Page 50 of Manhattan Kiss

“I hope she does, but they won’t be of a mum and dad and siblings and…it won’t be a traditional nuclear family.”

She nods as she stares at me, as if she’s really looking into my soul. “And you wanted to give her that traditional family because you didn’t have that for yourself,” she says.

“We moved around a lot.” I hated it. I never felt like our home was ours. It always felt temporary. I was always waiting for the next time I’d have to pack up.

“And your older sister’s death must have cloaked a lot of good memories.”

My entire body tenses. I never discuss Penny’s death. Not even with Chloe. We don’t talk about it. Most people in my life don’t know about it at all, so naturally, it never comes up.

But Aurora does know about it. I told her.

“Penny…it wasn’t that. It was the moving around.”

My gaze flits up and hits Aurora’s, who’s looking back at me.

“Gabby and I aren’t well suited, and splitting up was the right thing to do. I just wish things had been different. But then again, I have Willow, so I also don’t wish things had been different. The most important thing is there’s no acrimony between us. Gabby’s happy and just got engaged to another guy.”

“Engaged. Wow. How did you take that?” she asks.

“Frustrated that she wants to change our nesting arrangement. But other than that, I’m happy for her. I’ve met him—I insisted before he met Willow. He seems like a good guy.”

“How does she want to change things?” she asks.

My jaw tenses. I don’t want to talk about this kind of shit with Aurora. I want to hear about her and everything going on inside her head. Why’s she in New York specifically? Is she a morning person? Do I need to kill the guy she had a crush on?

Her eyes search my face like she’s looking for answers.

I pause, watching her watching me. I want to know her. But for some reason…I want her to know me too. “She wants Willow to go between our homes.”

“Oh,” she says. “So you’ll have your own place?”

“That’s what Gabby wants.”

“But you don’t?”

“I like the arrangement as it is.”

“I suppose if your ex is getting married, it makes sense that she wouldn’t want to live in two different places. This might be a good thing. You’d save money on hotel bills.” She grins.

“Not my primary concern.”

“But your daughter is. She might like having a mum who’s married and happy.”

“Yeah,” I say, letting her words sink in. “I hadn’t thought about it like that. I just don’t want to disrupt Willow.”

“I’m pretty sure she has a dad who adores her. That’s got to count for something.”

“She has a dad she can wrap around her little finger,” I add with a grin.

“They’re the best kind. Honestly, happy parents count for a lot. I got lucky, my parents are still together. What about yours? Did you say they lived back in the UK?”

“Yeah. And honestly, I’m a little surprised. They didn’t see a whole lot of each other when we were young. But they figured it out, I guess.”

“My mum would always say to me that you never know what goes on behind closed doors. It’s a good adage to live by.”

“I don’t want to know what goes on behind people’s closed doors. And I sure as hell don’t want people to know what goes on behind mine.”

She presses her lips together, like she has to stop herself from saying more and my dick twitches.