Forever Young

One perk to owning your own restaurant is that you have great people working in the kitchen to help you make amazing menus and meals. If you are truly blessed, like I am, they will also be brutally honest with you if you present shit ideas. I had gone into my establishment to ask my Chef and Sous-Chef about a tortilla chip recipe. After I explained it was for the fundraiser, they told me they had a much better idea. Homemade pasta sauce would highlight the ingredients from my garden, and it would be a better dish for a potluck. The pasta could all be precooked, and it wouldn't matter if it went cold. The sauce could be prepared ahead of time as well and would be easily heated up at the event. Plus, it would be a vegetarian option that could endear my restaurant to a specific contingency of donors.

Once I had the new menu item chosen, and a new recipe in hand, I decided to stay at the restaurant. I needed a distraction, so helping with the prep work and bussing tables sounded like a great way to do that. My staff knew that anytime I worked on the floor, I didn't keep my tips. They all worked hard, ran themselves off their feet and did everything in their power to make our customers happy. I paid the fairly, gave employee and family discounts and when I worked the tips I earned went into a jar. My floor manager then decided when they would distribute those funds equally between all of the staff.

The last months pool went to a staff dinner that was fully paid by tips. (I found out after that dinner that some of the other staff had been adding some of their tips to the pot to help fund the night.) Plus, I usually did grunt work that no one else really like to do, so seeing me at the restaurant usually meant they could spend more time focusing on their customers, which in the end helped them to earn healthier tips.

Tonight, I was mostly now just checking over paperwork. I trusted both of my General Managers, but I didn't want to become an absentee owner. My staff knew they could always come to me with problems and being on site periodically helped to make my open-door policy a reality.

So far no one had had to use it, so I was a little surprised when I heard a knock on the door. But that didn't cause me to hesitate before I called out, "Come in."

Luis, one of the Sous-Chefs, stepped in and timidly announced, "Hey Boss. There's… You have a visitor."

"Okay… Can you describe them?"

"Young… Stubborn… She says she's your niece."

"Ellie…? Ellie's here? Did she say why?"

He smiled a bit more easily as he answered, "She told me it was none of my business and that I should just get my boss so that she could talk with you."

"She what…? Fuck…" I replied with an astonished laugh. "Little Shit is growing up too fast. Where is she now?"

"Cheyenne was taker her to a booth and Cara's getting her a Coke."

"Perfect. I'll head out now." He nodded and turned to leave the room, so I called out, "Luis? Could you put in an order of waffle fries with the works on the side, please?"

"Sure thing. Do you want anything else, Boss?"

"That should be good. But… Thank you… For everything."

As soon as I stepped out of the office, I got a couple of nods from servers to point me in the direction of my visitor. As I passed the bar, Dallas passed me a tall glass of water with a wedge of lime in it. Did I mention that I have an amazing staff? Seriously, they were the absolute best. With their help I easily found Ellie in a booth, pushing her glass of soda between her hands like it was a puck on an air hockey table.

"Hey Sweets, what's going on?" I questioned as I slid into the booth.

She didn't take her eyes off her glass when she answered, "I got bored at Grandma's and hoped that I could continue my waitress training here."

"Waitress…? Grand…? Ellie…? Sweets, how did you get here?"

"Took a cab."

"Okay. Why were you at Grandma's house."

She was still staring at her soda, but I didn't call her out on it yet because she was still talking to me. "Kenny and I are staying with her."

"You're…? Why? What happened…? Did something happen to your dad and Lyla?"

"I'm not really sure. I wasn't supposed to hear it, but Dad told Grandma he could use her help with us while… umm…" She finally turned her pleading eyes up to look at me. "Please don't get mad because I'm just quoting Dad."

Cheyenne arrived with our order, so I thanked her before I pushed the plate closer to Ellie's side of the table and said to her, "I promise I won't, please continue, Sweets."

She smiled at the plate and picked up one of the fries to dip into our signature garlic sauce. "He told Grandma he could really use her help while he figures out his shit with Lyla."

"Shit with Lyla? What shit?" (Yeah, I'm not always the best role model, but I'm always genuine and real.)

She shrugged as she started eating the fries. "I didn't hear anything after that. Sorry."

I reached over to give her forearm a comforting squeeze. "Not your fault, Sweets."

