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To my surprise, my brother shakes in my arms, and when a sob rips from his chest, I cradle him tighter.
The truth is, we’re all just trying our best.
62
US BY JAMES BAY
Jay
“Now just slip it under. Yeah, just like that. And twist—”
“Oh, like this?” I ask.
“Yeah, that’s good. And then over—”
“What in God’s name are the two of you doing?” Cat asks, appearing out of nowhere.
I drop the hair and meet Dexter’s eyes.
“We were just—” Dexter starts.
I smack him in the chest to shut him up. “You promised!”
With a hand to his chest, he barks out a laugh. “Chloe asked Jay to do her hair this morning. Now he’s freaking out because he only knows how to do a normal braid. I’m showing him a few new techniques.”
“Fuck,” I grumble, swiping the mannequin’s head off the edge of my desk.
Cat leans against the door wearing a small smile. But this smile is a sad one. I can feel it from over here.
Dexter stiffens as he spots the strain on Cat’s face as well. “I’ll just, uh, I’m sure Sophie needs me for something.” Dexter snatches the disembodied head off the floor. “Find me later. We can practice some more.”
He squeezes Cat’s shoulder as he walks by, and she smiles softly at him. Even sad, she looks incredible in a black sweater dress that hugs every one of her curves.
Aching for her, I pat my lap, urging her to come to me. “What’s wrong, Kitten?”
Like the dutiful wife she is, she obeys. She shuts my office door, then drops herself into my lap with a sigh. “Hi, husband,” she murmurs against my lips. It feels like she needs the kiss. The connection. The reminder that she’s not alone in this world. That we face everything together.
Pulling away, I cup her face and drag my thumb against her bottom lip. “Why the frown?”
“I went to see Grace.”
“How did that go?”
She blows out a breath. “Not well.” A sad laugh leaves her lips, and she looks away from me. “She told me our mothers used to be friends. Thatweused to be friends.”
Pressing her lips together, she looks back at me, searching my face for an answer. Like she wonders whether this is information I’m already privy to. It’s not. The coincidence is almost insane.
“Really?” I ask, squeezing her hip.
She relaxes against me, then. She believes my genuine confusion. “I was awful to her, Jay. Awful. And now I find out we used to play together when we were kids. What are the chances?”
“Not fucking high.” I laugh and pull her closer, cradling her body and running my hand through her hair. “Baby, you can’t change the past, but you’re trying to make it right. You’vetriedto make it right.”
“Is that enough?” she murmurs, her eyes so full of pain.
I hate that I can’t fix this. She’s reconnected with Carter, and he’s even reached out to me to apologize for how he spoke to her the last time I saw him. But she and Cash are still not in a great place, and that weighs heavily on her. Especially now that we know that he and Grace are going to have a baby and that they’re still not speaking. It’s a fucked-up situation, and no one is more at fault than me. It kills me that my wife is taking any of the blame.
“You’ve done everything you can. The ball is in Cash’s court now.”
