"You sound like Coop."

  He really did.

  "Coop's going to be a great psychologist. He's got the patient listening thing down." That he did. "And he gives pretty good advice." That, too. "But the thing is, he cares and unlike some of us, he doesn't need anger to motivate him to show it or fear."

  Fear. Archie.

  Anger. Jake.

  I studied Ian.

  "What motivates you?"

  "Need," he told me simply. "The need to take care of you. Oh, don't worry that it's the only thing driving me. But that need nearly cost me you, so I've learned to temper it. They'll temper theirs."

  They had for a while. Then the accident.

  "Ian, if Maddy really tried to kill Archie..."

  He stopped playing and faced me. "That's not your fault, Angel. None of this is your fault. It's not Archie's fault. It's not your fault. It's not your grandparents' fault. It's the work of a madwoman. If she did it—and that's still an if at the moment, then lay the blame where it belongs."

  "With Maddy." I let out a long breath. "If she did it."

  Ian settled his hand over my heart. "You were right up there when you said you knew her. You've lived with her your whole life, and you made excuses, but that didn't mean you didn't know."

  I wanted to deny it even as shame crawled through me, but Ian held my gaze and I lifted my chin. I'd never had the choice when I was younger. I did now.

  "What does this big heart of yours tell you?"

  I swallowed.

  "She did it."

  "Then we find the proof and we send your mother to jail or have her committed. Whatever it takes. She doesn't get to hurt you..."

  "Or any of you," I insisted, and Ian favored me with a featherlight kiss.

  "Angel, if something happened to one of us that would also hurt you."

  It would gut me.

  "But we'll protect each other. Just give those hard heads some time to work it out."

  He moved back to position and started playing as I leaned my head against his shoulder. "If they don't, I guess I'll just have to kick their butts until they behave."

  "You'd do it, too," Ian said without an ounce of irony. "But make sure you have gloves on before you punch Jake. I swear he's got lead in that jaw of his."

  It shouldn't have been funny.

  It really shouldn't, but I laughed even as tears slipped out and I wiped them away while Ian continued to play.

  We would figure this out.

  Even if boys were dumb sometimes.

  I could almost hear Rachel's eye roll from here.

  Dumb or not, I loved my boys and I needed them to work this out. Their friendships were important. All of our friendships were.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Hank and Me

  Frankie

  Resolutions did not come over night. Ian and I stayed in the studio for as long as we could, but hunger eventually sent us out. The smell of spaghetti sauce and garlic bread had me racing up the stairs with a chuckling Ian in my wake. Coop was in the kitchen, an ice pack on his right hand and fork in his left. Jeremy nodded us toward the table. If he thought anything amiss it never showed in his expression.

  No sooner had the spaghetti been put in front of me than I dove in. I glanced at Coop after the first several mouthfuls and finally asked, "Do I want to know?"

  "I may or may not have punched Jake," Coop said with a shrug. "He deserved it."

  Ian shot me a look that said 'see?' but I just shook my head. "Are Archie and Jake not eating?"

  It was Jeremy who answered. "No, they will both spend some time working on their manners and communication skills before they can rejoin us at a dinner table. I expect a peaceful evening."

  Uncertain of what that meant, I decided to let it go. I could go find them individually later. All of this started because I'd come clean about what I'd been doing. No sooner did that thought take root then I shook my head. No, all of this started because of the accident. It stripped us back to basics. Relationships took work, Erin said that to me constantly.

  And I needed a new therapist. Rachel was right. If I got too lost in my own head over all of this again, I couldn't afford to mess things up. Maybe we did need date nights again. The summer spoiled us. We were always together, all of us, we found time easily.

  Now?

  Now, we needed to make it work.

  Making it work proved even more challenging than I was ready for. In fact, Archie and Jake now both seemed to be avoiding me. Or maybe I was imagining it. I had given Archie the reports and he'd nodded, picked up his phone and stalked away.