"Auntie? Can I ask you a question?" She asked after we had sat in silence eating our waffle fries for a few minutes.

"Of course, you can, Baby Girl. What's on your mind?"

"Can…? Can I stay with you and Happy? Please?"

I stared at her for a second before I answered, "Ellie… Sweets, you know I LOVE hanging out with you, but I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not?"

The look of devastation on her face broke my heart. I then slid deeper into the booth so that I could wrap her in a hug. She immediately snuggled into my embrace, so I at least knew I hadn't made it onto her shit list yet.

"Happy got called away to do some work for the club. I don't know what the job is yet, so I don't know how he'll be feeling when he gets back. I don't want you to get caught up in the middle of our crap if things went shitty for him."

"But you and Happy…?" She paused there so she could pull back to look me in the eye. "You two are good, right? You're…? You're not going to break up, are you?"

"What? No… No, we aren't. I mean… we aren't perfect, but we're pretty solid so no, Sweets, he's stuck with me."

"Good," she retorted with a playful smirk as she took a couple more fries of the plate. "Because I really like him."

"You do?" I asked as my cheeks started to heat up.

"Of course, I do. He makes you really happy. I don't think I've ever seen you this… this…" Suddenly she started laughing. And I mean like a true, full-bellied laugh. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I saw her let loose like this. Maybe when we sang songs together. But no, this was different. This was spontaneous and completely free. This was… not what I had expected this conversation to turn into. Her dad and Stepmother were suddenly separated, but she was laughing. Fuck… She most definitely was a Winston woman. Because we are well and truly fucked up.

Almost as suddenly as the giggling started, Ellis stopped. She then turned to face me and said, "Sorry. But the more I said that Happy makes you happy, it kind of… it just started sounding so silly. I'm sorry, Auntie."

"Don't… Ellie, don't apologize. I… I actually totally get your train of thought because…" I threw my hand over my mouth then to stop myself from saying anything else.

She picked up on my hesitation right away and eagerly asked, "Because what? Come on, Auntie. Don't hold out on me now."

"You need to stop doing that," I replied with a playful glare.

"Stop doing what?" She countered with big doe eyes.

"Jesus Christ, Ellie!" I nearly shrieked out. "Is it genetic? Or did you learn it from someone?"

That got her to blush and look a bit sheepish. "Grandma keeps asking me the same thing. But she won't believe me when I say that I don't know."

"So, you came here?"

"This time." I gave her a sad frown that made her scowl. "What…? Why the face?"

I pulled her into another hug and kissed the top of her head. "It's your DNA. I don't think anyone could teach us to be like this. Or to annoy the shit out of my Mom like we do."

She hugged me back saying against my chest, "I knew you'd understand."

We continued eating while we sat and just talked. I wasn't sure what to do with her, but I totally understood her not wanting to spend any more time than she absolutely had to at my mom's house. So, I tried to think of something she could do here at the restaurant to kill time until I got back. Oh yea, once I heard that shit went down between Lyla and Opie, I had totally decided that I had to get to the bottom of it.

By the time I had my plan figured out, I excused myself from the table to talk to a couple of my servers. I told them what I had planned and what I would need from them. They both offered to assist right away, so I left the restaurant to walk out to my bike while I made some phone calls. The first turned out to be the last. The call was to Lyla and she explained what had happened and why Opie's kids were staying with Mary. I swear I couldn't get on my bike fast enough after I finished talking with her.

I jumped off my bike so fast that it almost fell over. Luckily, Tig was standing in the lot waving at a taxi leaving the lot because he helped me catch it. We both then silently worked to get it upright. Once it was secured, I moved to run in the direction of the clubhouse without so much as a 'Thank you'. Sorry, I was too distracted to be polite.

Tig tried to stop me by rushing to stand in front of me and grabbing my shoulders as he asked, "Andie? Baby Girl, where's the fire?"

By this time Gemma and Bobby had started to approach us, so I directed my heated answer to Gemma, "Where the FUCK is he?"

I don't know if it was my choice of words or the pure venom in my tone, but I managed to stun Gemma into silence. Bobby pointed towards the apartment answering, "In the apartment."

I was already staking towards the door and that turned into a full out run when he finished his reply. I hear them rushing to catch up with me, so I made my strides longer. I grew up having to keep up with Opie and Jax, so out running Gemma and Bobby wasn't all that difficult for me.

