Lilah shrugs. “It’s Christmas. I guess we eat turkey.”
“We can see if the PackMart has frozen dinners,” Destiny says, tapping her nails on her mug.
I glance around their apartment. No tree. No gifts. And now, frozen dinners. “Come to Mom’s with me.”
They both look at me.
“It’s just Brenda, me, and Mom and she’s got this twenty pound turkey.”
They look at each other, Lilah’s face filled with hope and Destiny’s with trepidation. At the same time, they nod. They may not be twins in the true sense, but they’re sure as hell in each other’s heads.
“When?” Lilah asks, turning to me.
“I’ll be back for you at two?”
“We’ll be ready.” She takes my hand again and guides me to the door. We step through and I let her go first down the narrow stairs. She stops at the bottom and waits for me. “Thanks.”
I tug her to me, pin her between me and the steel security door, and kiss the shit out of her. When we’re both starving for air, I draw back and stare into her eyes. “I love you, Lilah. Don’t fucking forget it.”
She smiles up at me, holding up my key. “Got it, Sergeant Serious.”
I open the door and head for the Torino, and it’s hours before I can wipe this damn smile off my face.
Chapter 34
Lilah
The house smells like baking cookies and when I come out of my room dressed and ready, Destiny’s putting plastic wrap over a plate mounded with little brown balls.
“Are you going to be good with this?” I ask, slipping on my boots. “We don’t have to go if it’s going to be weird for you.”
She pulls back the cellophane and pushes the plate across the counter to me. “If you and Bran are a thing, I’m going to have to get used to being around him.”
I pluck a cookie off the top of the stack. “I know how lame it sounds, but everything with us just clicked, you know? I mean…I know he’s older and that should be a thing, but it’s really not. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”
She pops a cookie into her mouth and chews. “I wasn’t really hurt, Lilah. All I ever wanted to do was make sure you were safe and provided for. If you feel safe with Bran, then I’ll try to be happy for you.”
I take a bite of the cookie in my hand. It’s like a little bit of heaven on my tongue. “Oh my god. What are these?”
“I improvised with what we had,” she says with a shrug.
“You just made this up?” I ask, my mouth full of the rest of the cookie that I just crammed in.
“It’s not hard,” she says. “If you’ve got flour, sugar, baking powder, and butter, you can add a little of this and that and always come up with something that works.”
I shake my head. “But not as good as this. You have a gift.”
She smiles. “I got a job at Ambling Rose Bakery. Took some things I made over there and talked to the owner. I’m starting after New Year’s.”
I squeal a little and jump up, wrapping her in a hug. Not usually my thing, but this is so perfect for her. “This is so awesome. Everything is going to be amazing.”
“She said Bran had already talked to her about me,” she says against my shoulder. “He’s been looking out for us, Lilah, and it’s because he cares about you. I need to start trusting that you know what’s right for you.”
“You’re not still mad that he took me to see Mom?” I ask.
“You needed answers. I get that.”
“So, you won’t be mad if I ask him to take me back?”
I’ve been thinking about how things happened that night. Mom nearly killed us in the fire, but I don’t think she meant to. She was a shitty mother, but she took the brunt of Dad’s temper so we didn’t have to. And when push came to shove, she did what she had to do to save us.
She pulls away and looks at me. “You know what happened now. There’s no reason to have to see her again.”
“But I want to.” I hold her gaze. “And I think you should come with me.”
She starts shaking her head before the sentence is fully out of my mouth. “I can’t.”
“I didn’t think I could either, but she’s clean now, Destiny. She knows she let us down.”
Her head is still shaking an adamant no. “I’m not giving her the satisfaction of feeling better about all the shit she did by letting her get it all off her chest. She needs to live with what she put us through.”
“She is, Destiny. I don’t think telling us she’s sorry is going to clear her conscience.”
The doorbell rings.
“That’s our ride,” she says, slipping on a sweater.
I pull on my jacket as she scoops the cookies up and we head down to meet Bran.
?
Vicky’s house is huge, nestled into thick evergreens at the base of a hill. When we pull up, I’m sure it has to be an inn or something.
“You’ve got to be fucking waxing me,” Bran says as we wind to the top of the driveway. A gray Lincoln is parked near the three-car garage.
“What?” I ask.
He nods at the Town Car as we roll to a stop next to it. “Dad.”
“That’s a little weird,” I say.