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He sighed, suddenly exhausted and rubbed at a spot on the center of his forehead. "Don’t talk bad about her. I care about her, okay. I care a lot."
"You … what? No. Drew," Taking his shoulders in her hands, his sister frowned at him and said. "You don’t even know this girl. You’ve only met her what, three times?"
He glanced away, guiltily.
"Drew," Amanda whispered in horror. "You’ve been dating her behind my back. All this time. Haven’t you?"
"I wouldn’t call it dating," he answered. "We never actually went on a date." He winced. "Except maybe for the night we went out to eat pizza."
"You know what?" Amanda growled. "It doesn’t matter what you’ve been doing with her. Whatever it was, you’ve been doing it behind my back." Glowering, she asked, "Don’t you even care how I feel about this?"
"Don’t you care how I feel?" he countered.
"You’re not thinking with your brain, so no, I don’t care what you think you’re feeling. It’s not real. What’s real is my problem. My divorce. And I need you, Drew."
He spread his arms wide. "Well, I’m right here for you. That’s not going to change no matter who I’m dating."
"It matters to me," she shot back, pressing a finger against her own chest. "And if you love me at all, you’ll tell her to leave right now. I won’t come back here unless you get rid of her."
Drew swallowed. His throat burned and the words clogged in his windpipe. He wanted to beg his sister to understand, but in her current frame of mind, he knew she wouldn’t. He would’ve liked to stand his ground and tell her he was with Mia now, and if she loved him at all, she’d deal with it. But once again, in her current frame of mind, that would only hurt her. So, he only managed to give a slight shake of his head, telling her he wasn’t going to send Mia anywhere.
Amanda took a step back. Pressing her hands to her chest, she turned away, muttering under her breath, "I have to go."
"You’re the only person who has a problem with this, Mandy," he called after her.
Ignoring him, his sister climbed into her car and drove off.
He watched her go, wishing he could’ve concocted some magic words to ease her worries, anything but tell her the one thing she wanted him to say. There was no way he was going to leave Mia, though. Not now. Not even for his sister who was supposed to be the most important person in his world.
Turning away from the drive, he slumped back to the house. Mia pulled open the front door as soon as he started up the porch. Her eyes were huge and full of worry.
He slowed to a stop. "You heard?"
Her head bobbed up and down. Oh, yeah. She’d definitely heard. She’d heard his sister demand, loud and clear, that he wash his hands of her.
There was nothing he could say to assure her he wasn’t going to take his sister’s advice. She’d still have her doubts. So, he did the only thing he could think to do. Show her. He opened his arms.
The relief on her face was almost tangible. She flew at him, leaping into his embrace, winding her arms so tight around his neck, he wondered if they might need to use the jaws of life to pry her off.
"I’m sorry," she said, kissing his face and neck. "I’m so sorry."
"She’ll get over it," he assured, rubbing a soothing hand down her back.
"But she needs her brother right now. She needs all the family she can get."
"Shh." To quiet her, he pressed his mouth to hers. Their lips clung a few seconds before he pressed his forehead to hers. "I know my sister. She’ll get over her mad in a few hours. Then she’ll call, and we’ll be fine again. She’ll be nice to you because she knows how important you are to me. And before you know it, she’ll love you just as much as I do. So stop worrying. It’ll be okay."
She trembled. It made him a little panicked. Hoping she wouldn’t have an anxiety attack on him, he put his finger under her chin and lifted her face. "Mia?"
Tears swam in her eyes. But she smiled at him and he knew they were tears of joy when she added, "I love you too."
He sucked in a breath. Sweeping her into his arms, he carried her inside.
•
"Look who’s coming home at ten in the morning after a two-day date."
Mia blushed and ducked her head. The front door slid closed at her back, and Piper let out a soft chuckle.
