Chapter 35

J azz's parents still lived in the house she'd grown up in: a six bedroom, picture perfect, house on the outskirts of the suburbs of North Marysville. It was modest by her parents' standards, and Jazz had spent a long time trying to understand why they'd chosen to live somewhere where they believed themselves above everyone else. Until she realized, one day, that they enjoyed feeling like they were above everyone else.

It was the biggest house in the area, where most had two or three bedrooms. Maggie had grown up in one of those houses, squeezed into a two bedroom with her parents and three siblings. Most of the time, she'd slept on the couch since she was up so late and didn't want to wake her younger siblings up by climbing into her bunk bed. Meanwhile, Jazz's parents had more bedrooms than kids.

She'd kept a close eye on Maggie as she'd driven past the Welcome to Marysville! sign, but, if Maggie was fazed by their unexpected homecoming, she didn't show it. Still, Jazz intentionally took the long route to her parents' house so she could avoid driving past Maggie's parents' cafe.

Jazz had spent the drive telling Maggie about her conversation with Rose, and by the time they pulled up outside the Cannon family home, Maggie was more than ready to confront Jazz's parents.

"We're going to be civil, remember?" Jazz warned Maggie as she followed her up the path.

"Civil. Right."

She hadn't forgotten how quickly Maggie had jumped to her defense when she'd thought Liam had ended things. "Maggie. I mean it. Civil."

Maggie sighed, but nodded as Jazz raised her fist to knock on the front door.

Her mom answered, her eyes as wide as the Botox allowed. Lilia Cannon was, unmistakably, gorgeous. She looked exactly as she had when she was Jazz's age, and she'd put in a lot of work to make that happen.

"Jazz, Maggie. What a surprise."

"Hey, Mom. Sorry to drop by without calling, but I was hoping we could talk."

"Oh no. What did you do, Jazz?" She ushered them in and Jazz tried not to let her mom's instant suspicion sting. "Alexander! Jazz and Maggie are here," her mom called up the stairs, before turning back to them. "Did that boy get you pregnant? Or is it not his baby? Because he never needs to know if you don't tell him. But he seems like a good man—the kind of man who would do the right thing by you and raise the baby anyway." She looked entirely too happy about the idea.

Jazz counted to three inside her head. "I'm not pregnant, Mom."

She pouted. "Oh. Well, that's disappointing." She turned on her heel and walked toward the kitchen, leaving them to chase after her. "Any babies in the future for you, Maggie?"

Maggie rolled her eyes, only because Jazz's mom couldn't see her. "I already have so much on my plate being a new stepmom. It's a big adjustment for Liam." Jazz almost choked on her own tongue, trying not to laugh.

"I'm sure," Jazz's mom replied, completely missing Maggie's sarcasm. They sat around the kitchen island and Jazz's mom poured iced coffee from a glass pitcher in the fridge without asking. "It's cold brew," she explained. "Your dad's going through a phase. It's really not bad."

"Thanks, Lilia," Maggie said, sipping the cold brew. Her mom beamed at Maggie as Jazz's dad stepped into the kitchen. For all their faults, Jazz's parents had always treated Maggie like family. As much as they treated anyone like family, anyway.

"Hi, girls. What brings you all this way?"

"Hi, Dad."

"They're here to talk to us, Alexander."

Jazz's dad sighed, rubbing his forehead. "What have you done, Jazz?"

Jesus. "I've done plenty, but that's not why I'm here." Maggie snorted. "I'm here to talk about Rose. "

"Oh, what a headache that's been," her mom said, taking the barstool beside Maggie.

"And to find out from Lynda Sims, of all people," her dad chimed in.

"Ugh, she's awful. I don't know what Kami was thinking marrying into that family. Between us, I think Lynda was more concerned with Rose being a lesbian, which is a little ironic considering she claims to be an ally on Facebook every June. Really it's a?—"

"We're not here to talk about Lynda Sims, Mom," Jazz interrupted. Once her mom started gossiping, she'd never stop. "Rose."

"Rose, yes. Do you think you can talk some sense into her? She's throwing her life away, Jazz, and we don't want her to end up like you."

Maggie put her coffee glass down hard on the island. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Maggie—"

"No, I'm really interested to hear what you mean by that, Alexander." Maggie had known Jazz's parents for twenty years, but it was the first time she'd ever made her feelings about them clear to their faces. Gone was the people pleaser who treated keeping the peace like an art form. Jazz's heart swelled with pride.

Shit, maybe therapy did work. But she could circle back to that when she wasn't having the longest Monday of her life.

Jazz's dad pursed his lips, his eyes flashing with surprise. "All I mean is that Rose is supposed to be a doctor. That doesn't mean Jazz's job isn't… good."

Maggie opened her mouth but closed it when Jazz shot her a leave it look. "That's not important right now. What's important is that Rose is happy, and she wasn't happy in med school."

"No one's happy in med school," her mom said with a laugh. "But she would've been happy with the title and the paycheck once she got there."

"Maybe. In a decade," Jazz reasoned. "But she has a job she loves and she's happy now . Why can't that be enough for you?"

"Well, it's not exactly what we expected for?—"

"That's the problem!" Jazz interrupted her dad, pushing back from the island. "Look, I don't want to fight with you about this. I brought Maggie here so you could see what's going to happen if you don't apologize to Rose and do everything you can to fix this with her."

Her parents frowned at her and Maggie. "What are you talking about? Maggie's doing great."

Maggie cleared her throat. "I've barely spoken to my family in two years, and we've been completely no contact since February."

