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“Yes,” Alanna said at the same time.

Nicola eyed her sister carefully. This was exactly what she’d wanted to avoid. “We’re not dating.”

“But you’re together,” Alanna rebutted.

“No, we’re not together.” Nicola shook her head. “And I don’t think we’ll ever be together.”

“But you want to be?” Simone finally stepped back into the fray of conversation.

Nicola’s head was about to explode. Would the two of them give it up already?

“She’s got to be what, twice your age?” Simone added. “And Warren’s aunt.”

“I know.” Nicola stared down at her hands again, heat rushing to her cheeks. There was no way to avoid this conversation, was there? She licked her lips and shook her head. “We’re not together, we won’t be together. Abagail was being kind to help me out on some things, that’s all.”

“But you want to be?” Simone asked again.

Nicola shook her head, tears rushing to her eyes. Every emotion she’d suppressed in the last few months came tumbling up all at once, and she couldn’t sort through them. Tears fell down her cheeks. The stress from not being able to pay Alanna’s bills. A sob tore through her chest. The pain of Warren breaking up with her so ruthlessly. Her chest ached as she tried to breathe. The fact that she’d so willingly given a part of herself for money. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. It wasn’t just revenge.

Simone was next to her, rubbing circles into her back and wrapping her up in a hug. Alanna stayed where she was, unable to move very swiftly and definitely not at this angle. Nicola buried her face in Simone’s shoulder, breathing in as best she could and remembering that scent. It was so similar to their mother’s and yet so different at the same time.

The scent was the last thing to leave Nicola’s memory. And when she’d found a box that was still packed away in storage and opened it, all she could smell was her parents. It’d bring fresh tears, just like this, straight to her. She clung onto Simone.

This was her family now.

This was all she had left.

Finally, Alanna managed to pull herself upward and wrapped her arms around Simone and Nicola. A new wave of tears flooded Nicola. She shouldn’t have kept them out for so long. She shouldn’t have tried to keep them in the dark about her ownstruggles. She needed to keep the family that she had as close as she possibly could.

Nicola laughed lightly and shook her head, the tears clearing from her eyes as she pulled herself back together. One breakdown every few months wasn’t a bad thing, right? She wiped her hands across her cheeks and dried her face.

“I’m good, I promise.”

“I don’t think you are,” Alanna whispered. “But I do think you’ll be a whole lot better off if you talk to Abagail.”

The echo of Abagail’s request hit her ears, but then she was reminded of the fact that they’d now gone to talk twice, and they hadn’t done it. Maybe Abagail had changed her mind entirely. Or maybe Nicola should just take a hint. Abagail didn’t want to talk. Not about a relationship anyway. She wanted to talk about when Nicola was going to get back on her own feet.

“Yeah, it’s probably high time we did that.” Nicola snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’ll talk to her soon. I promise.”

Even if the conversation was just a simple,Thanks for the time, it was fun while it lasted, I’m moving out tomorrow.

“You can come stay with me if you need to, but it’s tight living quarters right now, so you’ll be on the couch.” Simone brushed her fingers through Nicola’s hair.

“I don’t want to leave Alanna?—”

“I think I can survive the two of you living on the other side of the state for a short window of time.” Alanna lay back in her bed and rolled her eyes loudly at them. “I’m not an invalid, you know.”

Nicola would beg to differ on that one, but she did at least have good care here to give her as much independence as possible.

“And it’s not like you two are sailing across the Drake Passage and refusing to take me with you. Which, by the way, ifyou ever do that, I will murder you both in your sleep. Just so you know.”

Nicola laughed fully. It felt so good to have their gentle banter back. They all knew that Alanna would never be traveling on a cruise to Antarctica like she might have wanted to, but at least she could dream still. Nicola pressed a kiss into Alanna’s hair and gave her a hug.

“I promise we won’t do that.”

“Good.” Alanna folded her arms across her chest and glared at both of them. “Stop being idiots.”

“I’ll try.” Nicola put her hands up.