Once I was through the door, I move like a woman on a mission. A couple of the guys, including Dad, called out to me, but I ignored them. I wasn't there to talk to them. There was only one person that I wanted to lay into, and I didn't want to waste my rage on anyone else. Well, the truth is that I didn't want to misdirect my rage at anyone else.

There was no knock at the door. I gave him no warning before I slammed the door open so hard that the knob almost put a hole in the wall.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He looked up from the clothes he was unpacking with a dumbfounded, surprised look on his face. "Who pissed in your Corn Flakes?"

"Don't try to be cute with me, Asshole. Answer the fucking question," I countered with an audible sneer.

"Nothing is wrong with me. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Me? Oh… I just left your daughter at my restaurant to help fill salt and pepper shakers, 'cause she was bored at Grandma's house. Because apparently, she and her brother are staying with Mary because their father is a colossal PRICK who fucked a whore and left their stepmother. So… Again, I ask, what the FUCK is wrong with you?"

"It isn't like that."

"So, Kenny and Ellie aren't staying with Mary?"

"No… they are…"

Okay. Then… You and Lyla aren't separated?"

"No…" He huffed out a breath and sat down on the bed. Good, now I could tower over him. Well… Not really, but at least we were closer in height now. "We are separated. I told her she could stay at the house until we figure everything out."

"Alright… fine… That's true… So… Then you didn't fuck some porn star whore?"

"Shit," he sighed out with his head in his hands.

I crossed my arms over my chest and continued to stare him down. Then I saw his shoulders start to shake softly. Damn. Was he crying? NO! Hold onto your anger. He has to explain himself and all of this bullshit.

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, but it sounded like he was trying to steady his breathing more than he was just crying. He then ran his fingers through his hair to pull it off his face. When he turned his sad eyes… NO… his tired, DEVASTATED eyes up to look at me, I could see the tracks of his tears on his cheeks.

That broke me. "Opie…" I sighed out his name with my own tears creeping into my voice.

He shook his head to stop me there. "I know it was an asshole move, but I… I wasn't thinking straight."

"Why?"

"Drea…" He heaved out another sigh and just shook his head.

I sat down beside him and finger combed his hair off his face. After I had it tucked behind his ear, I stroked his cheek with the back of my fingers and asked in a much more concerned, caring tone, "Please talk to me, Baby Bro. Why weren't you thinking straight? What happened?"

"Lyla."

That was it. He only said her name as his reply. I'm sure it made sense to him. But I was still completely in the dark. I mean, I get she might have done something, but what? What could she have done to break up their marriage?

"What…? What did she do, Opie?"

He shook his head again, but that wasn't his reply. He wasn't shaking his head as if to say 'No', it was more like he was trying to clear his head to give himself a minute to think. FUCK. This had to be bad. On the drive over I had tried to come up with a theory to explain why all of this was happening, but nothing made sense. Plus, none of my theories were so heinous that they would bring my brother to tears like this.

"Opie," I tried again as I ran my fingers through his hair. His tears started falling again, so I pulled his head down to hug it into my chest.

"Please, Ope? We've always been able to tell each other everything. Please don't shut me out now, Baby Bro. Please?"

"Okay," he whispered after he evened out his breathing again. He then eased himself out of my embrace. I expected him to stand up, but he just held his head in both of his hands again as he let out a sigh of a breath. "You know that I've been trying to start a family with Lyla, right?"

"Yeah. And I'm pretty sure I keep reminding you that you always have to speak in the plural tense so that you don't sound insane. WE'RE trying to start a family… TOGETHER…"

"Right," he agreed as he huffed out a laugh. "I THOUGHT we were trying to start a family, but in this case, it really has just been me trying."

I waited for him to continue, but he stopped there. I moved my hand to his back and started to rub circles on a spot between his shoulder blades. It was the spot where my tattoo would be on my back. Right now, I wanted to do anything I could to comfort him, to remind him that I ALWAYS had his back. No matter what happened between us, no matter what hurtful things we might say to each other, at the end of the day, we would always end up at a place like this. We were two sides of the same fucked up coin and we were ALWAYS there for each other. Our mother even had a sonogram photo where it looked like I was holding Opie protectively against me. She joked that she didn't know what dangers I would need to protect him from in the womb, but that was proof to me of who I would always be: my baby brother's protector.

