Page 111 of Contentious

“We were weaned on the music from that era. Our grandmother was a singer and songwriter who was friends with them all. I can’t believe you’ve been staying at Mama Cass’s house and didn’t tell me.”

“I’ve had a few other things on my mind.”

“Just so you know for the future, something like that would be headline news in my world.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Headline news is you’re out of the hospital and on the road to a full recovery.”

“I’m sorry this has been so stressful for you. I hate that I put everyone through such an ordeal. I’ve seen more of my mother in the last week than I have in the last year.”

“You scared the hell out of us, but as you tell me, it wasn’t your fault.”

“It’s weird to suddenly be a victim of a violent crime.”

“I know. I feel like my whole world was turned upside down by something completely outside my control, and I wasn’t even the one who was stabbed.”

“This happened to both of us, and to Ty. I totally understand feeling undone by it.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back to that house that I once loved so much. All I can see when I think about that place is you, lying in the grass, covered in blood.” She shook her head, wishing that she could erase the horrifying memory.

“We’ll find a new place.”

“We will?”

“Yeah. As soon as I can get around without a problem, we’ll deal with all the challenges, including where to live. We have to take it one step at a time, though. Let’s get through today, and then we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

Cresley wanted to remind him of how he’d told her, way back in the beginning… What was that, like two weeks ago now? That he didn’t want to be involved in anything that smacked of a dreaded relationship. Yet, with everything he said and did, they became more enmeshed in something that was starting to feel an awful lot like that. In the midst of all the pain of the past week, she was afraid she was also setting herself up for massive heartbreak since her feelings for him had gotten bigger with every passing day.

And it wasn’t only due to the trauma or the fact that he’d taken a knife to protect her and Ty or anything other than being with him made her happy, even when they were curled up together in a hospital bed. The more time she spent with him, the harder it became to picture a future that didn’t include him front and center in her life and Ty’s.

But he’d told her he didn’t want that—and he’d meant it.

Isla had confided in her that she felt like the Remington siblings hated her. Cresley had assured her that she’d never heard anything of the sort from Carson or the others she’d interacted with during his hospital stay.

“They’re probably saying the same thing about you since you’ve barely left Carson’s side since he was hurt.” Isla had quickly added, “Not that I’ve heard anyone say anything, but they’ve been on edge around me from the start. I keep hoping that’ll ease up, but it hasn’t.”

“Have you talked to Julian about it?”

“He says he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. All that matters is what we want, but… I also know how very much he loves his siblings and how close they are after everything they went through as kids, and despite what he says… I think it matters very much to him that they’re upset about our relationship. I worry about it coming between us at some point.”

Her concerns had given Cresley something else to worry about, because Carson was every bit as close to his brothers and sisters as Julian was, and their disapproval or disdain, or whatever it was, would bother him, too.

“I wanted to tell you that Isla and the kids may stop by the house. They still have stuff there, and she’s been helping me with Ty.”

“That’s nice of her.”

“I really like her a lot. You should try to get to know her better. I think you’d like her, too.”

“I do like her.”

“You barely know her, and the whole time they’ve been together, you’ve had your hackles up about him falling in love and ‘losing his mind’ over her, as you so eloquently put it.”

“I have no beef with her.”

“Your beef with him is a beef with her, too.”

He released a deep sigh. “I hear you.”

“Be nice to her if she comes by. She’s been a good friend to me since the shit hit the fan.”