by Alie Garnett
When everything was said and done, Sera took Agatha to the closest bookstore and bought her books, all six that were currently out. And nine copies of each one, one for each sister and one for herself. In true Sera fashion, they waited for nearly an hour as a worker scoured the back room to find enough copies. But Sera was determined to get a copy for everyone, including Louisa and Frankie in Chicago.
Since it was Sera, she told everyone in the bookstore who would listen that her daughter wrote and drew the pictures, nearly forcing everyone who got close enough to buy a book. Then she made sure that Agatha signed every copy available. The store workers just let it happen.
By the time Agatha made it home for the day, it was already almost time for Violet to come home. Sera had taken the day off after discovering that her daughter was an author. She invited everyone over to celebrate the books, even if Agatha didn’t want to. There would be so many questions she didn’t want to answer, so many jokes she didn’t want to hear. Or was it because she had no idea how to be the sister with good things happening in her life? It had never been her before, and she didn’t know what to expect.
Now she had to decide what she was going to do about Chris. If she invited him to go with her, he would know who she was and would not be happy. She was starting to think she should have told him a long time ago and was maybe digging a hole that might fall in on her.
Sitting on the step, she looked over at his house. There were two dozen men going in and out, trucks lining the block in both directions. It wasn’t going to take long to fix his house with all these people.
She noticed his Turkish blue shirt first. She knew what it said, and she knew the hard muscles it hid. He saw her sitting there and flashed her a smile and a wave. Chris stopped what he was doing and walked toward her. All she could see was him; all she wanted to see was him.
As he walked across the street, she knew that she had not lied to her mom today. She didn’t let anyone new into her heart. But Chris had never left; he had always had a small corner of it.
Her breath stopped at the knowledge that she was still in love with him, that she had never stopped. His smile made her just as weak-kneed as she had been at sixteen. His hands knew her body as well as they had when she was twenty-four. But for the first time in all those years, it seemed he liked her for her. Maybe it wouldn’t last once he knew who she really was, but right now, he liked her.
“How was your day, Agatha?” he said from the sidewalk.
“Good, and yours?”
“Productive. Gary said he wanted to work late tonight to get the sheetrock up, so I am going to be late getting home.” He grinned. Did he even notice that he had called her place home?
At least she didn’t have to worry about inviting him to dinner. “That’s okay. I’m heading over to Sera’s for supper.” No need to tell him the truth today.
“Shoot, I wanted to meet your sisters, but I need to be here for questions, and the flooring is being delivered. Tile for the kitchen.”
“That will look nice.”
“Are you heading over there after Violet comes?”
“No, Sera will meet her. I just had to drop some stuff off here, and then I’ll go.”
“Well, I won’t keep you then. Have fun with your mom and sisters.” He kissed her lips, right in the middle of the neighborhood where anyone could see.
“I will.” She leaned her forehead into his and savored the moment. Not too many of these would be left after she told him.
“I am going to miss you.” He ran his thumb over her lips.
“You won’t even notice I’m gone.” She bit her lip to not let it quiver at her words. She wondered if he felt it.
“I miss you every moment you’re out of my sight, Agatha. I miss you now, and I still have you in my arms.” His lips replaced this thumb for another kiss.
She stood up and pulled away from him. “I have to go.”
Hurrying away from him, she didn’t look back. His words were as empty has they had been when he was eighteen; she knew that. They were just something to make her feel special when she wasn’t. He had perfected the game he had been playing for a decade, but she wasn’t going to fall for it again.
Pushing into Sera’s house, she was immediately engulfed by her sisters. Since only Maby had a day job anymore and even she had managed to cut back on her hours this semester, they were all there, hugging and laughing with her about her success and teasing her for hiding it from them.
It was what she needed: their high spirits to raise hers from the gutter. She didn’t know why she couldn’t just be happy to be in Chris’s bed for a few weeks instead of dwelling on the future and the past and everything in between.
After she had signed all the books Sera had bought for the family, they all sat down and looked through them, oohing and aahing over the different drawings. It had been years since she had shown anyone in the family her drawings besides Violet. Maybe because they were in published books, they didn’t have a bad word to say about them. Or maybe it was because they were all adults now and were more encouraging than when they were younger.
“So how long have you been published?” Maby, who was also a children’s literature professor, was still flipping through the book on her lap.
“Since Thanksgiving week,” Agatha admitted.
“And you still gave me socks for Christmas?” Buzz asked, grinning.
“Yes. They looked like your kind of socks.” Agatha looked at her sister’s fuzzy footed socks and tried not to remember Chris’s erotic use of a very similar sock. She knew she was blushing but realized her sister probably thought it was because she was embarrassed about the books.
“You’re right. But no socks next year. Maybe a car.” Buzz fanned herself with a book, probably because she was wearing winter socks in September.
“Have Jonas buy you a car. I had to buy our house first.” She said and knew Sera had already told them since nobody said anything about it, just nodded in agreement. With that off her chest, she decided to deflect the conversation. “And I have to save my money for my nieces and nephews. Anyone else planning to have one of those?” She looked at Maby and Harper.
