was torn between hoping they stayed away for good, and hoping that they came back, just so I’d have a chance to punch the guy in the face—though I was, in theory, trying to work on being a little less angry all the time. Either way, Julian’s guardianship case for Katie was progressing and we had hopes it might actually become official before she turned eighteen over the summer.
Katie, for her part, adored having Roxie and Gretchen around to play with, and had been feeling strong enough in the last week to come on some short walks with me and Roxie. She was still eating like a horse, and had started talking about taking a break from cheerleading in the fall.
“It’d give me more time to figure out what I want to do for college,” she’d said last night, giving Roxie a belly-rub on the living room floor. “I might try to add another science class to my schedule. I’m thinking about vet school.”
Deacon and Mal had come over for dinner—again. I still maintained that it was impossible not to like Julian, but he and Mal got along so well that Deacon and I had taken to just sitting and staring in amazement as the two of them talked. I was going to be spending a lot more time with Deacon, I realized. Probably a good thing we were trying to snipe at each other less.
This morning, Julian and I had stopped by Tate and Em’s place on our way to Eleanor’s. Em had bounced and fizzed his way around the house, showing us everything Tate had been doing to restore it, while Tate cast nervous glances in my direction.
Maybe I should have been working on being nicer to him, too. But I’d never claimed to be the sweet brother—that was Em. Or the good one, when that was clearly Deacon.
And honestly, all this turning over of new leaves and being polite to people was exhausting. Still, I did tell Tate he’d done an impressive job on the house as we left. I’d even meant it.
“You’re the impressive one,” Julian said as we got back in the car. “You were downright warm to Tate at the end there.”
“I wasn’t warm. I just wasn’t actively rude to him. It’s not like we’re going to start getting beers together.”
“Protest all you want, you can’t fool me. You were nice to him.”
“Ugh, you don’t have to rub it in.”
“You complimented Tate, you invited Deacon over for dinner again next week, and you told Katie you were proud of her. Heck, you’re the one who suggested this little trip to Eleanor’s. You’re practically a do-gooder now.”
“Stop, you’ll ruin my reputation.”
“Connor Murphy, the secret softie. Pretty soon people are gonna stop running away when they see you coming. They’re gonna start handing you babies and wallets to watch over while they run errands, instead.”
“My literal nightmare.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out the windshield as Julian drove.
“You’re going to start getting invited to parties, instead of crashing them. You’ll have to bring hostess gifts and say how nice their crown molding looks. You’re going to have to—”
I cut him off by placing a hand over his mouth. “You’re pressing your luck.”
Julian licked my palm and laughed when I pulled away. “What are you gonna do about it?” he said impishly.
“Oh, I’ll think of a suitable punishment,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows. “Just you wait.”
I wasn’t sure this trip to Eleanor’s counted as a do-gooder situation, anyway. The ostensible reason for our visit was to return a cardigan that she’d left at the last meeting with Tom. But we were really going because—well, it was complicated.
Partly, we were going because I wanted to make it absolutely clear that Julian and I were together. We weren’t hiding it anymore, and I wasn’t going to let her make us feel bad about it. But we were also partly going because I needed to clear the air about some things.
Which was another way of saying I needed to apologize. And say thank you.
Like I said—complicated.
We pulled up in front of Eleanor’s gigantic house and Julian shook himself a little as we got out of the car.
“I always hated coming here as a kid with my dad,” he said. “Your grandfather was terrifying. I was afraid if I broke something, he’d lock me in a dungeon somewhere and I’d never be found.”
“You probably know the house better than I do, actually. But I’m pretty sure there’s