Page 156 of The Love Operation

But he doesn’t.

He bypasses my mouth entirely, the heat of his skin grazing mine as he finds the hollow of my ear.

And then, low, certain, and completely unraveling, he whispers, “You.”

He pulls back, and I’m left in the aftermath, my whole body tingling as if a jar of fireflies has been released at my toes, and they are traveling to my head.

“Now I should take you home,” he says, the faintest smile tugging at his lips. “While I still qualify as honorable.”

The air between us crackles with the embers of what almost happened.

And he wants to take me home?

My hands flex at my sides, aching to reach for him, to grab hold of something I have absolutely no business grabbing, and throw honor out the window.

I let out a breathy laugh. “That was . . . extremely unfair,” I say, and then turn away before I embarrass myself by tackling him. “Yeah, we should go.” Though every cell in my body begs me to stay.

I grab Tad Cooper, and the three of us move—wordless—toward Benedict’s car, then drive in silence down the darkened street.

When we pull into my driveway, I’m momentarily thrown by three people standing on my porch. In the glow of the lanterns, I make out Everett, Maggie, and Maggie’s husband, Charles.

“Who are those people?” Benedict asks.

“My brother and sister and my sister’s husband. I don’t know what they’re doing here.” And then I remember that I didn’t take my phone to Benedict’s. I left it in my car.

I leap out, and Maggie runs up to me. “We didn’t know where you were,” she says, and it takes me a moment to register that she’s crying. “Mom and Dad told us. Cord, what are we going to do?”

Everett’s head is bent beside us, his hands in his pockets, and I open my arm so he can join our embrace. And then it’s the three of us, with Benedict and Charles just off to the side. I can feel Benedict’s presence, a solid force behind me.

“Shh,” I say, kissing my sister’s curls. “We’re going to make it. They need space right now, but once we all have a chance to process this, we’ll figure out what needs to happen and how each of us can be there for Mom and Dad. Then, when they’ll let me, I’ll talk to her doctor. I’ll even reach out to a few neurologists, just to see what options are out there. And talk to Delenn.” I squeeze them, passing strength through my arms. “We’ll do this the way Mom would—prepared, practical, and together.”

We pull away from each other, and both my siblings are looking at me, as wrecked as I was earlier.

I nod and reach for their hands. “We’re going to be okay,” I assure them.

This seems to soothe them both.

“It makes sense now,” Everett says. “Why they wanted to retire.”

Maggie nods, still sniffing.

“Yeah. It does,” I say, and that’s when it hits me—they didn’t change overnight. Their priorities shifted because they had to shift.

And I was a selfish brat.

I’m disappointed in myself for only seeing how their change affected me instead of what might’ve been going on with them.

We drop hands, and that’s when Maggie seems to notice Benedict for the first time.

“Benedict?”

He steps up. “I’m surprised you remember me.”

Maggie glances at me. “We came when we couldn’t reach you because I started panicking. You’re always there, and you always know what to do. And I’m sorry we fought.” She tears up again.

“It’s okay.” I smile. “I’m here now, and we don’t need to worry about all that. We have bigger things to handle now.”

Everett nods, and it’s like he’s finally breathing again.