Family Ties — читать онлайн бесплатно полностью

I laughed but then grew serious again. “I guess I’m wondering what the hell I’m doing with your family. I mean, what could I possibly bring to the party?”

“We aren’t perfect,” she said. “Well, except my mom and dad. They are.”

’em, even if they’re only minor. Your dad probably doesn’t use his turn signals or something. Maybe your mom squeezes the toothpaste in the middle.”

“You’re probably right,” Christy said with a laugh. “But the others definitely have flaws.”

She thought about it for a long time and nodded to herself as she went from one brother to the next.

“Danny never takes anything seriously,” she went on, “which really bugs the rest of us sometimes. He makes everything into a joke when he doesn’t know what to do. Rich takes things the other direction. He’s so serious that it drives the rest of us crazy. And he has a bad habit of scaring my boyfriends.

That’s why you’re the first guy I wasn’t really nervous about bringing home.”

“Yeah,” I admitted, “Rich scares the crap out of me when I have time to think about it.

But when he gets in my face, something just snaps inside me. I get mad instead of scared.”

“You get this look in your eye. Like when I told you I wasn’t going to sleep with you.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t—”

“It’s fine. I’m mostly teasing. I think we moved past it.”

“Yeah. So… what about it?”

She gave me one more look, like she still wasn’t convinced I was okay.

“Exactly! So I knew Rich wouldn’t scare you off. He did that to pretty much every other guy I dated.

He’d meet ’em on holidays or when he came home from the Academy. It was worst when he was in SEAL school.” She looked up at me to gauge my reaction to what she said next. “I think that’s part of the reason I… you know… with girls.”

I nodded. “Wren said you’ve had a steady girlfriend since you were thirteen.”

“Okay,” I said with a laugh.

“But… yeah. Rich really bugs me sometimes. It’s like he doesn’t want me to grow up and have a life.”

I hesitated and then asked, “What about Laurence?”

She was silent for a long time, and I thought she might not answer at all.

“I know this is gonna sound like wishful thinking,” she said eventually,

“especially since I pretty much idolized him, but… he really was perfect. He was the best of us.”

“Danny said the same thing. That he was the best of you.”

“It’s what our dad said at his funeral. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen him cry.”

I nodded and we walked in silence for a while.

“I wish you could’ve met him.