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I bite her bottom lip, and she giggles.
“Get dressed, my sweet addiction. I’ll go distract the masses.”
Addie laughs and brushes her lips over mine. “My hero.”
With a final meeting of lips that nearly has me dragging her down to the bed, I leave. Quickly. With Addie’s giggles following my heels.
Little brat.
The patio is a mess of people. People I thankfully only deal with on holidays and the odd party. People I never saw or talked to otherwise but was raised to deal with when necessary.
Paloma catches sight of me as I step through the patio doors. Her eyes, the same brilliant green as her daughter’s, light up and she detaches herself from her sister Tully and hurries over to me.
I’m pretty close with my mom. Not nearly as close as Addie is to hers, but I text her throughout the week and see her when she travels through town in her RV. We have a very simple relationship, and it works for us, and I think a lot of that is because I never felt like I got cheated out of a mother when Paloma just clicked into place in my life. I still love my mom, but it worked out for everyone when Mom and Dad split, Mom followed her dreams of seeing the world and Dad found Paloma and Addie.
I think one of the reasons it’s impossible not to like Paloma or my mom is because they could be sisters. Both have an aura of calm and peace that immediately puts everyone at ease. I don’tthink I’ve ever heard either of them raise their voices. Mom is a wild explosion of colors, a true daughter of the seventies to her soul. Peace, love and weed for all is her life mantra. Paloma is a calm river, a serene, white mist that envelopes and soothes. I used to think it was funny that Addie looked exactly like a younger version of her mother but had the spirit of mine.
“Hello sweetheart.” Paloma slips her arm through mine and hugs it to her chest. “How are you?”
I let her guide me along the edges, giving the crowd a wide birth and us privacy.
There really is too many people present. Aside from Paloma and my dad, Paloma’s older sister Tully, her husband Julian and their two kids, sixteen-year-old Dayton and eighteen-year-old Clio are in attendance. Tully is yelling at someone on the phone, her voice an irate shriek over the hiss and pop of meat being roasted over the grill. Her family stand several feet from her, a wide birth from her and each other on opposite sides of the porch. All their heads bent over their phones.
Uncle Grayson, Iris’s husband stands too close over Dad’s shoulder. Too close. Close enough that I want to shift uncomfortably. Like his wife, Grayson has zero awareness. Both have no concept of reality. The world revolves around them, and no one can tell them differently.
I could have done without any of them. I would have loved the night to be just me with Addie and our parents, but it’s Dad and Paloma’s anniversary. It’s their weekend. Only twenty-four hours and these people would be gone.
“Rhys?”
I blink and glance down at the tiny woman at my side. “Sorry. I’m good. How are you?”
She stops us at the edge of the patio before the set of stairs leading down into the yard and turns to me. Her big, green eyespeer up into mine and I’m struck by how much Addie resembles her.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
“Anything,” I say without hesitation.
Her smile is a brilliant light spreading across her face. “I know it’s probably asking a lot. You guys only just started talking again, but I think if anyone can help me convince Addie to move back, it’s you. I know you care about her as much as I do and—”
I don’t falter when I take a breath and murmur, “I love her.”
Paloma’s smile widens hopefully. “So, you’ll help me? I don’t want to gang up on her, but she’s so far for no reason. I know you guys had an incident and she’s a little embarrassed about it, but I know you guys are too close to let something as small as a kiss come between you.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I do agree that Addie needs to come home. She doesn’t belong in a shoebox miles from her family.
“I’ll talk to her.”
Paloma’s whole face lights up. “You will? Oh, Rhys!” She pulls me into a suffocating embrace. “Thank you.” A hard kiss is stamped into my cheek before she pulls back, still beaming. “Now, I have to convince her to convince you to move home, too.”
I burst out laughing. “You know, most parents want their children out of the house, right?”
Paloma purses her lips and scowls. “That’s what Addie said and like I said to her, there’s a whole guesthouse right there.”
I chuckle. “You want me and Addie to move into the guesthouse together?”
I am perfectly fine with that. Hell, I’ll drive back right now, pack all my stuff and hers and have us moved in before sunrise, but I am curious how Paloma — who has no idea her daughter’srelease is still sticky on my fingers — thinks that would play out in a regular situation.
“Well, I mean...” she wrinkles her slender nose, “you’re both adults. You can figure out your own rules about company and chores. Or we can expand!” she decides excitedly. “We’ll add a whole section, like a duplex.”