  Yep. Work. They needed time to forgive me for not telling them stuff, just like I'd needed time when they were hovering. Ugh, I hated the distance between us. I hated having to take my own advice. Coop kept me sane though. Oddly when I asked why wasn't he angrier? His answer surprised me.

  "Because you're you," he told me with a shrug. "You always try to do everything yourself. You don't like leaning on others or having to be dependent and I blame that bitch of your mother for that. She taught you not to trust."

  I'd never thought of it that way. "But I do trust you."

  "I know you do and so do they. But you also have something to lose now and that makes you even fiercer than you were before."

  "How do you know me better than I know myself sometimes?"

  "Perks of being me," he said with a grin. "Not everyone can handle perfection."

  I thwapped him with a pillow, but he was right. It was the perk of being him. So, when Hank called to invite me to the twins’ birthday party the coming weekend, I was trapped. I'd held my hand out and Coop grasped it easily then tugged me onto his lap where he could hear Hank as clearly as I did.

  "Not putting pressure on you and I promised to be patient. But you canceled on Labor Day and I know the first few weeks of school are tough. But Chloe's dying to meet you and it's the only thing she asked for her birthday."

  Guilt swamped me. I'd canceled Labor Day because I'd been so bruised and I still hadn't told Hank about the accident. I'd had an extended family for all of five minutes and I was a terrible daughter and sister.

  I looked at Coop and raised my brows. Would he go with me? This was a lot of family to meet at once. Hank had been overwhelming and I'd had all of my guys there. Meeting all of them at the same time? And on Chloe's birthday? Well Craig and Chloe's birthdays. They were going to be eight.

  No excuse on the planet would be worth disappointing a little girl on her birthday. Birthday boys and girls got what they wanted. As if aware of my panic, Coop rubbed my back in slow circles and let me grip his free hand as tightly as I needed to.

  "Is Craig okay with me coming up on their birthday too?" It came out more a squeak than I was proud to admit, but I cleared my throat. "It's not that I don't want to come." I really did want to meet them. "But their birthday should be about them and not the new girl."

  "First of all," Hank said in a stern voice. "You're not some random new girl. You're their sister. Secondly, Craig would probably pay you his birthday money if you'll show up and make Chloe stop asking me every day when you can make it."

  I winced and Coop pressed his mouth to my shoulder, but his shaking gave away the laughter he was trying to suppress.

  "Alec, on the other hand, will probably be testy and I don't want you to take offense in any way." The fact Hank felt the need to tell me that gave me pause. "He's used to being the oldest. He's been reticent on committing to feelings one way or the other." A pause and then he spoke as if away from the phone, "Yes, dear, I'm getting to that part." The deep well of affection he had for his kids seemed to double when he spoke to his wife.

  She sounded like a neat person. I was glad my siblings had a good mom.

  "Kelly wants to meet you, she has since that first phone call and she feels that she's been very patient and promises she won't smother you." He dropped his voice almost confidentially. "But she's a hugger and she's offered to hold off until you're comfortable. That's huge...ow." But the last bit carried so much laughter, I couldn't help but grin.

  "Do you mind if Coop comes with me? I know you wanted to hold off on all the boys but..."

  "We don't mind in the slightest," Kelly answered for him. She even sounded warm on the phone. "I do want to meet all of these boys at some point, but we've got the room. So that's a yes, you'll come?"

  I blew out a breath. "I wouldn't miss it. Could someone please text me birthday wish lists for them?"

  "You don't have to buy them presents."

  "Yes, I do," I said in the same breath as Coop said, "Yes, she does."

  I elbowed him and he grinned.

  "I have one birthday rule," I admitted. "Birthday boys and girls get what they want."

  There was a pause on the phone and then Hank said, "I can respect that, but—don't tell the kids yet. They'll take you to the cleaners on that one. Give them an inch and they'll take the whole marathon."

  I laughed. I couldn't help it. "Deal."

  "See you this weekend, sweetheart," Hank said.

  "Yep, see you then."