"What does that mean, Opie? How was it just you?"

"We… A few of the guys and me went to the studio to ask Lyla to help us find Georgie Caruso. While I was in her dressing room, I found… found… found her bottle of… of… and…"

"Oh shit… SHIT! I get it, Ope. She's still on the pill? I… I had no idea."

He turned his head so that I could see his soft smile. "I wouldn't expect you to know. But that's just the tip of the iceberg."

"Fuck," I cursed out softly. "What could be worse than that?"

"Lyla… She… While we were in Ireland, she… she had an abortion. She's… She's literally killing off any chances of us starting a family."

"WHAT?! Are you serious?" He dropped his hands from his head to give me an incredulous look. I felt my cheeks heat up as I added, "Of course, you're serious. Jesus Christ, I… I can't believe I didn't notice…" I trailed off as another thought hit me like a freight train. "Holy shit!"

Opie sat up and turned to look at me. "What? What did you just figure out?"

"Her… Lyla and Tara… Their super-secret bonding experience. How much do you want to bet it was over going to the clinic together?"

Opie didn't look convinced as he pointed out, "But Tara didn't have an abortion."

"True. But Lyla didn't get kidnapped by Hector Salazar either."

"Holy shit," he breathed out as he connected the dots. "That… That makes sense."

"Of course, it does. And now so does your temporary insanity. I'm so sorry, Ope. I never thought that she would break your heart like this."

"It's not your fault, Sis."

"Yes, it is. At least partially." I stood up and placed my hands on each of his cheeks. "As your big sister, it's my duty to be on the look out for anyone who might hurt you. I should have been paying closer attention."

"She had us all fooled."

"I know, but still…" I let go of his face so that I could rear my right hand back to slap him, full force, across the face. His left hand flew up to his cheek as anger replaced the hurt look in his eyes. He started to get a scary look on his face, but I didn't pay it any attention. He would NEVER hurt me.

I then stood up tall and confidently declared, "Remember that the next time you decide to dip your dick in a disease-ridden cesspool. If you want to get back at Lyla, so be it. BUT! Don't you EVER bring a whore like that into the mix again. You get sick, that hurts all of us. So, don't EVER pull a stunt that again. Understood?"

Embarrassment washed over his face with a healthy side of remorse after that. Good, he wasn't beyond hope. I then walked back up to him and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Baby Bro. Next time just go to my bar. You know I'll always cover your tab and you can crash at my apartment or… Or I WILL kick your ass and then you will really know the meaning of pain. Understand?"

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his cheek into my stomach. "I love you too, Sis. Thank you for helping out with Ellie."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

When I heard the front door open, I thought about calling out, but I remained silent for some reason. Instead, I wiped my hands off on my apron and walked towards the kitchen door. Once I reached the hallway, I almost ran right into Happy. He mumbled out an apology as he caught my arm so that I wouldn't stumble and fall.

I moved in then to hug him, but he took a large step away from me saying, "I'm covered in dirt. I… I'm just making a pit stop for a shower."

"Oh. Okay. Did…? Umm… Are you hungry?"

He stepped into the kitchen to drape his cut on the back of a chair as he answered, "I don't have time for chicken and fries."

That made me chuckle. He thankfully cracked a smile at my response. Good, that meant that had become our inside joke. But his smile quickly morphed into a thoughtful scowl as he stepped over to the stove and asked, "What are you cooking?"

"I figured that since I suddenly found myself with some free time that I'd make spaghetti and homemade pasta sauce for the potluck. The tomatoes just finished roasting and now I'm just putting it all together."

"Smells delicious."

"Thanks," I answered as I added the rest of the fresh herbs I had just chopped to the pot. "Did you want some?"

He shook his head replying, "Maybe after I shower, I'll… I'll have an appetite."

"Oh… okay."

I continued to stir the sauce for a couple of minutes before I turned the heat down on the stove to let it simmer. The pasta in the water had boiled for a few minutes, so I turned it off completely and left it on the element to finish cooking. Now there was nothing for me to do but wait patiently.

I'm not good with being idle, so I wasn't surprised when I found myself stepping into our walk-in shower. Happy lifted his head up from the wall to give me a surprised look, so I quietly said, "I thought you might need some help washing your back."

