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I was having a hard ti that it didn’t seeht Shaw home I was so excited He hadn’t ever shown any interest in any other girlout of yourand ere starting to put the pieces together about hiirl and Shaw had it all, she’s lovely, well educated, comes from money it never occurred to me that she was too delicate, too broken down by her own faentle and sweet as Res that tormented her day in and day out so of course she picked you, she’s loved you forever I saw it, your dad saw it and even with that we let Re they were an ite with the truth"

She stopped fidgeting with her cup and aze She had tears in her eyes which were nothing new, but these ones for once seeer and blaht of Remy’s accident he called me I kneas on his way to pick you up and I told hirown ot really et over whatever it was that keptyou as openly and fully as I loved hiry back and told him he had no place to lecturea lie We had a huge fight, it was ugly and I threatened hi to let you and Rome know exactly who their brother was and he freaked out He hung up and left to get you and those were the last words I said toopenly now and all I could do was sit there and let everything she said flow over rief and responsibility on your shoulders because I was too weak to be accountable for my part in what happened to Reest, you’re the one that handled it the best and it was easier to blame you than look at you and realize what I had done You never loved me the way Remy did and the farther away I pushed you the easier it was to feel less guilt I’m sorry I did it, you never deserved it I felt like you were already lost toas it ith Rome, but I realize now you were never lost I had just shoved you as far and as hard away as I could because of what may or may not happen and that’s not healthy or acceptable"

We sat in silence while I tried to work through all of it I couldn’t just accept her apology, too much tied for that, but I could recognize that ere all hu careless mistakes with people that we cared about and try and work towards a resolution from there

"That’s a lot to take inme all that"

She swiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand and gavebut I do want you to know that your dad and I are co Shaw I know you’re mad she didn’t tell you about Re at each other I saw the way you ith her Rule and I know you have never been like that with anyone else She has always thought that you orthy and in need of love even when you did your absolute best to convince the rest of the world that you weren’t interested in being loved I just think you should consider that before deciding to walk away froood"

Was my mom, the woman that had made it her mission for the last three years to iveto tell ain with Shaw?

"She actually walked away froh, that she needed to know that I loved her for sure and I just couldn’t do that I don’t know that we’re ultiood for each other"

My rabbedby the cup I nearly juth and you need her to teach you how to love She coroup of people; Rule She needs someone that can stand by her while she deals with that and you need someone that’s not scared of you, someone that can love all the different parts of you and not ask you to change any of them She’s done it for years even if you didn’t know it She was loyal to your brother, she kept his secret even though it caused problems between the two of you, and she’ll be loyal to you too"

We sat in silence while her words washed over s weren’t the same without Shaw in my life The last couple months had been hallow I didn’t just miss her inwhen I had breakfast, I hty little textby the shop for dinner and hanging out while she did her hoood as they hen she was around

"I have to say this was one of thebirthday’s I’ve ever had"

"You deserve some peace and I need to be responsible for the part I’ve played in nize true and honest to God love when it’s staring you in the face"

"I need to go" I pushed away frorateful she didn’t get to her feet and try and hug me because I was nowhere near ready for that but when she offered rin back at her

"Thanks s Rule, including a happy and whole family"