Page 156 of Trust Me

I nodded, wiping beneath my eyes before any tears could escape. “Promise me you’ll be more careful.” He opened his mouth, but I spoke again. “Promise.”

“Remember when you headed off to college and I told you to grab life by the balls and not let go until you got what you wanted? Well, I think you’ve learned exactly what I was trying to teach you.”

“You said the stubbornness of Kennedys will drag us out of the gutter one day.”

“And it has. That’s why we’re all here right now, together despite everything. It’s probably how you got someone as kind as Oli on your side.”

“Me and Oli aren’t just friends,” I blurted.

His brows shot up, then he started to laugh. “We know.”

I shrugged. “I figured, but you hadn’t said anything.”

“How long’s it been?”

“Like, a week and a half.”

“Are you pulling my leg?” When I shook my head, he blew out a breath. “What you have there—it’s intense already.”

“I know, but I don’t think there’s any slowing it down at this point.”

“Just be careful, alright? A relationship will always change you, but don’t sink so deep that you can’t find yourself when things get hard. And they will get hard.”

“I’m ready for that.”

He smiled softly. “Nobody’s ever ready for it. As long as you’re both willing to face it and to fight, there are few things that can break you.”

“Should I feel honored to be getting the relationship talk?”

“I was going to give it to you over winter break, but it seems fate had other plans.”

“Speaking of plans, where’s Mom?” I glanced around as if she would appear out of nowhere.

“She went into work for a couple of hours.”

“Already?”

“Don’t worry, Dr. Matteo will send her back soon. She has twenty years of ER experience. That habit of going, going, going has to be trained out of her.”

“He seems like a good boss to have.”

“Oh, he’s the best. Believe me, I wasn’t sure at first when she told me about it. Like when you said you were moving in with Oli, I thought it had to be a scam.”

“Did this job really just land in her lap?”

“She calls it her good karma. I say it’s a little bit of luck. Things usually turn out best when we work together, so let’s call it both. She deserves it.”

“And more.”

A door closed, but before I could get my hopes up, I heard heavy footsteps. I didn’t know when I’d started to recognize Oli’s. Maybe it was from hearing them in my sleep while he paced around the apartment, or I’d started to listen for them when I was alone.

“Where’s everyone?” Blake asked, coming into the kitchen to take the rest of the coffee. His eyes were only half open and his hair was a mess from sleep.

“Mom’s at work,” I answered.

He stopped pouring the coffee for a second, then continued with a frown. “That didn’t take long.”

Even though I’d said something similar, his words were laced with bitterness. I gripped the handle of my mug tightly and met Dad’s eyes. He offered me a smile, but I knew he’d noticed too.