Both shook their heads, but neither gave a verbal denial.
By the time the men showed up, Maby and Lucy were fighting about something, and Buzz was angry with Jonas for not buying her a car yet—same old sister squabbles. Agatha wished it were happening at her house; it always felt better when they were at her house.
Somehow, she had always assumed that when she told them, everything would change. That she would tell them she didn’t need another job because she finally had a career, and suddenly, they would treat her differently. But telling them hadn’t changed anything. She was still Agatha and still the same person she was before. Or maybe she had always been the same person in their eyes: jobless or published author, they loved her the same.
Chapter Twenty
Chris took a shower in Agatha’s bathroom as he waited for her to come home from her mom’s house. Though he knew where she was and how to get there, she hadn’t invited him over. It was up to her to introduce him to her family. There was no way he was going to barge in again on her family time, especially after Violet had let slip that his being there once had caused Agatha to fight with her sister. He didn’t want to be the reason she fought with anyone.
After the shower, he waited in her bedroom for her. Even after removing half a dozen pillows, he smiled at the pile still on the bed. There was still evidence of fluff on the comforter, and every once in a while, he’d see some land on the dresser or in the carpet. No matter how much cleaning up they had done that morning, there was just no way to contain the fluff. The problem with cleaning it up might have been his inability to keep his hands off her as they worked. They’d turned it into another round of seeing if he could get her to break another one. So far, no, but there was always tonight.
Now that he had touched her, he couldn’t seem to stop. If she was close, he needed
her closer. Not even just for sex, which had been what all his previous relationships had been about. With Agatha, he wanted to see the world through her eyes. Not just to hear her jokes and to make her laugh, but to know what made her sad so that he could make her world right again.
Being in her room was where he wanted to be when she returned home, so he figured he might as well just wait for her there. Not that he was opposed to having sex in other parts of the house, but he liked her here best.
Once all the pillows were on a pile on the floor, he sat down on her bed and pulled out his phone. With nothing to do, he searched for interesting football stuff. Nothing much happening despite the season starting. He had thought that even if he was busy with the house, he would still think about football and all that he had lost. Instead, all his concentration had been focused on trying to fix his house … and Agatha. She had taken up a good portion of his mind, even when he was working on the house.
Trying to not think about Agatha Lovely, he typed in the name he searched for every so often, but never found anything: Chris or Christie Lovely. The name never came up on social media. Never on any websites. Never even as a phone number. Nothing.
It felt wrong looking for information on another woman in Agatha’s bed, but it wasn’t like he was interested in Chris. Though they had sex more than once, he wasn’t interested in her for that. He just wanted to apologize to her. It seemed he was destined to be a dick to one woman, and she was it.
He was so used to nothing coming up that when he typed in her name, he was surprised to get results. Books. Quite a few books written for children, but still books. Could they be by the same woman? The Chris he remembered had been an artsy girl. Looking deeper, he found no information about the author but decided he would buy her books one day and see if they gave any clues as to who the author was. Books usually had author bios in them, after all.
Hearing the front door open and close, he quickly turned off his phone and put it on the bedside table. All his focus was going to be on this Lovely, pushing the other one from his mind completely when he saw her walk into the bedroom. Her eyes landed on him and then looked away quickly, focusing on the other side of the room.
“Oh, I didn’t think you would be here,” she said from the doorway. She didn’t seem happy to see him in her bedroom.
“No place I would rather be.” He climbed out of bed.
“Your house isn’t fixed yet?” She leaned against the doorjamb as he walked toward her.
“Doesn’t matter. I still want to be here more than over there.” He reached her and ran his hands over her face, kissing her lightly on the forehead. “I missed you.”
“Okay,” she said, her body rigid.
“How was your day?” he asked, wondering if her sisters had done or said something to upset her. Had they talked to her about him?
He didn’t move any closer, just close enough to touch her, knowing that she wasn’t going to be pushed. She needed to be the one to accept him being there.
“It was okay.”
“Just okay? Did you have fun with your family? Did they say something about me?” He didn’t want to ask but needed to know.
“No, they don’t actually know about you,” she admitted with a shrug.
“Are you going to tell them?” he asked, hoping she was going to tell them one day, that she wanted to tell them. He wanted to be important enough for her to tell others.
“One day, but today was not that day.” The smile she gave him was small and seemed apologetic.
“When you are ready.” He saw her shoulders relax as she stood in front of him.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and her eyes fluttered closed.
It seemed that sleeping together hadn’t changed Agatha at all. “No wounds?” He ran a finger over the scar on her forehead.
Her cheeks pinkened, and she shook her head. “No, not today. Harper’s husband kept her under control. He’s the only thing that controls her. She was only left with bossing me around.”
“Do you listen?” he questioned, knowing she didn’t like to be bossed around.
“No, not even when I’m working for her.” She smiled at her admission, her body relaxing a little.
