She said it was the pain meds.
Flynn and Trevor hugged tightly before thumping each other on the back and pulling away. Sofia stepped away and gave me a quick wave and another happy grin before disappearing to talk to other guests.
“It’s good to see you, son. It’s been too long,” Trevor said, a small reprimand in his tone.
Flynn ducked his head and nodded before he edged back a little. “I know, Uncle Trev. I’m sorry I let things get so quiet between us. It’s nothing to do with you.”
Trevor’s eyes sparkled, and he waved a hand, dismissing the notion. “Course I know that. Life gets busy and things happen. But let’s not let it get that way again, yeah?”
“Agreed,” Flynn responded with a grin. I gently reached out to take his hand and he turned to look at me with a smile, pulling me closer. From being so close with the family, I knew Flynn hadn’t spoken to much of the family for a while, and I had seen the way it worried Trevor. Now that Flynn was out of the Army, I knew he worried Flynn was falling back into old habits with the wrong people.
“Uncle Trevor, I guess you’ve heard our news,” Flynn added, turning back to his uncle. I followed suit to find the older man’s eyes already on me, sparkling good naturedly.
“Word spread like wildfire, boy,” he said before he pulled me in for a giant bear hug. I laughed in surprise and returned the embrace before he set me back on my feet. Flynn took my hand again at once and kept me tucked close to his side.
Trevor shook his head and chuckled. “I gotta say, I’m shocked we didn’t know, but I’m not surprised this happened.”
“Really?” I asked, my head tipping to the side.
“I wasn’t sure aboutyou,” Trevor said to me before turning his warm gaze on Flynn. “But I knew you had feelings for her as a teenager. We watched you carefully to make sure you didn’t try anything back then, especially with you being older and getting into all sorts of trouble.”
I looked at Flynn and froze at the abashed look on his face and the way he raked a hand through his thick hair.
“Geez, thanks, old man. Way to embarrass me,” he said, notlooking at me.
“She always had a way of getting through to you when none of the rest of us could,” Trevor added with a shrug. “I’m not saying anything everyone didn’t already know and see with our own two eyes whenever you looked at her.”
“You had a thing for me when we were younger?” I asked with an amused smile.
Flynn sighed and refused to look at me. “Alright, let’s move on, yeah? How’s Aunt Carol?”
Trevor opened his mouth to respond when a feminine voice cut in. “Do I get to say hello now?”
Trev stepped aside to reveal Carol starting in our direction. She was a small woman, barely reaching five feet even, with blonde locks steaked liberally with gray and her pale blue eyes shining with joy.
Flynn stepped forward to hug her at once, and I watched the relief on her face when she wrapped her arms around him. My heart clenched at the obvious love she had for him, and I wondered why Flynn had let the distance between them get so great when they obviously cared a lot about him.
“It’s good to see you again, Aunt Carol,” Flynn said as she slowly let him go. He paused with her hands on his cheeks, her eyes searching his face as if she could see everything he was hiding behind his eyes.
“We’ve missed you,” she whispered.
“I’ve missed you too,” Flynn said, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. I watched her face break into a grin as she let him pull away and Trevor didn’t waste any time wrapping an arm around her and tucking her beneath his shoulder.
“And you, Miss Chiara. You sure know how to keep a secret,” she mused with a knowing glint and a wide grin.
I ducked my head, uncomfortable with lying to these two beautiful people.
“We knew it would cause a stir, Aunt Carol. We just wanted to make sure we were in it for the long haul before creating waves,” Flynn answered for me, tangling our fingers together.
“Understandable,” she said, but her eyes flicked between the two of us curiously.
“That makes sense,” Trevor added with a small sigh.
I glanced up at Flynn to see him already looking at me, and the wink he sent my way had me blushing.
“Have you spoken to Ellis yet?” Trevor asked, drawing our attention back to him.
Any warmth I’d felt suddenly fled and I shook my head. “No. Sofia seems happy, but we haven’t seen Ellis yet.”
