“Think I can talk her around to it,” I muttered.

Merry smiled at me.

I didn’t want to take that smile away, but I had to ask.

“You okay with Mia’s dad’s surprise visit?”

His fingers at my waist started stroking the skin there. “Not really. But he’s not as hardheaded as she is. I think he got my message. Whether he’s able to get it to sink in for her, no clue.”

I hoped he could. Except for the unknown of whether Peggy and Trent had something up their sleeve, or if they’d actually smartened up and were giving Ethan some space, Mia was the only wildcard we were dealing with.

“You think all the crap swirling around us will settle and we’ll find out what it’s like to be together when it’s just normal?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t know. Never had normal. But my guess is, normal is probably really fucking boring,” he answered.

That was a good answer because I wasn’t sure I had it in me to be normal. I’d also obviously never experienced it. But my guess, too, was normal was probably mind-numbingly boring.

I used my thumb to trace the beautiful column of his throat, saying softly, “Good you had that talk with your dad.”

“Yeah,” he replied softly, his blue eyes warm, but I could see it there. Actually, I saw it the minute he got home that night.

Something was missing, but something else had replaced it. And what was gone was bad, but what was in its place was not.

Now I knew what all that meant, what I saw in his eyes.

Relief and maybe even a little bit of contentment.

Like everything, Merry wore it well.

“Maybe good your dad had that talk with you too,” I suggested.

His fingers at my hip stopped moving and curled tight. “Not sure he’s ever gonna let go of the guilt, brown eyes.” He kept hold of my hip and my gaze. “But I am sure I now get why he won’t.”

My thumb stilled on his throat.

Was he saying…?

“Merry,” I whispered.

“He loved her. He lost her. He misses her. He took risks that meant the end of her life. He didn’t end it, and I think in some part of his head he gets that’s not his fault. But he couldn’t hold on to her as tight as he’s still holdin’ if he ever let that go. And I get that. I get that love he has for her. I get that need to hold on. I get it now.”

He got it now, holding me, staring at me.

Holy fuck.

“But yeah,” he kept going. “Even with that, you’re right. It was good for him we had that talk too.”

I didn’t push the other part, the part that made my heart pump fast, doing that shit still making it feel lighter.

I told him something I knew for certain.

“No matter how many years pass, it means something to a parent when their child needs them. At first, kids need you so much, all you want them to do is grow up so they can do things for themselves. Then you learn. You learn you should have savored every time they reached for you or called your name.”