“Lizzy…”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “While I might be freaking out internally, I’m not going to push you for answers you’re not ready to give. And I really am freaking the fuck out internally, FYI.”
“Thank you for not pushing.”
“Yet.” Her shoulders rose on a deep breath as she took her time, obviously thinking over what to say next. How damn awkward. “Martha, your brother’s missed you, you know? You’re pretty much the only family he has.”
“He’s got the guys.”
Lizzy shook her head. “It’s not the same. You’re his sister, he loves you, and we’ve barely even seen you since Gibby was born. Plus my child should have an aunt he can actually recognize on sight. That would be nice.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
“Yes, but for how long?” She eyed the still mostly packed suitcase sitting open on the floor. It was a mess. A fitting description for my life right now. “Come on, hang up your clothes, Martha. Settle in and give us a chance.”
My laughter sounded brittle and false to my own ears. I doubted Lizzy would be swallowing it. The whole psychology degree thing had to get in the way. While she might not be grilling me about the black eye, her gaze kept returning to the ugly mark just the same. At least she wasn’t showing me any pity or other such unwanted weirdness.
“I’m serious.”
“Regardless of what it looks like, I don’t need protecting. You can’t really want me living here constantly in your face all the time,” I said. “The house is big, but it’s not that big. Trust me, it’ll get old.”
“Are you kidding? Since Jimmy and Lena moved and the studio got relocated to our place, it’s been designated band headquarters. People are over all the time. It’s a big part of why we got this place.” She crossed her legs, kicking one foot idly. “Unless it’s running into the guys all the time that has you worried.”
I said nothing.
“And then there’s Sam, of course.”
Still nothing. My trap could have been wired shut.
“And all of the assorted wives.”
“Are you seriously trying to head doctor me right now?” I asked. Her sudden smile was beatific, making it hard for me to hold on to the grumpy. Luckily, I had a lot of experience with being in a bad mood. “Please don’t.”
“Just because you have a complicated history with people doesn’t mean you can’t have positive future interactions with them.” After my comment, she’d clearly decided to move into full-throttle psychologist mode. “Apologies and a little attitude adjustment can go a long way.”
“Sweet baby Jesus, just strike me down,” I said to the plain white ceiling. “Take me now.”
“That’s a lot to put on a baby, don’t you think?”
“After chasing around your child all day, I believe he’d be up to the mission.”
She smirked. “You see, Martha, I feel like we’re not only sisters-in-law. But we have the potential for besties here and it would be a shame to see that potential wasted.”
“Oh, do you now?”
“I do. And if nothing else, imagine how much it will irritate your brother to have us ganging up on him.” At this thought, she outright evil-giggled. The woman’s ability to tolerate no bullshit and yet still have fun was impressive.
“Valid point.”
With all due grace, Lizzy rose to her feet and meandered over to the door. “Tell me you’ll think about it.”
I didn’t say a word.
“Damn, you’re stubborn. Just like your brother.” She pushed my bedroom door wide open as if she was inviting the whole damn world in. “You’re going to think about it and then you’ll decide to stay. Imagine it, Martha, you won’t have to be alone anymore.”
I frowned, unhappy at the choice of words. “I’m not alone exactly. There were people I spent time with. Acquaintances I guess you could call them…and I was casually seeing someone for a little while.”
Mouth shut, the woman just watched me. So much judgment in her eyes. How ridiculous. She couldn’t possibly know no one had even bothered trying to call me since leaving the East Coast.
“I’ll have you know I appeared on numerous society pages and influencers style blogs almost every other week. My life was very full until this little upset.”
“Wow,” she said flatly, obviously unimpressed. “So you basically had some fake friends, a dude you did it with once or twice, and a job that made insane demands on you and did your head in. What a full, rich, and complex life indeed.”
“You didn’t used to be this sarcastic.”
“You didn’t used to be this bruised.”
I swore extra quietly beneath my breath. Guess spending time with a kid had already started to rub off on me. “Take your shrinking skills elsewhere. I do not need a therapist, Lizzy.”
“No? What about a friend?” And with that parting shot, she was gone.
CHAPTER THREE
A moment, that’s all it had taken. One short moment when I was deleting the bulk of my New York contacts off my phone and the child had disappeared. Of course the problem was, the great room where we generally hung out to watch dog cartoons on repeat and spread his huge collection of toys far and wide didn’t have a door. Instead, it joined a hallway running the length of the house. The same hallway I now ran along looking for the short evil one. And we all know where he got the evil from. That’s right, his mother. Not my side of the family. No way.
“Gib?” I called, looking into rooms as I passed. “Gibby, where are you?”
For two and a half days we’d gotten along okay, my nephew and I. Mostly due to my bribing him with his favorite foods. Chocolate chip cookies (made by the housekeeper who came in during the day, Greta), chicken nuggets, and grapes. A not completely unhealthy diet. After all, the five food groups were all roughly represented. Today, however, no amount of bribery worked. Gib was in a foul mood for some reason and hell bent on taking it out on me. Reminded me of a few years back when I’d been working for a big time fashion model and she’d thrown a next-season Louboutin at my head. Lucky me, we’d been the same shoe size. So it served her right that I caught the shoe and took its mate as an unspoken apology for the incident.
But back to child wrangling.
From the not-so-far distance, the sound of voices, the strumming of a guitar, and the tapping of a drumbeat drifted this way. It was like a rock ’n roll siren call. Especially to a two-and-a-half-year-old who pretty much wanted to hang out with anyone but me. “Oh no.”
On account of the left hand side of the house where the studio and band practice area, games room, home theater, wine room, gym, sauna, and second kitchen (because didn’t everyone need a second kitchen?) were located having its own entrance, I’d happily missed out on the bulk of all of the Stage Dive comings and goings. Even Sam lived in the two-bedroom pool house out back with Adam the musical genius. Apart from my needling head doctor of a sister-in-law and idiot brother, I’d pretty much kept to myself. Because there was nothing wrong with alone, no matter what Lizzy said. Alone was perfectly fine and actually quite safe. Especially given the bulk of the people who tended to visit the house.
And there they all were.
Jimmy sat sprawled on one of the leather sofas, watching his brother David, sitting on a large amp opposite him, tune a guitar. Mal, the blond-haired maniac, sat behind a drum kit, keeping up a relatively quiet though steady beat. And Gib was in his father’s arms, safe and sound. Thank God.
I tightened my slightly sloppy ponytail and stood taller. Jeans and a tee wasn’t my usual slick day wear. But at least there were currently no food groups represented in my hair.
“But you’re supposed to hang out with Aunty Martha. We talked about this,” said Ben with a frown. “What if she gets lost? She hasn’t been here that long. She doesn’t know the house like you do.”
“Aunty Martha there.” Expression decidedly unconvinced by the argument, Gib pointed at me, standing in the doorway.
I lifted a hand in greeting. “He got away from me.”