Page 71 of Floodgates

“Not that you would know.”

“What?” My attention returned to him.

“Please.” He made a face. “You know what you look like.”

“Yeah. Not you.”

He gestured at me. “Oh, come on. You got Mom’s dark coloring, her big brown eyes, and her thick eyebrows and long lashes. You came out prettiest of all.”

I groaned. “Yeah, ‘pretty’ is what every man strives for.”

He snorted. “Don’t knock it.”

Smiling at him, I watched his face grow serious.

“I will come at a moment’s notice if you need me.”

“I know,” I soothed him.

When Evan had to go catch his plane, I held on to him tight. I had left my dad and Alex at the house, not able to do the whole “waving through the security checkpoint” thing that day.

“This will all pass and just be an interesting sound bite in your life,” he promised me before kissing the top of my head and giving me a tight squeeze.

“So, I’ve got my phone and I’ll call you.”

“You’ll call me every day,” he made me promise, holding me out at arm’s length. “Every goddamn day, so I don’t worry and make myself mental.”

“I know, I know: you, Dad, Alex, and Matt. I promise.”

“And if you wanna get out of there, just call and I’ll get you on a plane.”

I nodded with tears stinging behind my eyes, my throat dry, and my stomach in knots.

“Don’t cry or you’ll dry out your contacts and have to take ’em back out.”

My father had made me pack my glasses just in case, but I had eye drops, so in theory I was back to round-the-clock living in my contacts.

“It’ll be okay,” he told me again, grabbing me hard and then hugging me against him. “I love you more.”

I nodded. I couldn’t speak, just put my wire-rimmed aviators on as soon as he turned and walked away. He knew better than to look back; he just smiled his dazzler at me before he left.

“I love you more?” Celia asked gently as I sank back down into the chair across from her.

I looked up at her but said nothing.

“It’s nice,” she said, smiling ruefully.

“It’s something my mom always said,” I explained. “She would look at us and say, ‘I love you more than my eyes.’ After she died, I finally understood what it meant. Evan knows too, and so he tells me.”

“You guys are all really close.”

“We are.”

“You’re very lucky.”

“Yes, I am,” I said softly, glad I had my sunglasses on so she couldn’t see what a mess I was. I needed to get it together, and soon.

Cord and Breckin were still not there by the time we boarded, and my seat number put me in business class behind Celia, two and two, both of us with a window. Finally, Breckin appeared and moved quickly to put his duffel in the overhead bin above me, but before he could climb in, Cord was there, directing him into the seat beside Celia.