Her mom’s grip on Dylan’s leg keeps him from pulling out a knife when my dad begins to smirk.
“You played the long game,” Dylan grits.
“I didn’t play any game,” my dad retorts. “Theydid. Andtheyare grown adults who can decide for themselves what they want to do with their lives.”
“He has a point,” Aspen’s mom says.
“It’s not like you can stop me,” Aspen says.
So brazen. I like it.
“He already apologized. What more do you want?” Milo asks them.
Felix, Penelope, Dylan, and Alistair all look at each other like they don’t know either. And I guess that’s just it. No one knows how to deal with this situation, not even us.
“You all used to be friends,” I say. “Before I ruined it.”
Felix homes in on me. “You cost me my daughter.” He swallows. “But you managed to convince Penelope to forgive you … so maybe I’ll give you a fucking chance to prove your love to Aspen.”
Dylan throws him a grimace. “That’s not up to you to decide.”
“You wanna keep those two lovers apart?” Dad tells him. “They were willing to fucking die for each other.”
I squeeze Aspen’s hand, smiling at her from the side.
“There’s no way anyone’s going to separate those two,” Nathan says.
“God knows I tried.” Mom rolls her eyes.
“Fine…” Dylan sighs. “Do whatever you want. It’s not like I can stop you.”
Aspen lets go of me only to jump into her dad’s arms, smothering him with the same kind of bubbly joy I fell in love with.
“Thank you, Dad,” she mutters.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He’s grinning. “Whatever makes my pumpkin happy.”
I snort to myself.
Pumpkin?
“So are we good now?” Milo asks. “All of us, I mean?”
“I wouldn’t say good, but it’s a start,” her mom says.
“What do you want me to do, apologize daily?” Lana asks.
“You could bring over some of that delicious Torres food.” Dylan raises his brows. “Felix loves it.”
Her mother looks at Felix in a funny manner. “Are you saying you love your sister’s cooking more than mine?”
“No comment,” Felix replies.
Dylan and Alistair laugh, and soon everyone’s laughing, just like they used to before they all decided to despise each other. And maybe there might just be a way out of this mess after all.
“I’ll bring over the sushi,” Milo tells Dylan. “You bring the wine.”
“Hard liquor,” Felix says. “Nothing else.”