Jazz's parents stared at Maggie in wide-eyed surprise. Her dad recovered first. "Good for you, Maggie. I hope you don't mind me saying, but your parents were terrible to you."

"I don't mind. It's true," Maggie said with a shrug. "But also, pot kettle." She gestured to Jazz's mom and dad. Really, it was as civil as she could expect her to be.

"I think what Maggie means is that you're going to be in the same situation with Rose if you don't undo this. "

Her parents exchanged a concerned look. "You really think Rose would go no contact with us?"

"Yeah, I do. Is her not having a stupid title in front of her name worth you losing her?"

"Of course not," her mom said instantly. "But we just want the best for her."

Maggie raised a brow. "And kicking her out is what's best for her?"

"We didn't think she'd actually go. We just thought it would be enough to make her see sense." Her mom's cheeks turned pink, something akin to shame flickering in her hazel eyes. Jazz blinked, and it was gone.

"I can't tell you what to do here, but you are going to lose her if you're not careful. And do you think Xan will be okay with you treating his baby sister like this? You know how close they are." Jazz sighed, balling her hands into fists and releasing them.

"I figured out a long time ago that I don't fit into this family, and I'm working on making my peace with the fact that I'm not the daughter you wanted, but Rose is only twenty-five. You have a chance to fix this before you really mess her up. That's all I wanted to say. Let's get Rose's stuff and go, Maggie."

She turned away and heard Maggie's footsteps following behind her, heading up the stairs. Rose's room was mostly empty, and Jazz and Maggie grabbed the leftover bags and boxes with ease. She breathed a sigh of relief when they made it outside, filling the trunk with Rose's stuff—she was so ready to get out of there.

Jazz had done what she'd come to do. It was up to her parents now. Either way, Rose wouldn't have to deal with it alone. They'd wasted enough time letting their parents pit them against each other, and Jazz knew Xan would feel the same once he knew what had happened. Enough was en?—

"Jazz, wait a second."

Jazz exchanged a wary look with Maggie, who was seconds from climbing into the driver's side. "Yes?"

Her parents wore matching stunned expressions, like she'd knocked them over the head. And she supposed she had, with a hard truth that had been a long time coming.

"What do you mean you're not the daughter we wanted?" her dad asked, stepping closer to her. "Of course we want you. You're our daughter and we love you."

Jazz took an involuntary step back. She couldn't remember the last time her parents had told her they loved her. Shit, had they ever? She'd never heard them say it to her siblings either, nor to each other. They hadn't been that kind of family. Her brain didn't even know how to process it, let alone believe it.

"Every conversation we've ever had has suggested otherwise," she said, and she sounded more tired than angry. Thirty years she'd been dealing with her parents' expectations. Thirty. Fucking. Years. The exhaustion was bone deep.

"Nothing I've ever done has made you happy. I've always known I don't measure up to Xan and Rose. In fact, I'm pretty sure you saying my boyfriend is a good man earlier is the closest thing to praise you've ever given me, and it wasn't even about me. I've built my entire life around the fact that nothing I ever do is good enough, so I might as well not bother, because you've never shown me any differently."

"Jazz." Tears swam in her mom's hazel eyes. "You're our baby. You're all our babies and we love you exactly as much as we love your brother and sister. I promise we really have only ever wanted the best for all three of you."

"Clearly," her dad added, clearing his throat, "we've gone around that the wrong way and we haven't shown you how much we love you. For that, we're very sorry." He frowned at his shoes. "And I assume that also applies to Xan and Rose. But we do love you, Jazz. And we are proud of who you are, even if we've never told you."

White noise rushed through Jazz's brain, rattling the foundation she'd spent thirty years building. It felt a little too convenient for her parents to see the light in one conversation, and Jazz was in no rush to forgive them until they proved they weren't just saying what they thought she wanted to hear. "I… I don't know what to say to that. I'm sorry, I just… I need time."

"You have nothing to apologize for," her mom said, her voice soft and thick with tears. "I can imagine this is a lot for you to process. So take all the time you need. When you want to talk, we'll be here. Or maybe we can make the drive out to you next time."

Jazz sucked in a shaky breath. "I'll think about it. I don't know when, or if, I'm going to be ready to believe you, but I'll think about it. And I love you too, for the record. "

She opened the door, and all but collapsed into the passenger's seat of her car, staring resolutely out of the windshield and not at her parents. Maggie got in a moment later.

"Hey," she said, wrapping her arms around her from the driver's seat in a hug that Jazz desperately needed. "You did amazing in there."

Jazz wiped her face. "Thank you. I—Shit, I'm so sorry." She would never have asked Maggie to come with her if she'd known her parents would apologize. That was all Maggie had wanted for so long.

"Sorry for what?"

"That you had to see that after everything with your parents. I?—"

"Are you kidding? I'm happy for you. Really. Do I wish my parents had been able to apologize? Absolutely, but no more than I've wished your parents would. This is a good thing."

"You think so? I don't know if I believe them." Could she really let herself hope they were being honest and risk being let down again?

"They seemed genuine, but you made the right call asking for time. And if you are going to forgive them, you should definitely make them grovel a little more."

"Probably," Jazz agreed with a laugh that slowly turned into a long, drawn out breath. "It all seems too good to be true. My parents apologizing, you forgiving me, Liam loving me. Real life doesn't work that way." It was like she'd stepped right into the happy ending of one of Liam's books .

"Maybe it is all good to be true. But maybe it's not. You're never going to know unless you see it through."

"I guess so. What now?" she asked, and Maggie turned the car on, smiling at her best friend.

"Now you go put Liam out of his misery and stop trying to break both of your hearts."