Page 85 of Silent Ties

In a lot of ways, she raised me, not my mom.

When I needed to escape her or the crappy men she brought home, Nancy provided shelter. When I went without food, she told me there’d been a buy one get one free discount on bread. She taught me how to use eyeliner and to punch a guy in the throat if he got too close.

“I’m so sorry,” I say again.

Grief lines his face as he nods. “Thank you for coming. That’d mean a lot to my mom.”

“She meant a lot to me.”

“Yeah, she was like that to a lot of people.” A faint smile graces his lips. “Good old Nancy Mulligan.”

“How are you?”

Tyler went away to college and hardly ever came back. Nancy was and wasn’t heartbroken by it. She missed him but wanted better for him. In the neighborhood we grew up in, that meant leaving.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says. He’s got more stubble than the last time I saw him. Another reminder that we’re not teens running around anymore. “You?”

His brows lift a little and I wonder what he’s heard.

My hands ball into the sleeves of my cardigan. “Yeah, I’m good too.”

“Strange to see you here without Daisy.”

As if my heart doesn’t hurt already.

“Have you heard from her lately?” I try to make it sound trivial. Friends, checking in on friends.

But he’s grim. “No. I heard she’s not been around.”

Fuck.

“She okay?” he asks.

Tyler is one of the few people I could tell the truth to. About how fucked up her situation is. We don’t have time, though.

“You hear about Meena’s sister?” I ask instead.

His eyes harden. “Yeah. Shit’s getting pretty bad they say.”

I see the question in his eye and try to avoid it. “Are you sticking around or. . . sorry, I’m not even sure where you live now.”

“I was in Toronto for a while actually. Just got back. I’ll stay at mom’s for a while, getting it sorted.”

“Toronto?” Color me impressed. “Tyler, that sounds amazing.”

“Not really.” He laughs. “But fuck do they love hockey.”

The smile grows on my face, along with a warmth in my stomach. It’s not quite happiness. More like homesickness, though, I know this will never be my home again.

“And you?” he asks, face creased with worry. “I heard you, uh, got married.”

“She did.”

Max’s voice cuts through the air. I shiver despite the warm air, especially when I turn to find him perfectly handsome in a black suit. His hands are in his pockets, but there’s nothing nonchalant about him.

“Hi,” Tyler says, smiling.

Max nods, stepping forward and snaking a hand against my waist.