“Mr. Brightside,” I whispered, pressing into him.

“Rynnie, you can’t control the world. You can’t make everything okay for your niece and nephew because they got shit parents. They have shit parents, but they’re the parents they got and there’s nothin’ you can do about that. You can’t adjust the course of life to fit how you need it to be so everything will be just perfect for those you care about. Like you can’t hold your breath and make your brother stop talking so you won’t have to hear his ugly, and your man and your mom won’t hear it either. And babe,” he got closer, “heads up. You can’t make Hattie let Axl in and you can’t give Axl the tools to get in. That’s gotta happen how it happens, or not, if that’s the way it’s gonna be.”

We’d see about that last one.

“Jesus, Ryn, are you listening to me?” he asked.

He totally knew I was going to meddle with Hattie and Axl.

Still, this was serious, so I said, “Yes, Boone, and I hear you and you’re right.” Except about Hattie and Axl, but I wasn’t going to share that at that juncture, and not only because he already knew it. “And I’ll be mindful. And I’ll…I don’t know.”

“Find a way to let go.”

I grinned up at him. “Maybe I need more sex.”

He started chuckling and promised, “That’s something I can help with. And I’ll be sure to get right on that.”

I pressed closer, still grinning up at him.

Then I got serious.

“But truth, I’ll work on it. I promise. Okay?”

“More than okay. And I’m here. And I’ll help.”

I fit myself snug to him.

He bent and touched his mouth to mine before he lifted away and finished our discussion with “Okay.”

“We should probably get in there before your dad finds Hound’s tool belt. I’ve noticed Hound doesn’t like anyone touching his tool belt.”

Boone started chuckling again, but he turned me toward the house.

I couldn’t say I was super mindful right then, except to Boone, what with how sweet he was being, but I didn’t miss all three of our parents jerking away from the back window the minute we turned.

“They’re all certifiable,” Boone muttered.

He didn’t miss it either.

“They’re cute.”

“Yeah, you didn’t tell your mom not to mention your girlfriend’s job until your girlfriend mentioned it only to have your mom mention it practically before your girlfriend got her ass in her chair at their first dinner together.”

He sounded disgruntled.

That was also cute.

“She was right to put my mind at ease.”

“What’s right is what my dad said. She’s a steamroller.”

“It’s good you found yourself a biddable girlfriend, then.”

“I’ve noticed that pretty much is only the case when we’re in bed,” he noted.

“Is that bad?”

He bent his face close to mine even as he kept us walking.

“Not even a little bit,” he growled.

I gave him a scrunched nose.

He kissed it.

Then, before we slammed into the house, he started paying attention to where he was leading us.

All of our parents were faking absorption in the quality of my kitchen cabinets.

Not certifiable.

But totally dorky.

And you know what?

I loved it.

* * *

That evening, Mom and I were in Boone’s kitchen, making lasagna.

Boone and his folks were in Boone’s living room area, chatting but mostly giving us space even if we were all still in the same space.

Mom was handling noodles, chopped hard-boiled egg and mozzarella cheese.

I was handling meat sauce and cottage cheese.

We were tucked as close as we could get and still do our work.

“I really like his house,” she said under her breath.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“And his parents are great,” she went on.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“And I really like him.”

“Yeah,” I said, deeper and with not a small amount of feeling.

“Ryn, it happened how it happened, and it’s done. You need to move past it.”

Boy, my mom knew me.

“I know. Boone kinda got me to that place.”

“So what’s in my girl’s head right now?”

I looked to her.

“The way Boone spoke to Brian. If he gets better, or doesn’t, but we find some way to carry on from here, Boone’s my guy and he’s going to be my guy, Mom. I feel it. He’s not going anywhere. Ever. And Brian’s my brother. I don’t know if they can get past all those words. We should have stopped them.”

“You know, I was a mother torn.”

Oh man.

“Mom,” I whispered.

“The blow of what’s going on with your brother battling the glow of seeing that man stand up for you like he did.”

Oh shit.

I felt my eyes start stinging.

“My girl has not ever had that from a man. Not once. In her whole life. And I know,” she circled a hand with a limp noodle in it, “women don’t need men and blah, blah, blah. That’s not what I’m talking about. You didn’t have a father who looked after you. You looked after your brother, and to this day, it hurts me I had to lean on you for that. So, Ryn, I don’t care if he’s a man, a woman, a Martian, I was just beside myself that you had someone to catch you when you fell, literally, then go on to fight for you.”

“I had you,” I reminded her.

“Baby, you know what I mean,” she said gently.

I nodded.

I knew what she meant.

“Now, two things with that and Brian,” she continued. “One, the way he was speaking to you, Ryn, was not okay. Not okay generally but not okay with the sister you’ve been to him. And someone needed to make that very clear to him.”

Well, I couldn’t argue that.

And you could definitely say Boone made things very clear.

“And two, your brother needs some home truths. You’ve given him a few. I’ve given him a few. Angelica has given him a few. That accident and his current predicament are another few. And Boone gave him a few today too. And I thought it was important that Brian learned from who he considers an outsider how his behavior is affecting the people who love him, and I thought it was good that came direct, and even angry.”

Hmm.

I could argue that.

“The path to his healing is not going to come through us. Whatever brings it on is going to be a personal realization,” she carried on. “And that will come from understanding in every nuance that he’s harming himself and he’s harming the people he loves. And I know my boy. When he finds the will to fight this, he is not going to be angry at Boone for pointing that out. He’s going to be happy you have a man who will stand up for you.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

“Ryn, if he isn’t, that’ll mean he has more work to do,” Mom decreed.

“Right,” I said uncertainly.

“Right,” she said decisively.

“I think we need to back down now from the in-your-face stuff,” I told her.