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“Everett!” Tessie shrieked.
She’d flown in yesterday, and the two had been fighting since they’d met yesterday for the first time in over five years.
I’d converted one of the larger rooms into a bedroom for Everett, and she was bitter that it was nearly triple the size of her room.
“What did I do now?” Everett threw his head back and groaned.
His dark hair frayed in every direction from when Tessie had tossed a pillow at his head earlier.
I let them fight it out as I read a book on the living room couch, a little amused by their antics.
I’d gotten so used to the quiet in this house over the past five years that just a little bickering between the two of them made the entire penthouse feel vibrant.
Still, something felt missing.
Like a thousand-piece puzzle with a missing center piece.
I could still make out the picture, but it wasn’t right.
I should have been happy. Elsa, as my private eye reported, worked the graveyard shift at a sanitary plant. Waylan, though I had no real grudge against him, had retreated to his ranch in silence.
Ma let Tessie visit more often. Lucy and Asher finally had their honeymoon. Niccolaio and his girlfriend, Minka, had found happiness in each other, and Gio and I had been talking more often lately.
Even Uncles Frankie and Eli seemed to be around more since Uncle Vince had passed away, and they realized how little time they’d been spending with the family.
And Everett? He told me every day how happy he was.
And still, I missed Ariana.
I’d caved last month and looked up where she worked since she’d quit the FBI and had to force myself on a daily basis not to show up and take her away.
Tessie ran over to me from the piano.
“Bastian, tell my nephew”—she’d never let Everett live down the fact that she was technically his aunt despite the small one-year age gap—“he’s a big shit head.”
I could tell her not to curse, but frankly, my brand of parenting included not giving a damn about stupid things that were bound to develop while living under my household, and Tessie was my sister, not my kid, anyway.
I dog-eared my book like a heathen and snapped it shut. “I could tell him that, but then I’d have to tell you that those pink sheets you think I just bought you are actually old white ones Luna accidentally threw in the washer with a red t-shirt.”
“You’re mean!” Tessie crossed her arms. “I liked it better when Ariana did my laundry.” She huffed out a breath. “There are too many boys here!”
Everett took a seat on the couch, using my side as a back rest. “When do I get to meet Ariana?”
I stared at the both of them, mulling over an answer.
Tessie answered for me, “When is she going to stop being mad at you?”
“I am mad at her,” I corrected.
“Well, that’s stupid.” She pushed Everett aside and took the seat between us. “Doctor Phil says, ‘There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.’”
Why was this my sister?
Just why?
Everett peeked around Tessie. “If there is no love without forgiveness, does that mean you can’t love, Daddy?”
Tessie turned to him. “Yes, it means he doesn’t love you.”
