Tyler chuckles and then, with a pensive look, hollers back, “Tell Bill Compton that I’ll give him that interview, but only if Marie’s involved.”
I stare at him. Is he serious? Where did that come from?
“She’ll do it! I’ll let him know!”
“Stop hollering! Vicki’s trying to put Molly to bed,” my mother hisses in the direction of the living room before reaching for my wrist, giving it an affectionate squeeze.
I smile. “You sure you’re okay with helping out at the clinic this week?” It’s been years since she sat at that desk.
She waves away my concern. “It’s like riding a bike. Plus, I could use the break from this madhouse.” She peeks around me to confirm that Tyler has already reached the bottom of the steps. “I really like him,” she whispers. “But I don’t think this one is just a friend.”
Warmth swells in my chest. I can’t tell if it’s wishful thinking or if she sees something I want to see. Either way, I hope she’s right. She knows well enough the heartache that’s woven into my history with Jonah. “Good night, Mom.”
I rejoin Tyler on the grassy path, my steps buoyed with hope as we walk toward my cabin in the gloomy dusk. The chill in the damp air prompts me to pull the front of my jacket closed.
Without a word, Tyler slips his arm around my shoulders, fitting me against his side, much like he did that night in the truck when he was offering me comfort.
Now, he’s offering me warmth.
Butterflies stir in my stomach as I try to relax against him, but this is all so new. I keep my pace slow, not wanting this part of the night to end.
Tyler’s chest rises and falls with a sigh. Is he as happy as I am at this moment?
“So, will you admit now that we should have started with coffee?” I ask into the quiet.
“And miss that shit show? No way.”
I shake my head, but I’m laughing. “I don’t know what’s going on lately. If it’s the pregnancy hormones or money worries … We’re not normally that bad.” Clearly, there’s animosity fermenting beneath Liz’s skin, and I seem to be the catalyst. “My sister has always had an issue with my dad handing over the family clinic to me. She thinks I have it too easy.”
He chuckles. “You did how many years of school again?”
“She thinks I should have started from scratch after I got out,” I amend. “Built up my own clientele. That, or paid Dad outright for his. She doesn’t see that technically, I am paying for it monthly. It’s kind of a rent-to-own business.” Except I’ll never own the physical structure. “Anyway, I hope that wasn’t too painful. Even though I did warn you.”
“Honestly, I’m not fazed by that sort of stuff. Every family has its own dynamic, and the best of them are messy sometimes. Mila and her mother argued a lot, about everything. And I’m the youngest of six.”
I mouth, Wow.
“Yeah. Three boys and three girls. I was the youngest and an accident. But I remember a lot of fights at our table. Now both my parents are gone, and everyone’s busy with their own lives and their own families. Some of my nieces and nephews are in their late teens and twenties. I remember them being babies.”
“Is that why you’re so comfortable with Molly?”
“I guess. It’s been awhile though.” A soft smile tugs at his lips. “She’s adorable.”
“So were you, when you carried her out.” Adorable isn’t the right word. I can’t decide what is. Sexy. Potent. Intoxicating.
His cheeks flush. “I can’t tell you the last time all of us were in one house. What you have back there?” He nods toward my parents’ place. “Still getting together every week? That’s special. You’ll miss it when it’s gone. Even the nights you want to stab Jim with your fork.”
My deep laugh drifts through the still night. “You noticed that, huh?”
“It was pretty hard to miss.” He pulls me tighter against him, his thumb stroking my shoulder. “And I don’t blame you. I’ll bet that guy tells himself he’s the smartest person in any room he walks into.”
“He’s a pain in the ass, but he usually means well. I think he’s always doing stuff like that because he wants to prove his value to my father.”
“I can understand that. Your dad seems like the anchor in the family.”
“Yeah, I guess he is. We’re all a bunch of daddy’s girls, me being the worst of all. Our family would be lost without him.” Will be lost without him one day, I’m afraid. “But it’s my mom who’s the glue. She’s the one who insists on these weekly dinners. She’s always trying to keep the peace. Always bending to accommodate. Too much, sometimes.”