Jude walks in behind her, shaking snow off his coat. Ryker is with him, carrying a box of what looks like firewood.
“Talk to who?” Jude asks, raising an eyebrow at Maisie.
“Fallon,” Maisie supplies unhelpfully.
“Fallon?” Jude looks at me. “From your workplace?”
“Yeah,” I say, standing up. My heart kicks a little. I haven’t told Jude about the change in my relationship status. I haven’t told him anything at all.
“He’s funny,” Maisie insists, turning to Jude. “He likes watching Harry Potter just like me.”
Ryker laughs, setting the wood down near the potting bench. “He has a soft spot, that one. I’ve seen it.”
“Can they come?” Maisie asks again, looking between Jude and me with puppy eyes. “Please? It would make me less nervous. And they can clap loud.”
Jude glances at me. There’s no judgment in his eyes, just a question. He’s leaving this up to me.
“If they want to come, and they can get the time off, they can come,” I say slowly. “I’ll ask them.”
“Yes!” Maisie cheers. She spins around and runs to Ryker, grabbing his hand to drag him toward the display of purple tulips. “Look, Ryker! Purple ones! I love purple ones!”
Norah watches them go, then steps closer to me. She lowers her voice. “I think that’s a good decision. Including them. Letting Maisie see you... happy. Integrating them.”
“I just hope Jude doesn’t mind,” I whisper, watching my brother laugh at something Maisie says about purple flowers.
“Jude thinks what I tell him to think,” Norah says with a conspiratorial wink. “Besides, I know he’s happy for you. He sees the difference too. You aren’t just surviving anymore, Amber. You’re living.”
“Living,” I repeat. The word feels strange on my tongue, heavy and sweet at the same time.
“And,” she adds, nudging my arm with her elbow, “won’t it be great to have them all hang out with you and Maisie before your birthday?”
I freeze. My hands go still on the counter. The world tilts.
“My what?”
“Your birthday,” she says, giving me a look. “It’s in two weeks. Did you seriously forget?”
I did. I completely forgot. I haven’t celebrated my birthday in a long time. The day usually passes like any other, with maybe a cupcake if I remember to buy one for Maisie to eat.
“I don’t really do birthdays,” I say with a shrug, trying to dismiss the sudden hollow feeling in my chest. “It’s just a day.”
Norah places a hand on her massive belly. “Well, maybe it’s about time that changes. You have people now who want to spoil you. Let them.”
I look at Jude, Ryker, and Maisie. Then I think of Knox in his office, Fallon, and Eli.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe it’s time for a lot of things to change.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Fallon
We collapseonto the leather sofa. The room smells of sex and sweat and something sweet—Amber.
She’s sprawled between us, her chest rising and falling in jagged bursts. Her hair is a disaster, her lips swollen and red.
She looks thoroughly, beautifully wrecked. Her third orgasm had her convulsing so hard that I thought she would black out.
Since she came knocking on the door, her eyes wild and hungry, we’ve done nothing but fuck her.
