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“Who was?”
“I was,” Kat crowed. “I said you’d be able to do it.”
“Do… braiding?”
“Yup. I just knew you could.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I just did.”
“Why?” I teased. “I can ask questions too, you know?”
She harrumphed, then, with more earnestness than I expected, she murmured, “I think I knew you’d care enough to learn.”
Star’s mouth rounded and the hand she placed on my shoulder was shaky. The kiss she pressed to my head was shakier. Then, she whispered in my ear, “Thank you.”
Taken aback by both my girls’ responses, I just cleared my throat as I twisted the hair tie around the last inch of hair that I couldn’t braid.
“There,” I declared. “That should stay—”
Back to her giggling self, Kat exploded into movement. Two cartwheels later, the French braid still in place, she crowed louder than before, “Told you so, Star!”
“I guess she did,” was Star’s tremulous retort as she plunked herself on my lap and clutched at me like I'd disappear if she didn't.
I was going nowhere, but I wasn’t about to argue with the hold she had on me.
33
STAR
There’s knowing you love someone, and then there’s feeling it vibrate through your whole fucking nervous system as if you’re a tuning fork that’s just been struck.
It rattled along my nerve endings like a bolt of electricity that needed to escape and the only outlet was him—so I wrapped my arms around him after I settled on his lap and held him tight.
This overwhelming surge of love was partly to do with finding him braiding my kid’s hair at an MC’s house party, a look of utter concentration on his face as he tried to get it right.
Then, there was a part that revolved around her confidence in him, which had nearly fucking broken me.
Then, there was that conversation I’d left behind with Rachel—my past, so ugly, head-butting the beautiful present I existed in.
Conor pressed his chin to the top of my head and held me. Just held me. No words were needed.
Amid the music from the party, three different types depending on where you were standing, the clatter around several tables holding various potluck dishes, and the chatter and laughter from over a hundred people, I eventually whispered, “If this had happened last year, I’d never have allowed myself to attend.”
“What do you mean?”
“Too much to do. Too many things to juggle. It’s been a long time since I’ve done something…” I chuckled as I selected the word. “…frivolous.”
“Dubrovnik wasn’t frivolous?”
“The pizza and the ice cream, sure, but the shooting in between, not so much.” Now, Muñoz being a fucking Sparrow made our first date night even more memorable.
“What about the soccer game?”
“Again, partly frivolous.” I hid a smile. “I like partly frivolous. But this is totally frivolous.”
“All work and no play makes Star a dull girl.”
