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Saoirse had retreated to her room for privacy. When I called her name, she came out and joined us to sing and cut the cake at the kitchen table. I made the same wish every year: that everything would work out the way it was supposed to.
Elliot ate his cake, even though he rarely ate sweets. He even complimented Saoirse.
“This is good. Have you considered baking professionally?”
She waved him off. “Of course not. Then it wouldn’t be fun.” She unfolded her long legs from her chair and bent to kiss the top of my head. “Happy birthday, Lise. I’m bummed your party got cut short, but I’m glad I got to spend it with you.”
I leaned my head against her hip. “Thanks for being a goddess.”
She left Elliot and me alone again. He stared at me for a long time while I dragged my fork through the frosting on my plate. I was antsy to speak to Weston, but at the same time, I needed to know things with my brother were settled.
“He paid for your college.”
My head shot up. “What? Who did?”
“There was no money left when Elaine died. I had no idea until I came back and took over, but our mother’s financial situation had been dire. I was going to sell the house to support us, but West stepped in. He used his trust fund to pay off the house. He seeded my first business. And when it was time, he paid your tuition. I tried to be prideful and deny him, but he wouldn’t allow it.”
I was in shock. My mouth fell open, but I had no idea what to say. We’d never been wealthy, but I also had never been worried about money, even in those post–Dad years when Elaine went off the rails. I guessed I should have been paying more attention.
“He never told me.”
Elliot smirked. “No, he wouldn’t have. He asked me to keep it to myself. He didn’t want you to know what a shit show our mother was.” He shook his head. “He’s been protecting you for a long time. I suppose I’ll have to trust that he’ll keep doing so.”
He rose to his feet and pulled me up into his arms. “Happy birthday, El. I love you.”
“I love you too, El.”
He let me go, taking a step back. “I’m going, since I know you’re about five minutes away from tossing me out so you can go to him.”
I snorted. “Maybe ten.”
He ruffled my hair, but he didn’t quite smile. “I don’t like change.”
Elliot eschewed change so much through elementary and middle school he’d been like a cartoon character, owning multiples of the same pieces of clothing so he could wear the same outfit daily, only changing with the seasons. Fortunately for us all, he had a much better fashion sense these days.
I smiled at him. “I know you don’t.”
I let myself into Weston’s place, finding it quiet, which wasn’t surprising. I carried a plate with a slice of cake on it through his apartment, searching him out. A glow came from his office, unsurprisingly.
I peeked through the crack in the door. Weston was hunched over his desk, his fingers clasped behind his neck. His computer was on, but he wasn’t reading the screen.
“Hi,” I called softly, pushing the door open.
He shot to his feet, storming toward me before I could take one step into the room. He took my face in his hands, tilting my head to one side then the other, then he grunted and kissed my forehead, the tip of my nose, and my lips.
“You’re here.”
“I’m here,” I confirmed. “I brought you cake.”
“I thought he’d convince you to stay away from me.”
I crinkled my nose at him. “Well, you don’t know either of us as well as you say you do. I would never allow Elliot to change my mind about you and he loves you. He would never try to trash you to get me to break it off.”
He blew out a breath, his gaze raking over me like he was confirming I was really here.
“Fuck,” he gritted out. “I was sitting here, no idea what was happening, going out of my mind.”
“I’m sorry.” I pressed my lips to his in a long, lingering kiss. “I had to make sure everything was okay with Elliot before I came to you. I hate that you were alone.”