“What do you do for her?” He tucked her hair dark behind her ears, loving the silky softness of it.
“I’m a waiter for her catering company.” She leaned toward him a little.
“Do you like it?” He ran his fingers down the back of her neck, which caused her to shiver slightly.
She sighed and said quietly, “No, I hate it. But I love my sisters, so I do it. How was your contractor?”
“Good, I think it’ll work great. He didn’t even tell me I was killing my house, unlike some noisy neighbor.” He ran his fingers down her arms until he took both her hands in his.
“I can’t believe Nelly is like that,” she said with a chuckle, her own hands squeezing his.
“I can’t either, Agatha. Who would ever do that?” Hesitantly, he started backing her toward the bed. She followed, all her hesitance gone. Just as the back of her legs hit the bed, he kissed her, and she kissed him back. His Agatha was back.
Chapter Twenty-One
Friday morning started earlier than Agatha wanted it to. Just after 3 a.m., her day started with a phone call. Sera was in labor, and the girls were coming over to Agatha’s. Leaving Chris sleeping, she climbed out of his warm arms and went to let the still-sleeping Emma and Violet into the house.
Since her sleep had been disturbed, she decided to draw instead of trying to sleep again. Over the last two weeks, she hadn’t drawn as much as she usually did. Chris was usually there until late morning and back just after Violet left for the day. Her best time for work wasn’t during the day, but her nights were now filled with Chris.
By 6 a.m., she got the call she had been waiting for, though she wouldn’t admit it. Over the months, she hadn’t let herself get too excited over Sera’s new baby; she knew this birth wouldn’t be like the other two. This baby wasn’t going to be a large part of her life. Sera had Harrison, and that had changed everything. He would be there for the baby, not Agatha.
Baby boy Dean had arrived and was ready to see his sisters. Sera had wanted the girls to be a part of their new brother’s life, and that including being present for the birth, but Harrison had said no. He had missed his daughter’s births and was not going to share his son with anyone—even his kids, which Emma was very thankful for. Violet had been disappointed, so the baby being born as she slept was a good thing.
Agatha returned to her room to change into clothes for the day. Chris was still sleeping. He was gorgeous even in sleep. After putting on jeans and her “Pin” T-shirt, she sat down on the bed and ran her fingers through his curly hair, the strands reminded her of the eight-year-old she fell in love with.
Chris opened his eyes and squinted at her. “Morning.”
“Morning. I have to get the kids ready and take them to see the new baby this morning. Sleep as long as you want.” She ran her fingers through the curls one more time.
“What? Baby?” he asked in confusion.
“Harrison dropped the girls off around three. It’s six now. Just sleep.” Getting up, she kissed his forehead and left him to sleep the rest of the morning.
She had managed to put both girls to sleep in the same bedroom the night before—usually, Emma was against that. Being in the same room made it easier for her to wake them both with the news of their brother. Both showed more excitement than they had previously let on.
Once the kids were dressed and clean, she stopped at a fast food restaurant to get them breakfast on the way to the hospital. Once there, the little girls ran to their mom, hugged her, and took turns holding their brother. As Sera pointed out the similarities and differences the black-haired baby had with his sisters, Agatha congratulated Harrison on the boy.
“I am more excited to see the baby than anyone. All of you got to see the girls arrive. This one is my first. Thanks for
being there for Sera when Violet was born. She told me you were her rock during that time.” Harrison gave her a side hug.
Looking at the man, she wondered how much Sera had told him. Had she told him what happened that morning? Or just about how she took to the baby? “I didn’t do anything.”
“Do you want to hold the baby, Agatha?” Sera asked, looking at her closely, too closely. She was looking for weakness, something Agatha wasn’t going to show.
“Not today. Later.” She looked at the baby in Sera’s arms, so much like Violet. The image brought that day back into sharp focus. Harrison hugged her again as if sensing her emotions, and she realized that he must know.
“Okay, we named him,” Sera said, sniffing back a tear.
“Harry?” Agatha nudged Harrison away, whose arm was still around her.
“No, silly. Benjamin Lovely Dean.”
“Harrison, did you let her name your kid after her ex? Didn’t you just spend months changing the girls’ names to Dean?” Agatha turned to the proud father, who was grinning.
Violet and Emma still maintained the Lovely last name as a second middle name. It was something that Sera had insisted, that her kids would always be Lovelys. They were a family.
“She named him after his sisters, not the ex.” Harrison pointed out, refusing to let Agatha get him riled up.
“She shouldn’t. Most of us aren’t even Lovelys anymore.”
Sera’s eyes were shining with tears. “You five will always be Lovelys, even when you get married.”
“You’re weird.” Agatha laughed at her and wiped her own tear away, but she stepped over to Sera and hugged her. Her new baby looked just like another carbon copy of his sisters.
“I’ll take the girls to school since I assume more Lovelys will be here soon. You can go back home, Agatha. I hear you might have someone waiting,” Harrison said not so subtly.