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“I still have some of Harley’s old clothes, so I’m sure we can find some jammies for Rebel.”
“Are you sure?” Why was she hedging? Miranda wasn’t used to trusting people, not with things as important as this, as important as her niece.
“Yes.” Siena smiled. “I promise Rebel will be my everything right along with Harley while she’s in my care. But I’m only doing this if you go to Tori and pull her head out of her ass.”
Miranda chuckled lightly. “I’ll talk to her. I can’t guarantee any outcomes.”
“Oh, we can!” Aili slapped her thigh and laughed. “Because if she’s going to be an idiot again, I’ll come over and beat her ass myself.”
“She won’t.” Siena shook her head. “But we’ll have the same talk with her that we’re having with you.”
“Why haven’t you? Had it with her, I mean.” Miranda folded her hands together, warmth seeping through her chest at the thought that this might very well be a possibility.
Siena raised an eyebrow in Miranda’s direction. “What makes you think we haven’t tried?”
“Are you saying Tori is more stubborn than me?”
“No, I don’t think that.” Siena pressed her lips together tightly. “I think she’s too hung up on definitions, and she’s worried about what it’ll mean to break those definitions down.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Tori needs to give up the box she’s trying to put herself in,” Aili stated. “And we think she’s almost there.”
Miranda was still confused, but she was going to have to trust that these women knew what they were talking about when it came to Tori.
“Right. So are we doing this?” Siena looked at each of them, but her gaze lingered on Miranda. “Because I’m going to need the car seat.”
Miranda grimaced. Transferring that from one car to another was always a pain in the rear. However, with Siena and Aili, it took no time at all. She said her goodbyes to Rebel, who looked happy as could be. Harley leaned over the middle seat and held Rebel’s hand as Miranda walked away.
The drive to Tori’s was quick, but she sat in her car for three minutes before she got up the courage to get out. She hadn’t called or texted. She didn’t want to warn Tori what was about to happen, that she’d have the chance to run away and hide. Straightening her spine, Miranda climbed the stairs to Tori’s second floor apartment. She closed her eyes and blew out a breath, settling the nerves in her stomach for one last time.
It was now or never.
She knocked.
thirty
A knock reverberated, strong and to the point. Hope burst in Tori’s chest that it was Miranda, but she tamped it down. It wouldn’t be. She was way out of line to even think that. The only time Miranda came over was when she was angry, not resigned. Throwing the tea towel from her shoulder onto the island, she walked out of the kitchen.
The second knock on the door echoed louder around her too-quiet home. Whether it was because she was now closer or because of the impatience of the person on the other side, she didn’t know. What she did know was that after a week of forcing fake smiles and making sure her daughter had a mother who was as present as possible, she had been looking forward to some solitary time to feel and be however she wanted and this person had no right to interfere.
With that frustration racing through her veins, she opened the door, mouth open and ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind when her eyes met honeyed eyes.
“Hi.” Miranda’s voice was soft, and was that a warble in the word?
Tori’s face dropped, and the words she had been about to say floated off into the ether, never to be retrieved.
“May I come in?” Miranda asked, gaze still fixed on Tori’s and doing things to her she didn’t want done to her. Okay, she did want them done, to her body and her mind and most definitely to her heart, but she couldn’t keep doing this.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tori closed her eyes and turned on her heel. Walking back into her home, she called out without so much as a courtesy head turn back to Miranda. “Close the door after you.”
Tori walked as far as she dared and stopped. She waited for the click of the door, followed by Miranda’s soft steps approaching. She counted them—one, two, three—she had hoped to get to six. But when the fourth sounded in her ear, she whirled back around ready for blood.
“I can’t fucking believe you.” Tori’s voice, or maybe the hard look she pinned Miranda with, stopped Miranda in place. “This is so unbelievably unfair.”
“I’m so sorry,” Miranda said slowly.
Tori believed it, but it wasn’t enough, not anymore.