He didn't laugh at the weak joke, but I did get a half smile. Shit. This was a hard one for him. Why had I been such a jerk before he left? Well, I was definitely going to try to make it up to him. First, I really was going to wash his back and slip in a massage while I did it.

I picked up a bottle of body wash and poured it over his back. As I rubbed it over his body, I could easily feel the tension in all of his muscles, so I casually commented, "This was a hard one for you, eh?"

He kept his head bowed under the shower head as he replied, "It was Miles."

"Miles? What…? What'd he do?"

"He stole from us."

"What?" I questioned more out of surprise then true misunderstanding.

I stood back up to massage his shoulders again. He then turned around to let the hot water hit his back. I picked up the bodywash again and poured some more over the front of his torso. He stood there passively while I massaged it over his chest. I thought that was the end of us talking, but as I dug my fingers into his muscles, Happy actually started to relax.

"My job was to get a confession out of the thief."

"And you did?" I made it a question because I couldn't gauge how he was feeling right now.

He shook his head answering, "Juice caught him red-handed. And… And took care of him."

"Oh…" I exclaimed softly when the meaning hit me. Now I knew why he might be feeling even more upset. "I'm sorry."

He opened his eyes to look down at me where I was now kneeling in front of him. "Why are you sorry?"

"You lost a brother."

"He was a rat. HE got what he deserved."

The venom I heard in his voice stunned me momentarily. "Alright. Then… I'm sorry for being such a bitch before you left… I know this hasn't been easy for you and I swear I didn't mean to make it harder."

"Andie…?"

I only paused my hand as it guided him into my mouth to say, "Let me make it up to you. Please?"

"You were already forgiven."

I smiled and moved a back to say, "Le me show you MY special skills to help you relax. You've more than earned it."

He almost huffed out a laugh, but that quickly turned into a moan as he felt his length enter my mouth. The hot water of the shower continued to pound against his back while he tried to shield me from it. The first time he let me go down on him in the shower we had a little mishap with the water going up my nose while I tried to breathe, and some really unsexy choking ensued. But after some maneuvering, the only thing I now choked on was his girth.

Just like he always did, he gripped my hair tightly, but he never did anything to guide the course of my mouth. He knew I knew how to get him off and that the sensation of him pulling my hair would help me with my goal to get him off at the same time as him. I moved my hands to his glutes to help me gauge how well this was working. He must have been wound super tight because I felt the muscles under my hands start to flutter quicker than I had expected.

After I had swallowed ever ounce of him down, I stood up and moved to hug him. He quickly caught my cheeks and moved my head so that he could give me a deep kiss. Fuck, he must have really needed he stress relief because we normally didn't kiss after I went down on him. Me? I had no problem tasting myself on his lips, but I knew Happy didn't feel the same way. Maybe that was changing.

He then hugged me into his chest and said against the crown of my head, "Thanks, I needed that."

I leaned back then said, "Here to help. My earlier freak out, notwithstanding."

He then picked up a washcloth and my bottle of body wash. After he had the cloth lathered up, he softly instructed, "Turn around, Princess. Let me get your back."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I stiffened in my spot for a breath when I felt two arms wrap around my waist. It was silly and I kind of felt stupid because I should have remembered that it would be Happy. I mean, who else would it be?

"Smells delicious, Princess," he commented into my hair.

I relaxed against him then lifted a spoonful of the sauce I was heating up for him to taste. He put his chin on my shoulder to make it easier for me to feed him. It was a little awkward, but I managed not spill it down the front of me.

"Mmm… that's as good as it smells."

"You don't think I put in too much garlic, do you?" I questioned as I turned my attention back to the stove.

"There's no such thing."

"Happy," I countered with a playful glare.

He hugged me again saying, "Everyone will love it. Can I help with anything?"

"Can you please get some plates out? The pasta is almost done."

He didn't answer, he just turned away to pull the plates out of the cupboard. After I drained the water from the pasta, I poured the sauce I had heated up onto the pasta in the pot. Happy stepped away from the counter so that I could plate our meals. While I grated fresh parmesan cheese over the hot dish, he poured us a glass of red wine each. He carried the glasses into the dining room, I followed with our dinner.

We ate in silence for a couple of minutes until Happy said, "You know I realized something while I was in the shower."

"Oh yeah?" I winked then added in a teasing voice, "That your girlfriend's special skills exceed expectation?"

