Page 92 of The Grump I Loathe

“I can’t,” I said immediately. “Shadowreleases soon and?—”

“Just for a few days,” Mom said again. More insistent. “You’re allowed a bit of a vacation every now and then.”

A break from the office, from having to dodge Eddie at every turn, from having to look her in the eye and remember what I’d lost…Yeah, that sounded tempting right about now. “I suppose I could work from here.”

Mom rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant by vacation.”

“But only if you agree not to hound me about Eddie,” I said, ignoring her.

Mom tutted. “How are you going to get what you want unless I remind you what that is?”

“Mom,” I said sternly. I was not going to stay if she was going to give me the third degree all the time.

“Oh, all right,” she huffed, picking up her phone. “But you better call your brothers before they panic and fly here, too.”

“Connor, uh…could I have a word?”

I looked up from my laptop, frowning as X stood in front of the sofa, awkwardly wringing his hands together. I glanced over to the other sofa, which had been dragged closer to the coffee table so Grace and Mom could work on their puzzle.

The two of them were in their own world. I nodded and set my laptopaside, following X out of the den and down a long hallway to a small library. Inside were towering bookcases and two armchairs.

“I wanted to show you this,” he said, producing a small ring box from his pocket. He popped it open, and…wow. That sure was a diamond. The ring was gorgeous, clearly very expensive andholy shit!

It hit me suddenly, who it was intended for. My breath caught uncomfortably in my chest. I thought this was going to be some strained apology about accidentally dragging me all the way to Italy. But this? It was so much worse. I didn’t know what to say.

“Are you serious?” was all that tumbled out.

“I wanted to ask for your blessing,” X said. “Liam and Finn have both already given me the green light. But I wanted your okay most of all.”

I hesitated, staring down at that teardrop-shaped rock. I could still remember the moment Mom had yanked Dad’s ring off, the way it had glittered on her dresser for months, collecting dust before she finally found the strength to put it away. I wasn’t ever going to let someone put her through that again. I stared up at X, looked into his eyes, and was hit with the full force of his hopeful expression.

At that, something inside me softened.

I thought about Mom’s earlier point. Xhadbeen trying to build a bridge with me since the moment he’d come into our lives, and I’d been rejecting him at every turn, worried I couldn’t trust him with my mother—that he’d let her down the same way my father had. But while I was busy trying to block him from my life, Mom had found the kind of happiness she’d always deserved.

Was I really going to be the reason she couldn’t have that?

There was nothing I wanted more than to see Mom happy, and if X made her happy, didn’t Mom deserve a second chance?

I finally nodded. “Okay.”

X’s smile curled up his face. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said. “You have my blessing. Just…”

“I won’t hurt her,” he said.

“I know.”Because then you’ll have to deal with mewas implied.

X snapped the box closed and hid it away in his pocket. As he disappeared from the room, a giddy bounce in his step, I sank down into one of the armchairs. X had come to me for my blessing, and Eddie had intended to feel Grace out on getting hers.

I couldn’t help thinking about how those two moments had turned out.

My chest ached, and I rubbed at the knot, willing the pain away as I wished it had all happened differently. ThatIhad behaved differently.

29

EDDIE