Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“It’s still new, Mads.”
“You can still tell me. I’m twenty-one. Legal and everything. You and Callie have always been so close, only two years apart, and you tell each other everything. I’ve always kind of felt left out.”
“We don’t mean to leave you out.”
“I know, but I can’t help the way I feel. It’s like I don’t belong. And then, at school, with the awesome foursome, I’m always the odd man out. Like I don’t belong again.”
I regard my youngest sister. Maddie is beautiful. In truth, she resembles me more than Callie does. People always say I look the most like Mom, but in truth, Maddie does, with hair a shade lighter than mine and eyes a shade darker. I was seven when she came along, and she was my baby. Maddie’s birth is what made me want to be a mother myself. I’ve wanted it for so long, and I’ve wanted it because of my littlest sister. I had no idea she felt so left out with her sisters and her friends.
“They’re your best friends,” I tell her, “and we’re your sisters. We all love you.”
Maddie sighs. “I know. I love you too, and I love my friends. But they’re the Steels. And I’m the lowly Pike.”
Her words piss me off. “Hey, first, get rid of the word lowly. That is no way to be thinking of yourself.”
“It’s not what I think of myself. Not really. But I hang out with the awesome foursome, who have all the money they could ever want. In the meantime, I’m wearing Callie’s hand-me-downs.”
I laugh. “You haven’t worn hand-me-downs since you were in middle school. We’ve all been the same size since then.”
“I know. It’s a metaphor.”
“I get what you mean, Mads, but think about everything we do have.”
“Like what? Our dad’s in the ICU after a heart attack. A fire destroyed our livelihood. I’m lucky I can stay in freaking school. Callie had to give up law school.”
“Except she’s not giving up law school.”
“Well, not now. That’s only because she snagged a Steel as a fiancé.”
“Still, things worked out for her. And for you. You didn’t have to leave college in your last year. Everything’s going to be fine, Maddie.”
Maybe if I say it to Maddie, I’ll begin to believe it myself.
Maddie, of course, doesn’t know what the Steels are dealing with right now. She also doesn’t know what Callie and I are dealing with right now. I can’t tell her, and even if I could, I wouldn’t. I don’t want to further shatter her world when she already thinks it’s shattered the way it is.
So I do the only thing I can do—try to take her mind off it.
“So tell me,” I say, “about you and Dave Simpson.”
Maddie blushes a little, though her cheeks are already red from crying about Dad. “He just showed me a few pointers for pool. He’s easily one of the best-looking Steels, though.”
She’s not wrong. Dave Simpson is gorgeous. He looks a lot like his mother, Marjorie Steel Simpson, but he has the blue eyes of his father, Bryce Simpson. Mixed with Marjorie’s dark hair and tan skin, it’s an intoxicating combination. Plus his features are fine and sculpted. Definite cover boy material.
But I’ve never been one for a pretty boy. If I’m attracted to pretty, it’s in a woman, not a man.
In men? I like the rugged masculine type.
I like Brock Steel.
“Dave is twenty-four, I think,” I say. “I’m pretty sure he and Brock are the exact same age.”
“Right. They’re a year younger than Diana,” Maddie says. “Anyway, he’s dreamy, and… I like him a lot, but oh, Rory… How can I even think about liking a guy when my father…?”
Okay, so talking about Dave Simpson isn’t going to help.
“Do you want to talk about Dad?” I ask.
“No, not really.”
“We don’t have to talk at all, Maddie. I noticed you didn’t eat hardly any of your dinner.”
“How could I?”
I simply nod. Callie and I didn’t eat much for dinner either, and I feel pretty guilty over the fact that Donny and Brock sprang for an expensive dinner for us, and we picked at it.
Jesse, being a guy, of course, scarfed his down. Men can always eat.
“I think I just want to try to go to bed,” Maddie says.
“Okay. Go ahead and take the single bedroom. Callie and I can share the other.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Callie and I have been sharing a room most of our lives. Joined by a bathroom, I mean.”
“Thanks, Rory. I think I’ll take a shower.”
“Okay. I’ll put in an order on that Instacart Brock set up for us, and hopefully it’ll be here soon. Underwear, toiletries. Anything special you want?”
“No thanks,” Maddie says. “Your boyfriend’s the best.”
And I nod. Yes, my boyfriend is the best.
The very best.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
BROCK
I wake at five a.m., and after taking care of Sammy, downing two cups of coffee and a piece of day-old bread from Ava’s bakery, I head over to the Pike house.