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“Oh.”
“But we’ve been…something for weeks now.”
“I’m glad,” she comments softly. She cuts her eyes to me. “That he has you. He deserves that.”
“He has you too,” I remind her. “He cares about you a lot. I know we don’t know each other, and he only recently told me the entire truth of everything that’s happened between you, but I can tell by the way he talks about you that he really cares.”
“That’s…good.” She stares at the counter, her cookie forgotten in her hand for a moment. “I’ve always felt like I’m just a burden to him.” She blinks then, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I told you that.”
“It’s the cookie,” I tease. “They’re truth cookies.”
“Must be,” she mutters, taking another bite.
“You’re not, you know,” I say. “A burden to him.”
“How can you know that for sure?”
“Because Ian doesn’t think of people like that,” I say confidently. “Not when he cares for them. He’s just not that kind of person. He’s always putting others before himself. It’s just second nature for him to make sure everyone he loves is okay before he does the same thing for himself.”
“I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.”
“It just is what it is,” I say with a shrug, popping the last of the cookie into my mouth. “Ian’s always been a safety net for people. Once you fall into it, he’s gonna make sure to do his damnedest to hold you up safe and sound for as long as he’s able.”
“I’ve always wished we were closer,” she sighs.
“Then why don’t you tell him that? I know he would love to be.”
“You can’t know that,” she mumbles bitterly. “I’m a mistake. Just some kid his dad had when he cheated on Ian’s mom.”
“You’re his family,” I say firmly. “I know we don’t know each other well, but I can tell you that you’re not a mistake. Not for Ian. If he says he loves you, then he loves you. If he says he wants to protect you, then that’s what he really wants. Ian is…” I know my smile is dopey, but I can’t help it. “Ian really is just that selfless. It would hurt him more for you to pull away.”
“You really think so?”
I take a chance, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. “I know it.”
“I…Thank you. That makes me feel a little better.”
“Plus, it’s not just Ian. If you’re important to him, then you’re important to me. Same goes for my idiot brother, but I would totally understand if you don’t want to capitalize on that one.”
“Is he always…?”
“Unhinged? Yes. But it grows on you.”
A genuine smile touches her lips, maybe the first full one I’ve seen since meeting her. “Thank you, Lila. I can’t tell you what that means to me.”
“I know exactly what it feels like to think you’re alone in this world, Abby, I really do, so trust me when I say that you are not alone.” I squeeze her shoulder again. “We’re all here for you.”
Her eyes glisten, and her throat works subtly, but she just nods, popping the last of her cookie in her mouth in lieu of answering. “Fucking truth cookies.”
“They’re the worst,” I laugh.
“They really aren’t.”
“Yeah,” I sigh, taking my last bite. “I know.”
Abby opens her mouth to say something, but a sudden pounding at the door has both of us jolting in our seats, heads twisting toward the sound.
Abby’s brow knits. “Ian?”
