I watch her for a minute, then ask quietly, “Is Winston going to be a part of the future happiness?”
“No.” Her response in immediate and firm.
“Yesterday seemed pretty intense.”
She licks her lips then closes her eyes. “Before I knew he was married, Winston and I hooked up. I… I don’t even know how it happened, but it did, and it was amazing. He’s amazing.” She opens her eyes and gives me a sad smile. “But he’s not for me. I can’t…. I won’t be with someone who is married to someone else, and he’s not going to divorce his wife anytime soon, so it doesn’t matter how much I like him or how much he likes me. It’s never going to work.”
“Why are they still married if they aren’t together?”
“It’s a long story, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, because he is married, even if they aren’t living together or sharing a bed.” She blinks as tears fill her eyes. “It sucks, because I really do care about him, but I won’t settle. I will never settle again.”
My throat gets tight as the pain she’s trying so hard to hide seeps into my skin. “I’m sorry, Cece.”
“Me too.” She pushes away from the counter. “I’m going to go wake up the girls and get them ready for school.”
“I’ll come up and help.”
“I got it. Finish your coffee, and if you don’t mind, add some water to some pancake mix.”
“Sure.” I smile.
“Thanks.” She kisses the side of my head, and I turn to watch her disappear upstairs. Once she’s out of sight, I let out a deep breath and get up to make my nieces some pancakes, hoping like hell that what I’ve found in Talon is real, because I never want to be where Cece is now.
_______________
“Grandma! Grandpa!” Ruby, Lola, and Kate shout as they run up the sidewalk toward Mom and Chaz, who arrived when Cece went to pick them up from school.
“My babies!” Mom cries, dropping to her knees and opening her arms wide. “Oh, I missed you all so much.” She smothers each of them with kisses before allowing them to go to Chaz, who is standing back and waiting for his chance to hug them.
“Do you think they’ll notice if we take off for a few days?” Cece asks, joining me on the porch.
“Probably not,” I mumble, wrapping my arm around her waist and resting my head on her shoulder. “How do you feel about Jamaica?”
“Sun, sand, cold drinks… what’s not to like? But since I’m broke, you should book the tickets,” she mumbles back, and we both laugh.
“What are you two laughing about?” Mom asks, coming up the steps with Chaz and the girls following close on her heels.
“Nothing,” we both say at the same time, cutting off our laughter.
She eyes both of us skeptically then sighs. “All right then, let’s get the girls a snack and figure out what we should do for dinner.”
“I have work tonight, Mom, so you’ll have to work with Mia on dinner plans,” Cece says as we walk into the house and head toward the kitchen.
“I thought you were going to see about getting the night off?” Mom pouts.
“I tried, but a few girls are out with a bug that’s been going around. I should have the entire weekend off though, so maybe we can go do something—”
“Can we go to Gatlinburg?” Kate asks, cutting off Cece with a hopeful smile.
“That would be fun.” Mom beams. “I’ll look for a cabin tonight. A weekend in the mountains sounds like a great idea.”
Cece looks through her girls before saying quietly, “I’ll have to talk to your dad about that, since Saturdays are his.” Damn, I didn’t even think about that and I know looking at Cece’s expression that she didn’t think about it either until that moment.
“But—” Mom starts.
“We’ll find something to do,” Chaz inserts, using a tone I haven’t heard before as his gaze locks with Mom’s.
“Right.” She lets out a breath. “We’ll find something fun to do.” She walks to the girls. “Now, what do you think we should eat for dinner? I’m thinking ice cream or cake.”
“Cake,” Lola and Kate say in unison.
“Ice cream.” Ruby laughs.
“You’re not feeding the girls cake or ice cream for dinner, when I never had that when I was their age.” I roll my eyes. “How about pizza?”
“You’re no fun.” Mom sighs dramatically, making the girls laugh, and the tension in the room disappears like it was never there.
“Too bad.” I walk across the kitchen, pull out the menus from the drawer near the fridge, and hand them over to my mom so she and the girls can look at them. When I turn around, I watch Chaz wrap his arm around Cece’s shoulders and kiss the side of her head. Seeing the look on my sister’s face, tears spring to my eyes, but I fight them back as I walk to Chaz, who holds out his arm toward me. I fall into his embrace and soak in his strength.