  The call disconnected and I stared at the phone in my hands for a long time.

  "It's going to be a blast," Coop whispered against my ear. "And you tell every negative Nancy talking in your head right now that your kid sister and brothers are going to love the hell out of you."

  "Alec might not," I pointed out.

  "Ha," Coop declared. "Just let him meet you. He'll come around."

  Oh hell.

  We were going to see the whole family.

  Anxiety about the weekend went from a steady forty to a hundred and sixty when the road trip came up with the other guys. Ian went quiet. Jake's scowl deepened the bruising around his eye to the point it made me want to wince. Coop hadn't been kidding about belting him one. Archie, however, was the one who startled me the most.

  Everything emptied out of his expression before he rose and slammed out of the room without a word. Putting a hand over my mouth, I stared after him, then back to the guys still here torn between where to go.

  "Stay," Coop murmured, kissing the top of my head. "I'll go make sure he doesn't do anything insane like buy a building so he can blow it up."

  Was that even something he'd do? But Coop left to go after him, leaving me with Jake and Ian. Exhaling, I faced them and sucked it up. "I didn't think that saying we were going to drive up would be a big deal. It's only three hours or so and..." Well, I kind of wanted to stop in at a couple of places in Connecticut but I had a feeling saying I wanted to see the towns that inspired Stars Hollow wouldn't go over right now.

  "Angel," Ian said. "We know and we all knew you'd want to go up and visit your dad and his family."

  "Could you maybe take a train?" The question came from Jake.

  I mean I supposed I could...

  "No," Ian said. "She has to deal with her own fear of driving and being in vehicles, we can't let ours take over hers."

  "Fuck," Jake swore as he leaned back in the chair. We were outside, sitting in the sunshine on the deck. It was cooler today, at home—well in Texas—we'd still be sweating our asses off, but it was nice out here. "Coop is going with you and staying with you the whole time?"

  "I sure as hell hope so," I admitted. "I'm terrified of meeting all of them and the kids decide they hate me and his wife is just being nice because it's polite."

  "Hey." All at once, Jake reached across the table to cover my hand and the anger drained from his expression. "They are going to love you. Come on, Frankie. My sisters like you better than they like me."

  "That's cause you're a boy," I reminded him, and he chuckled. The rakish smile lightened the dark expression his bruise created. "And that's different...I've known them forever. Just like Trina. Chloe is...she's always talking like I'm the best thing ever, what if she meets me and is just flat out disappointed?"

  "Then you'll win her over because she's probably worried you won't like her either," Ian offered and I gaped. "Angel, she texts you regularly, she wants to make sure you don't forget her."

  "That's true," Jake agreed. "The girls have talked to me more since I moved out than they ever did when I was at home." His smile turned almost indulgent. "I almost miss them."

  A laugh escaped me. "You adore them."

  "From miles away, they are way more adorable," Jake agreed, but he glanced at Ian then at me. "Frankie, if you want to drive up there, I'm not going to forbid it or anything."

  Which was good cause that word needed to vanish from our vocabulary.

  "And I'm glad you looped us in," Ian added on to it.

  "But," Jake interjected and my fingers twitched in his hold, but he threaded his fingers with mine. "Check in with us? Make Coop text us stupid updates or something? Send pictures? Have the car inspected by a licensed mechanic to make sure no one has tampered with it?"

  My heart fisted. Most of those weren't unreasonable requests. "You and Archie know my car better than I do. Can the two of you do it for me?" I really didn't know where they stood with each other. It hadn't really been all that long since the other day, but there seemed to be something of an armistice in the house.

  He paused, his expression thoughtful. "Yeah, I mean—we can just have him do it. He tends to like to take things over."

  "Or you can be less of a dick," Ian offered. "And just work with him. Who knows, maybe the two of you can deal with your issues like mature adults."

  The look Jake sent Ian had me groaning. "Don't you two start. You already tried to beat the hell out of each other and Jake nearly ended up arrested."