He smirked but didn't allow himself to actually laugh. "I already knew that. No, I realized it's really late… especially for you to be cooking."

"Oh… That… I… I couldn't sleep."

He put his fork down so that he could turn his chair to make proper eye contact with me. I had my eyes on my fork that was pushing my noodles around my plate until he reached over and take a hold of my forearms.

The look of adoration on his face when I finally looked at him completely melted my heart. After all of the stories I had hear about Happy, I never dreamed that he and I would ever end up here. I never would have thought that the surly biker I wanted to beat down in the clubhouse would become my confidant and feel like he knew me better than anyone ever has. I couldn't stop myself from leaning over to kiss him to silently thank him for all of that.

As he sat back in his seat, he let his confusion show. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't stop it. He always looked so cute when I had him completely perplexed.

"I know you want to know why I can't sleep… But rest assured, I'm okay, but my brain won't shut up and stop thinking about Opie."

"What happened to Opie?"

I stared at him for a second because I was so surprised that he hadn't heard about the drama that had gone down in the clubhouse. "Wow. So, you really didn't hear about what went down either."

"You mean that shit about Ima pulling a gun on Gemma and Tara?"

"Sort of… I'm more what happened to lead up to that."

He shook his head again saying, "Other than him tapping some psycho porn star as Jax, I haven't heard much else."

I smiled softly at that explanation. Surprisingly enough, he made it all sound so simple. "Something like that, but he can totally plead temporary insanity, I swear."

"Really?" He took a sip from his wine glass then added, "And why would you say that, Princess?"

I took a drink from my glass, but it didn't taste right. I then stood up saying, "Just give me two minutes, I'll be right back."

I then ran into the kitchen and plucked out two glasses from the drying rack in the sink. I moved around the kitchen to pull a bottle of Scotch from a cupboard and tucked it under my left arm. Before I left the kitchen, I pulled out two bottles of beer from the fridge and had to close it with my hip because my hands were now full.

When I got back to the dining room, I barked out a surprised laugh. Happy knew that I had lost my appetite, so he had pushed my pasta onto his plate to eat it. Seriously, if I thought about it too much, it should freak me out sometimes how much he knew me sometimes.

I placed the two bottles of beer and one of the glasses by Happy's side before I sat down in my seat. I poured us eat come Scotch but drank mine down before I said, "I don't know if he's told everyone, but Opie was trying to start a family with Lyla."

He took a swig of beer to empty his mouth before he said, "Yeah, a lot of us figured he would to… to…"

His hesitation made me smile. "It's alright. He was trying to get her out of porn. But he found out she wasn't on board with that plan the worst way possible. She… he… Opie… He found birth control and morning after pills in her dressing room."

"What? Really?"

"Really." I downed another glassful of Scotch in one swallow then added, "I… I get injections every three months so that I don't have to take pills… In case you were wondering why you haven't noticed any of them laying around."

Happy pulled the bottle of beer away from his lips without taking a drink. "I didn't… I mean… I kind of wondered, but either way… good to know."

"I just want to be completely upfront with you."

"You…" He paused to reach across the table and laced the fingers of his left hand with my right. "What happened, Princess? Why do you feel like you have to make that confession?"

"That… That isn't all that Opie found out. After Lyla found out about… about… Skankasaurus, she confessed that while you guys were in Ireland that she… she… she had an abortion."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," I replied while staring at the Scotch bottle. I then took in a deep breath and moved my eyes to his face. "If our birth control fails, I… I always thought that's what I would do… But now I… I think I would tell you about it and let you have a say."

"But you don't want kids."

"True," I squeezed his palm against mine. "But if it happened you might, so I'd be open to discuss it. I wouldn't want to deprive you of that if the universe decides that we should procreate."

"Really?"

"Really. Plus, we take so many precautions that if it did happen, I might be inclined to believe it's Divine intervention or something."

"And that's why you can't sleep," he stated in a somewhat knowing tone.

I nodded then explained (unnecessarily), "Yeah, I couldn't stop thinking about what Opie told me and how I wanted to clear the air with you."

"Clear the air?" He questioned before he stood up and moved to my side to kiss me. "Princess, there's no air to clear. We've been on the same page on this topic. You don't need to shoulder your brother's burden or misdeeds. We are good."