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“You know, even someone that’s easygoing will act like a fool when something is important to him, Edie,” he stated sagely. “Just like Hunter and Lars are important to us, we’ve always been important to them, too. Lars has always cared about you, Edie.”
My stomach tightened with guilt, and I couldn’t help but acknowledge Lars’ reasoning in this moment. Itdidfeel wrong to be keeping this from Talon, but Lars still hadn’t answered my question about who he would choose if talon disapproved. Now, while the question might have been unfair, asking it had still been necessary. Lars’ history with Talon was a lot more meaningful than his history with me, and I wasn’t even sure if I could be mad if Lars chose Talon over me. Yeah, I’d be heartbroken, and it’d be a tough thing to get over, but could I be mad?
No, I couldn’t.
“I miss you,” I said.
“I know,” he replied softly. “I miss you, too.”
“Have you talked to Mom?” I asked, doing my best not to make him feel bad for following Kenzlee.
“I spoke with her this morning,” he replied. “She sounded like her usual tired self.”
“I can’t wait until she finally stops working so much,” I sighed, suddenly feeling sad and weighed down. “She deserves a break in life.”
“Yeah, she does,” he immediately agreed. “I’m just glad that she hadn’t been too stubborn to accept Kenzlee’s help. Paying off the house felt like a godsend.”
“Kenzlee is definitely one of a kind,” I agreed.
“I’m very aware,” he chuckled. “She’ll have to kill me if she ever wants to get rid of me.”
“With the way that you irritate her on the regular, that’s a very real possibility,” I teased.
“Hawkley hasn’t been around, has he?”
Right after Kenzlee had paid off our house, word had gotten back to Hawkley somehow, and he’d had enough shame to actually show his face again. We’re still not sure how he’d found out about Kenzlee and her money, but it’d been an act of God to keep Talon from killing him. When it’d been clear that he wasn’t going to benefit from Kenzlee’s money, he had gone back on his word to keep paying child support for Talon until graduation, and the world really would be a better place without Hawkley Draven in it.
“No,” I answered. “At least, not that I know of.”
“Mom would let us know,” he said, sounding way more certain than I felt about the topic.
“I’m pretty sure that he took your threats seriously enough to know better,” I remarked thoughtfully. “Plus, your reputation as a fighter is well-known, Tal. Hawkley isn’tthatstupid.”
“Maybe,” he muttered.
Something had me looking up, and even though I couldn’t see his face clearly from this far away, I just knew that Lars was throwing me a dirty look, wondering who I was talking on the phone with. While it was none of his business, I could see this being just one more thing that he felt like he had a say in.
“Well, I guess I’ll let you go,” I said, ignoring Lars. “You probably have things to do.”
“Even if I did, you know that I’d still answer the phone,” he replied as expected.
“I know,” I sighed quietly.
“Edie?”
“Yeah?”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I lied. “I just…I just really miss you.”
“I miss you, too,” he repeated. “It just takes a little getting used to, Edie.”
“Yeah, I know.” Clearing my voice to make it sound like I wasn’t having a mid-life crisis, I added, “I think I’m just going to start my period or something.”
Talon laughed. “And that’s my cue.”
Despite how I felt, I smiled. “Just be happy that you don’t have to buy my supplies anymore.”
