Fuck.
“Everything all right?”
“All good,” I lie and dip my head toward his coffee. “Did they have whiskey?”
“Nope.”
“Sucks,” I mutter, hearing him chuckle as we walk back to the waiting room, where we take up two seats near the doors to wait for the girls to get back.
“Normally, I wouldn’t do this.” He breaks the silence that’s settled between us, and I turn my head his way. “Jade’s explained to me more than once that things are different nowadays, and that just because a woman is with a man, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in a relationship or that it’s serious.” He runs a hand down his beard while I try to figure out where he’s going with this. “That said, I heard what you said on the phone, so I guess I wanna know if I’m gonna have to prepare my girls for Cybil moving away.”
“With all due respect, Cybil and I haven’t had a chance to talk about our relationship or our plans. Are things serious on my end? Yes. But I don’t know where her head’s at, and I don’t think right now is the time to discuss our situation.”
“Right.” He takes a sip of coffee, then rests the paper cup on the top of his thigh. “I gotta warn you: if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Be prepared, son.” He shakes his head. “Cybil is just like her mama was, sweet to her core and stubborn as hell.”
“I can see that,” I say, and he looks like he wants to say more but stops, because both Cybil and Jade come around the corner, the two of them with their eyes red and faces blotchy from crying.
When Cybil is close, I push up to stand, and she falls into me, pressing her face into my chest as I wrap my arms around her.
“Mom is asking for you,” Jade tells her dad before locking her gaze on Cybil. “You should go home.”
“I’m staying,” Cybil argues, shaking her head.
“I know being here isn’t easy for you.”
“It’s not, but I’m not leaving,” she says stubbornly.
“Cybil—”
“You both should go,” Bernard says, cutting the two of them off before they can start quarreling.
“Dad.”
“It doesn’t make much sense for the two of you to spend the next few hours mostly sitting in the waiting room. You can come back tomorrow when your mom’s in her room.” He looks at me. “Can you make sure they both get home?”
“Absolutely,” I say, and he hugs Jade before Cybil goes to him and wraps her arms around his waist.
“I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
“Do you want us to bring you dinner or clothes or anything?” Cybil asks.
“No, sweetheart, I’ll go home for a little while this evening to shower and pack a bag.”
“Are you sure, Dad?” Jade asks, and he lifts an arm out toward her. She steps into him so that she and Cybil are in his embrace.
“I love you, girls, and I’ll see you both tomorrow,” he says before he lets the two of them go and heads for the hall.
“Do you want to come back to my house for a while?” Cybil asks, looking at Jade, and she shakes her head.
“I think I’m going to open the store, keep my mind off things.”
“Then we’ll go with you,” Cybil says, and Jade looks at me.
“I’m good with whatever you ladies want to do,” I say, and she gives me a strange look before transferring it to Cybil.
“He doesn’t know your secret,” Cybil says, laughing for the first time since Galvin called her today, and Jade grins.
“What am I missing?” I look between the two of them, getting the feeling that they were trouble when they were younger and maybe still are.
“You’ll see.” Jade nudges my shoulder while Cybil grabs my hand.
“Maybe I should stay with Bernard,” I mutter, and the two of them laugh as we head out of the hospital.
Once we’re in our rental and out of the parking garage, we head into town, which is small even by small-town standards, with only a couple of fast-food shops and no Target or even Walmart in sight. When we get to Main Street in the middle of town, Cybil directs me to park, then points out the window at a small shop nestled between other buildings. “That’s it.”
“A bookstore?” I glance at Jade in the rearview mirror, then at Cybil sitting next to me.
“Bound to Please is a little more than a bookstore,” Jade informs me as she opens her door and gets out, and I look over at Cybil and raise a brow.