Dammit. “What a fucking segue. Can I finish my pie first?”
“Nope,” June popped thep.
“Okay, well since we’re talking, what’s going on with Laura?”
June scowled. “Answer my question first, bitch.”
“The answer is yes. I’m still seeing my therapist.”
“And how are you feeling about everything?”
I scowled. Theeverythingwas so broad, but I knew what she was really asking.Are you still fighting with your mom? Are you still having nightmares about Kevin? Are you still crying yourself to sleep missing your Dad sometimes?“I’m totally fine.”
Neither one of them bought it—and frankly, I didn’t either. Most days, Iwasfine. But then there were days like today, when it hit me all over again: my dad was gone, the three of us Whynots were doing our best to fill his big-ass boots, and my mother was becoming a reclusive mess.
“Your turn,” I said.
June ate a couple fries and then sighed, her shoulders tightening. “Laura will be spending more time with me. Ethan hasn’t been doing well at all, and I don’t know what to do about it. My mother still insists on babying him despite the fact that he’s failing his daughter constantly.”
“You can’t keep stepping in,” Evie said softly.
“I can and will. I love that kid. You know she called me ‘Mom’ the other day?”
Well, fuck. “She did?”
“Yeah. I got home and sobbed after that.”
Evie leaned over and rested her head on June’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you call?”
June shrugged. “I don’t want to burden you two.”
“Don’t you dare pull that card,” I said. “Not after everything I’ve put on you guys in the last two years, okay? You could show up on my doorstep at 3 a.m., and I’d be there for you.”
“Agreed,” Evie said. “Lord knows I’ve shown up on both of yours. We’ve been friends since kindergarten, June. That’s what we’re here for.”
“I know.” She let out a slow, deliberate breath, her shoulders deflating like a balloon. “I’m starting to wonder if I should try and take custody of her. Financially, it might be a little hard. I was looking up how much raising a kid costs, and Jesus Christ. In this economy? I don’t know. But I’d make it work.”
“You know we’d help,” I said.
“You already do plenty.”
“Well, if you’re doing more, so are we,” Evie said. “If she ends up with you as her mother, she gets us as her aunts. That’s how it works.”
“Thank you.” June let out a soft hum and shook her head. “My hope is that Ethan will get into a good rehab program and we can help him recover. I still believe in him. Plus, Mom would fight me on Laura.”
We all knew that to be true. June’s mother had always hated her in a way that made my own mother look like a damn angel. The way she treated June was bad enough that I’d long since dropped the niceties with that evil bitch. She was downright banned from taking classes at my studio.
Evie cracked her fingers and rolled her shoulders. “You know, I have two decades of pent up aggression I could take out on her if need be.”
June’s laugh lit up the room. “Okay, Rocky. We’re not beating up my mom.”
“I’m just saying, I could. Bakers muscles and all that.”
The three of us burst out laughing. The knot in the back of my head eased a little. Even after a bad day, these two never failed to make me feel better.
Now, if I could just focus on that, instead of wondering just who my new neighbor actually was . . .
CHAPTER FIVE
