his head.
“What’s going on?” Mom asks, studying me. “What drama is Jude talking about? Which one of you is in trouble?”
Dad narrows his gaze. “Is this why Lyric came home? What the fuck did you do now, Jude?”
Jude shakes his head. “Why would you always think it’s me? Maybe”—he glances at me—“maybe this time it was Mr. Perfect who fucked up.”
“Just leave, Jude,” I insist.
He shakes his head. Knowing Jude, he’s not going to leave until I talk to our parents. And since Ameline and I have to be back at the PICU to spend the night with Caleb, I have no other choice but to speak now.
I take a deep breath and say, “I came here to discuss Ameline.”
Mom and Dad look at each other. Whatever was said with that glance doesn’t sit well. I point from one to the other and ask, “What was that?”
They both shrug.
“I mentioned Ame, and you two had an entire conversation,” I growl. “You don’t like her, do you? Is that why you told her to leave me?”
Mom cocks an eyebrow while Dad crosses his arms and leans against the wall. “Well, that took you a long time.” He scoffs.
“Why are we having this conversation today,” Mom states, looking at Jude and me. “Is Ame okay? Did her tumor come back?”
“Oh, she’s back,” Jude states and smirks. “At least that’s what Lyric told me. Ame is not very happy with our golden boy—or you two. Hence, why he’s here.”
“It’s not that we didn’t like her,” Dad says immediately, as if he knows exactly what he did to her. “She just reminded us of Norah.”
I frown puzzled. “Who the fuck is Norah?”
After a deep breath, Dad recounts the story of a woman he dated after splitting with Mom—a woman with terminal cancer who ended up exploiting Dad’s emotions. I recall Ameline mentioning the same thing. They liked Ame a lot, but the situations were so similar. They really thought I was still hung up on Leslie, and using Ameline to forget her.
“We didn’t want Ame to become a casualty of unrequited love, or for you to end up resenting her because you couldn’t love her the way she did you,” Mom says softly. “She was falling into a depression and you were obviously avoiding her. I spoke to her, because I felt she deserved better—you both did.”
My jaw tightens, heat rising up my neck. They have no idea how I felt about her. No fucking clue the depths of my love, of the promise I made to spend an eternity with Ame. I press my lips firmly together and take a slow breath through my nose before responding.
“It wasn’t anything like that,” I say after they’re done explaining. “But I agree. She did deserve more than I could give her then. Not because my feelings for her weren’t real. They were truer than anything I’ve ever known. I was just . . . My behavior was because of everything that happened during her surgery and . . . I was too broken to function.”
“I told you to go to a therapist,” Jude says. “But no one ever listens to me.”
“What happened during her surgery?” Mom asks.
