far away. But I couldn't. I loved him, and right now, he was the one hurting. I needed to help him, not leave him, so all I did was nod.
I got up from the couch to find a more comfortable spot on his lap, and kissed him to maybe, hopefully, unlikely take the pain away, and whispered, “I promise.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
VINNIE
I stumbled into work two hours late with my clothes wrinkled and my hair a wreck. My excuse was, I hadn't heard the alarm go off. That was a minor human error, as far as I was concerned, and I strolled behind the counter and into the kitchen, hoping my older sister would agree.
Judging from the look on her face, though, she didn't.
“So, what's the story today?” she muttered, not looking up from the pot of sauce she was making.
“Didn't hear the alarm,” I replied, grabbing an apron and tying it around my waist.
“This is the third day in a row that you didn't hear the alarm.” She parroted my words with a hint of condescension, like she didn't quite believe me.
“Yeah, I dunno what's up with my alarm clock. Maybe I need to get one of those ones that sound like a friggin' bomb's goin' off or somethin'. You know, they make 'em where they'll shake your bed and—”
“I don't know why this is a joke to you,” she snapped, cutting me off. She looked up from the pot, slicing through my attempt to keep things light-hearted with a steely glare. “It's just you and me now, Vin, and we have a business to run. We. That means we both come in at six o'clock in the morning and get shit ready to open at nine. Six o'clock. Not eight, not eight-thirty. Six. That's when the big hand—”
“I know when six is, Jen. You don't gotta talk to me like I'm a little kid.”
Dropping the ladle onto the spoon rest beside the stove, she said, “Then, stop actin' like a little kid.”
I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to feel the pain. She held my glare in a staring contest I was determined to not let her win, and with every second that went by, the more annoyed I became. So what if I was late a few days this week? I still always came in before opening and did what needed to get done. So, what was her problem?
“So,” she said, finally looking away and making me the victor, “you gonna tell me why you've been so late every day this week?”
Shaking my head and rolling my eyes, I grumbled, “I already told—”
“Yeah, I know what you told me. Now I'm askin' why you've been sleeping through the alarm. You never had a problem before this week, so what's goin' on with you?”
To anybody else, this would've been an innocent question. Simple curiosity. But I knew better. It was an accusation. A dig to find out if I was up to no good and up to old habits. But who the hell was she to think so poorly of me? Did she really think I was that weak, that stupid, to slide down that dark and dirty spiral again so easily?
“The hell you askin' me that for?”
At the belligerence in my tone, she turned to me, brow furrowed. “I'm allowed to ask you a question, Vin. Why the hell are you gettin' so defensive?”
“Maybe because it's none of your damn business why I'm late. I'm here, okay? So, drop it.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she shook her head defiantly. “I'm not droppin' nothin'. You're gonna tell me why—”
“Because Andy's been stayin' over every night this week. You wanna know what we've been doin'? Want me to give you the play-by-play?”
Her rosy cheeks brightened under the florescent lights as she quickly looked back at the pot of sauce, now bubbling and spitting against its lid. “Oh,” she replied, swallowing. Then, she nodded, relenting with a noisy exhale. “I guess it's, uh, been a little nice to have your privacy, huh?”
My heart sank a little deeper in my chest as I crossed my arms and shrugged. “Pops was kinda cock-blockin' me, yeah.”
Then, to my relief, she smiled. “I get it. I mean, I did manage to have two kids while livin' under his roof, but I'm still not entirely sure when we managed to actually do the deed. It was tough having him right across the hall.”
Snorting, I said, “Yeah, try sharin' a room with him until you