Sister Mother

Chapter 37

Leo

After spending a week in Hawaii, I reached the conclusion that there's no better family than the McKenna's. It had been the greatest week of my life.

We'd flown home that night and I drove us back from the airport.

"Thanks again, Leo," Beatrice said as she unbuckled. "That was so much fun."

"Anytime. Thanks for teaching me how to play tennis."

Beatrice smiled and then got out of my truck so that she could unload Gabe's scooter. Gabe slid forward in his seat.

"If you two kept seeing each other, I wouldn't hate it. Thanks for the week, man." He slapped my shoulder and hopped out of the truck.

I watched from the rearview mirror as Beatrice finished putting his scooter together and he sat down. He drove it into their garage and they both waved to us. I waved back. Addie squeezed my hand. I put my hand on her leg. She was sitting in the booster seat I'd bought. Her hair was barely pulled back into a messy bun. She had bags under her eyes and I knew that I looked messier than she did.

"You could stay here tonight," she said, not for the first time.

"I've got work in the morning. I'd have to get up at five to make it on time. Trust me, I've already thought about it."

Addie sighed and tilted her neck up. I cupped her face and covered her mouth with mine.

"When can I see you again?" I asked, running my thumb across her bottom lip. "I get off work at three."

"I'll be at Starbucks till five tomorrow. And my uncle's coming over to help Gabe and I with the estate taxes. There's still so much paperwork and I want to make a dent in it before my surgery."

Unbuckling, I pushed her mouth back to mine. Knowing I wouldn't be able to see her for at least a whole day tightened around my gut. She pressed her chest up against me and moaned into my mouth.

"Tuesday?" I asked her.

"Working all day."

"I'll be in the office all day Wednesday. I can quit Thursday if that means—"

"It scares me that you're not joking when you say things like that," Addie said. She yawned and laid a few gentle kisses on my neck, making my hair stick up. "Thank you for the perfect week. And for existing."

"Back at you," I replied. Her compliments were a bit strange, but knowing that she was grateful for my existence boosted my self-esteem. I exited my truck and took her suitcase and wheelchair out of the back. I opened her door and lifted her out. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I wondered how it was possible that things with her felt so damn right. We'd only been together for three weeks and I was head over heels in love with her.

"Friday?" Addie asked as soon as I lowered her into her chair. She grabbed the neck of my shirt. "I'm done working at three. Gabe and I have our infusions at four. You can meet my nurse, Marlene. I'll be hooked up to an IV and be monitored for four hours, but you can come over. Please?"

"I'll be here at three-thirty. But later on, you still have to come over to my place and make lots of noise so Vance knows for sure that you're not pranking me."

Her cheeks turned pink again, making me mentally pat myself on the back for making that happen one more time before our trip ended.

She pushed her chair forward and I put my hand on her shoulder while I pulled her suitcase with the other. Once she was up the ramp that led to her front porch, she chuckled.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm almost looking forward to my surgery just because you're insane enough to come with us."

"That's going to be easy to get through, right? It'll be in and out, like ripping off a band aid?"

Addie pursed her lips. "The surgery will take at least five hours. I haven't gotten x-rays in two years and it's very likely that the damage I did to my left hip will take longer to correct. Waiting for me to come out is going to be--" She sighed and looked inside the house. "Gabe and Beatrice are going to suffer a lot of déjà vu because we waited for our parents to wake up. If you're coming, can you comfort them while I'm in there?"

"Five hours? That's a long time. How long's recovery supposed to take?"

"Six weeks minimum, pending no complications and I can balance PT with my work schedule. I've already talked to Jesse and my manager at Starbucks."

I could already see the weight of her world start to fall back on her shoulders. "Is there anything I can—"

"My cousin might move in with us during my recovery. Gabe already talked me into letting him take over the housework. You can help me by coming over as much as possible."

"I can do that." I bent down in front of her and crashed my lips over hers.

She gasped into my mouth before she returned the kiss. Her sweet tongue caressed mine and deprived me of every conscious thought. Her hands ran up and down the sides of my body, and I pulled back her hair so that I could see her bare neck.

"Friday, right?" she asked in between panting heavy breaths. "And Saturday morning?"

"Saturday afternoon if I have any say." I smirked and watched her blush. Damn, she's gorgeous.

"Can you text me when you make it back to your apartment safely? Just so I know you did?" Her hands tightened around mine.

As hard as it was for me to watch her face flush with all of that pain, I liked having someone worry about me like she did. I cupped her face and nodded. "I will."

She smiled and threw her arms around me. She pressed herself so close to me that I could feel her heartbeat echoing against my chest. "Thank you, Leo. Thank you for this perfect trip, for existing and being so-being so you. You're so-you're so utterly you and I love that. I love you. I love that you're you and um-" She stopped speaking and shook her head on my shoulder. "I'm going to go inside and you're not ever going to mention that I said that. I'll work on my compliments."

"Thank you for being you, too." I kissed her forehead, and kept my lips on her skin for just a few extra seconds. I wanted to memorize the way she smelled, the softness of her skin and the sound of her unsteady breaths as I touched her. "Adds, if you don't get inside right now, I'm not going to be able to leave and then you won't have to worry about me quitting my job because I'll be fired for not showing up."

Addie chuckled. We broke apart. She pushed her front door open and I heled get her suitcase through the door. We kissed one more time before she drove into the house.

"Friday," Addie reminded me, as if I could forget.

"Friday," I promised.

I exhaled as she closed the door. I considered knocking on it. A moment later, a light turned on from behind a window, and I saw Gabe glaring at me. He pointed to my truck. I sighed and walked off the porch steps. The long driveway that I shoveled so long ago seemed to smile at me.

This is a home.

I'd never had a home that I kept wanting to come back to, but this was it. I didn't care if we'd only been together three weeks, this was my home. I wanted to come back here and see every person in this house. That simple feeling was foreign to me, but it settled inside me so well, that when I got back to my truck, I took out the bill of sale that I'd kept for the last five years. It served as a reminder for the last time Henry hit me, and the first time I stuck up for myself. I dragged my thumb across the date of sale.

I threw the sale papers into the recycling bin. Weight left me as the papers fell. I closed my eyes and sent up a silent prayer.

I want this place to be my home one day. I know it's soon and I'm crazy for thinking it. But please help me do my best to keep coming back here.