  For his part, Jake had the grace to grimace. "No, he's right, Baby Girl. We can act like adults. And—for what it's worth, I'm sorry I fucked up our plans for classes this semester. I should have just—sucked it up."

  "You did what you needed to do for you," I suggested. "I just wish it didn't leave you so isolated."

  He kissed my hand. "We'll make up for it on my birthday. I have plans."

  "Your birthday isn't for another two months."

  He grinned. "Trust me, they're good plans." Then his smile faded as he let go of my hand and stood. "Excuse me, I'm going to go find my mature adult pants and put them on then talk to Archie."

  I almost wanted to say don't kill each other, but I was pretty sure that was implied. After he left us alone, I laid my head against my arms and stared over at Ian. "I changed my mind."

  "About?"

  "Being an adult."

  He chuckled. "It's not that bad, Angel. They need a project to work on together. They can snark at each other and pick apart each other's work, but in the end they share the same goal. Just give them time to figure it out."

  "If that doesn't work?"

  With a shrug, Ian raised his brows. "Walk around naked. They'll stop arguing."

  I cracked up and he grinned.

  "Angel, for real, they will figure it out. But if you need me to pound one of them, just say the word."

  "I thought that was Jake's job."

  "Sometimes," Ian said, then matched my pose and crossed his arms on the table and laid his head down so we were eye-to-eye. "Sometimes we have to fill in for each other. It's how families work. Families fight. They pick on each other. They disagree. In the end—not a doubt in my mind that Jake and Archie won't back each other up if push came to shove, even if they want to kick each other's asses."

  That made me feel better. "Do you think we'll ever get to the part where we're not having to deal with things like my mother?"

  "Yes," Ian said with absolute certainty. "But I think there's always going to be challenges. Whether it's writing and performing music, passing our classes, picking career paths, and trying to make five lives work in harmony. It's not the challenges that are the problem."

  "It's how we face them."

  "Bingo. So far, I think we've done okay," Ian said. "Not that we haven't had our fair share of hard knocks and setbacks."

  "I love you," I said.

  His eyes crinkled. "Love you too, Angel. Want to go work on some more music? Or do you need to work on that economics paper?"

  Oh shit. Economics paper. I was gonna do that over the weekend. "Crap. Crap. Crap." I'd have to stay up and get it all done tonight.

  Ian was still chuckling as I jumped up and then kissed him.

  "Raincheck on the music?"

  "Absolutely. That demo is ready to go back to KC if you want, or we can bite the bullet and send it out."

  My stomach dropped about fifteen stories. I didn't care if that meant it landed somewhere in the subway.

  "Or, we can discuss this after you finish that paper and get back from meeting the rest of your family." He said it so easily like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Go on, Angel, you're not going to be able to think of anything else until that paper is done anyway."

  He wasn't wrong about that, but I jumped up to wrap my arms around him and he caught me easily. "I love you, Sir Ian and I love you, Brother Boyfriend Bubba, and I love you, Ian." I punctuated each declaration with a kiss. "No matter how much it terrifies me, we're gonna do this."

  His eyes warmed. "Yeah?"

  That right there was why we were going to do it. Music was his joy and sharing it with me just made me feel so damned loved. "Yes. Bound Hearts is happening."

  We sealed the deal with a long kiss and then he set me down. "Off you go. If you need to come down from the stress, say the word, until then I trust you to look after yourself. But I will bring up food if you don't come down to eat."

  Jeremy would probably do that, too, so I just nodded. I had no idea if he understood what those words meant to me. Maybe he did. Maybe of all of them, Ian really did get it, because it was the not trusting me to know my own heart and mind that had nearly driven us apart.

  Inside, I found Jake, Archie, and Coop in deep conversation that paused the moment I walked inside.

  "Ignore me, I have to do an econ paper before we leave so I'm going up to my room. Please send food and coffee at appropriate intervals." I waved to them and headed for the stairs. It must have been the right thing to say because their laughter drifted up to reach me by the time I hit the third floor and I grinned.

 

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