“I’m not perfect.”
“I never said you were. But you’re one of the most hardworking women I’ve ever known. And you’ve overcome more than most women ever will. I—”
He’d almost said something. Something he wasn’t sure he was ready to say.
“What?”
“I admire you.”
She laughed. “Stop admiring me. I just did what I had to do. For Nathan. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant with him, who knew what kind of self-destruction spiral I would have continued on. Trust me, I was doing my best to ruin my life.”
“Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies.”
“Please. You have the perfect family and the perfect life. I doubt you’ve ever done anything to fuck your life up.”
He pulled her against him and laid them down, the truth hovering on the tip of his tongue, ready to spill. But he didn’t think tonight would be the right time, not after what Tara had told him about her past.
And maybe he was just a coward.
He had some thinking to do.
TARA WAS STILL SLEEPING WHEN MICK WENT DOWNSTAIRS the next morning for coffee. His parents were going to pick Nathan up after they ran some errands, so he didn’t have to worry about that, which left him a nice quiet house to himself for the moment to sit and think about what she’d told him last night.
How was he ever going to tell her the truth about himself after she’d been so honest with him about her past last night? Last night would have been overkill. It had been her night. And now...
Well, not now. It just wasn’t the time. Now he was just going to sit back and enjoy his coffee alone.
“Well, don’t you look all broody and moody this morning.”
Or so he thought. He lifted his gaze to Jenna, who’d slipped in through the back door. “What are you doing here? I thought you were a vampire and didn’t get up till like noon or something.”
“I know you guys are leaving today. Figured I’d drag my sorry ass out of bed early so I could say good-bye.”
“Really.” He watched as she moved around the kitchen, grabbing a cup and filling it with coffee, then adding enough cream and sugar so that it really wasn’t coffee when she was finished with it. She pulled up a chair next to him.
“You don’t come home all that often anymore, and we didn’t get much time to talk last night.”
Uh-oh. Jenna was not the warm and fuzzy sisterly type. Which meant something was up. “Something on your mind you want to talk about?”
She palmed the cup and lifted it to her lips, took a sip, and raised her gaze to his. “It’s Mom and Dad.”
His heart stumbled, his mind already swirling with the possibilities, none of them good. “What about them?”
“Their fortieth anniversary is coming up.”
“Oh. Crap. I didn’t even know.”
“Of course you didn’t. You’re a guy, and guys pay no attention to stuff like that. Anyway, I think we should throw them a party.”
“Okay. When and where?”
She took out her phone, clicked to her calendar, and slid it between them. “Their anniversary is on the fifteenth. Gavin’s in town again on the weekend of the eleventh for a game series. He has a day game on Saturday the twelfth, which means we could do something that night. I pulled him aside last night and hit him up, asked him if he’d be around that Saturday night, and he said he would be.”
“I can be here, for sure.”
“Great. Now all we need is someone to put a big party together for them.”
She pushed her phone aside and stared at him.
“What? Why can’t we just do it at the bar?”
She gave him a look. “Oh, right. You know how that’ll turn out. We throw a party for them at the bar, and Mom and Dad both will end up working all night long. Is that really the way we want them celebrating their anniversary?”
He laid his head in his hand. “You’re right. We can’t do it at the bar. So what are we going to do?”
“Don’t look at me. I bartend. I’m not a party planner.”
“But I am.”
Mick turned to see Tara standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She walked in.
“Hey. Morning,” Jenna said.
“Good morning,” Tara said. “Mind if I help myself to some coffee?”
“Of course.” Mick watched her grab a cup and fill it with coffee. She looked gorgeous in her sweats and tank top.
She grabbed a seat. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on the two of you. I just happened to hear part of your conversation when I was walking down the hall. You’re planning a party?”
“Yes,” Jenna said. “Our parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary in a few weeks.”
“Oh, how lovely. I can help. It’s what I do for a living.”