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Marley shook her head. “You couldn’t have known. Maybe there were no signs, or he didn’t want you to worry.”
“I know that now. But when it’s fresh, your mind goes to crazy places. I think Knox took it worse because he’d moved away from home for college. After Dad died, he moved back. He said it was what he’d always wanted but recently admitted it was to help Mom and to be there for us.”
“I can see why you thought that. But we don’t have the control over people that we think we do.” Her voice was soft.
Is that how she felt as a kid? Out of control? A victim of her circumstances? Was that why she held so tightly to what she could control, her life in California and her business? She drifted away from her past. “I’m sorry you have to deal with your mother.”
Marley smiled sadly. “No one should have to say something like that. I shouldn’t have to deal with my mother. She should have always been there for me with love and support.”
“She might not have been, but Lila was.”
Marley shifted on the couch so that she was leaning toward me. “And I’m forever grateful for her. I would have been lost. Aiden probably wouldn’t have enlisted. He would have felt the need to take care of me. That wouldn’t have been right.”
“He loves you, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Her lips pursed. “But he should have been a kid, not my protector.”
I couldn’t argue with that because she was partially right. Sure, her parents should have taken on that role, but there was nothing wrong with a brother looking out for his sibling. “When we were younger, we had to look out for each other. Mainly because we hid whatever crazy thing we were doing from my parents.”
Marley’s lips twitched. “You ran those woods like you had no one looking after you.”
“We were wild and carefree.” Now, we were worried about profit and expenses, customer satisfaction and retention rates, and income streams.
Marley smiled softly, and I loved that I’d made her forget, even if it was only for a few seconds. “I love that for you.”
I sighed, not realizing that I’d made her feel bad about her past again because mine was good and hers wasn’t. “Forgive your parents for not being the ones you needed and deserved. Let it go.”
Her face pinched. “That’s easy to say—”
“I realize that. I think as you continue to forgive them, you move on. It’s a process.”
“What if I don’t want to forgive them? Isn’t that letting them off the hook? I’m not sure I’m ready to do that.”
“You’re not forgiving them for what they did. You’re saying that you’re ready to move on and let your past stay where it belongs. You’re looking forward to the future and living in the present where they can’t touch you. You aren’t that little girl anymore.”
“Is that it? I hold the power?”
I nodded, pleased she understood. “And I’m not talking about the estate. You hold the power in your life. You decide how to react to something, whether it affects you or not. You decide who you let in.
Her gaze lifted to meet mine. “What if I want to let you in?”
Her question had my breath catching in my throat and my heart thudding painfully under my rib cage. “What are you talking about?”
She licked her lips, and I couldn’t look away from the motion. They glistened and called out for my attention.
She tipped her head to the side. “What if I want to forget everything for a little while?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said carefully because I had a feeling she wasn’t talking about her mother anymore.
Her eyes filled with heat. “I want to see if this attraction I feel to you is a leftover from when we were younger, or if it’s still there.”
The attraction was a living, breathing thing between us, but maybe that was just my perception. I couldn’t ignore the person who had always been between us. I forced myself to say his name. “But Aiden—”
Her forehead wrinkled. “I love him, but he’s not here. He shouldn’t have any control or say over my life.”
I sighed, knowing my control was slipping. “But he’s my friend. I made him a promise that I’d protect and look after you.”
“I don’t need anyone to look after me.” Marley’s tone was forceful, and she gripped my hands tighter.
