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Jack scoffs. “Sure it isn’t, Goose.”
Ian rolls his eyes before giving his attention back to Abby. “I want you to stay here. Don’t leave the apartment until we get back. We’re going to figure this out together, okay?”
“Okay,” Abby says with a nod.
Ian turns toward me. “Can you…?”
“I’ll stay with her,” I say without letting him finish. “You don’t even have to ask.”
Ian’s smile is small but still enough to make my heart clench, and he crosses the space between us easily before leaning down to brush his lips against mine. “Thank you.”
“So much for a fucking month,” Jack mutters from a few feet away.
I ignore him, stepping closer and returning Ian’s soft kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he answers, his lips curling into a full-blown grin against my mouth.
I smack his ass, continuing to ignore Jack as he groans. “Go get ’em, Cupcake.”
Abby is staring at us when we break apart, her head cocked with curiosity but keeping quiet. Jack shakes his head, glancing at Abby. “Yeah,” Jack huffs. “It’s a whole gross thing.”
“Don’t be jealous, babe,” Ian calls, moving toward him. “I can give you kisses, too, if it helps.”
“Get the fuck out of my apartment before I bash your knees in,” Jack grumbles.
Ian chuckles, bending to fish his phone out of the couch cushions where it’s fallen. He looks between Abby and me once more after he gets his keys from the bowl on the thin table in the entryway, and Jack steps behind him as they head for the door.
“You two will be okay?”
I peek over at Abby, who watches me nervously. I nod for us both. “We’ll be fine. Go.”
He shoots me another smile before they both head out, leaving me alone with Ian’s little sister, who I haven’t met before, watching her having an emotional breakdown only moments earlier. I can totally get why she’s looking at me like she wants to bolt.
“Well,” I say, “do you want food or sleep?”
Abby’s brow wrinkles. “What?”
“When I’m having a bad day, naps and snacks always help. So which would you rather have first?”
“I…” She eyes me incredulously, but I just keep the pasted smile on my face, waiting for her answer. She looks shy when she admits, “I am kind of tired.”
“Right.” I nod, wrapping my arm around her—which is kind of hard, given that she’s at least four inches taller than me. “Let’s put you to bed, and I’ll do what I do best when I’m stressed, which is bake. When you wake up, we’ll get to the snacks.”
Her eyes stay glued to the floor as I practically march her toward Ian’s bedroom, but after I tuck her behind the door, she utters a quiet, “Thank you, um…?”
“Delilah,” I tell her. “But most people call me Dee, except your brother. He calls me Lila.”
“Lila,” she says without hesitation, a small smile on her face that reminds me so much of her brother that it momentarily takes me by surprise. “Thank you.”
I can see her sadness and her vulnerability coming off her in waves, and I decide right then that she and I are going to be friends. That neither of the Chase siblings are ever going to be sad on my watch.
“You’re welcome,” I tell her. I point to Ian’s bed. “Now nap. That’s an order.”
She’s still smiling softly when I leave her, and despite all the revelations that we’ve endured today, I feel…hopeful.
It has me smiling as I start riffling through Jack and Ian’s cabinets.
“So how did he take it?”
