At Your Most Beautiful, Harper Bliss [books to get back into reading .TXT] 📗

family. The people most precious to her. She didn’t want to lie to them. But she didn’t want to tell them the truth either.

Maya focused her attention on Ethan. She cradled him in her arms so she could get a good look at his adorable face. “How’s the little guy been?”

“Pretty good. But that baby does not like a full diaper.”

“Which baby does?” Maya asked Ethan, as though he could reply. “You little cutie pie. You little prince of Manhattan.” She allowed herself to be wrapped up in the magic of her grandson for a moment. Until Quinn joined them—fully dressed this time.

Maya gave Ethan back to Beth, hoping they would leave soon.

“I don’t mean to go all fangirl on you, but at our house, you enjoy goddess-like status,” Quinn said. “My roommate is totally gaga for you.”

Did Quinn really have to start with that stuff right now? Couldn’t she read the situation a little better and let Maya handle this—let her subtly urge Beth out of the door?

“Thanks.” Beth smiled sheepishly. She was used to this, of course, although not in her mother-in-law’s home.

Maya could only hope Quinn wouldn’t start with the selfies next.

“Tommy is one lucky guy.” Quinn offered a wide smile but Maya could tell the corners of her mouth were a little twitchy, betraying how uncomfortable she really was.

“That’s what I tell him every single day.” Beth painted on her TV smile.

“Your baby’s hella cute as well,” Quinn said.

“Thanks.” Beth put Ethan back into his stroller. “It was lovely to meet you, um, Quinn. I need to get home because this little mister here will be hungry soon.”

Maya walked Beth to the door. She bent over the stroller and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, baby boy.” She kissed her daughter-in-law on the cheek. “See you soon, dear.”

“Thanks for you-know-what,” Beth said.

“Any time. Give my love to Tommy.” Maya held the door open until Beth and Ethan had disappeared into the elevator. As soon as they were out of sight, she banged the door shut, the harsh sound an apt translation of the frustration that raged inside her.

“Hey.” Quinn walked up to her. “It’s okay. This doesn’t mean anything. Beth Robbins is a working young mother, no doubt with so much on her mind there’s no space to even consider what you and I are up to. I’m totally sure of it.”

“That might be so, but it doesn’t change how I feel in here.” Maya put a hand on her stomach. “I hate lying to them.”

“You didn’t lie.”

“I didn’t exactly tell the truth either.”

“It wasn’t the right time to tell the truth.” Quinn shrugged. “You could hardly bombard her with the news of what we’ve been doing.”

“I’m just shaken that she arrived like that totally out of the blue.”

“Does your family often drop by unannounced?” Quinn asked.

“Not really. This week’s a school holiday. Any other week I would have been teaching in the afternoon.”

“Look.” Quinn took her hand. “It’s normal to feel shaken by this, but I’m pretty sure Beth will have forgotten all about it by the time she gets home. She’s probably thinking about the news or trying to interpret Ethan’s latest smile or something like that.”

“Or I’ll get a phone call from Tommy later, quizzing me about you.”

“Then just tell him what you told Beth.”

“The real issue,” Maya said, “is that I feel like I should tell them something.”

“You don’t have to, though. It’s too soon.” Quinn caressed Maya’s knuckles. “This is coming from someone who has been another woman’s dirty little secret for years. Someone who has zero desire to exist only in the shadows of love ever again. Just so we’re clear on that. I’m never doing that again, but this is not that. You have to give yourself time to get used to this first. Only then can you tell your family a clear story and only then will you be ready to answer all their questions. Just let this slide for now. Let it go.”

“I don’t want you to be my secret.” Maya pulled Quinn close to her. “I’m not ashamed of you, Quinn.”

“But you’re ashamed of us.” Quinn might as well have given Maya a punch to the gut.

Maya couldn’t say that she wasn’t.

“It’s okay. I know it’s not the same as being ashamed of me. I know it’s a challenge for you to accept that you’re…” Quinn looked up at her. “Falling in love with me?”

Maya couldn’t help but smile at her. “I’m crazy about you.”

Quinn’s lips curled into a smile. She extricated herself from their hug and pulled up the side of her sweater. “Then remember this.” She pointed at her tattoo. “Life’s not for feeling ashamed, not even for one single fucking second.”

“That’s what I love about you most of all,” Maya blurted out. “Your spirit. Your attitude that nothing can touch you or when it does, you’ll find a way to rise above it. That you can get over anything.” Maya touched her hand against Quinn’s exposed belly. “How did you get to be so strong at your age?”

“You’re making it sound as though I’m still twenty-four. I’m almost thirty-five, Maya. I’m a lot younger than you and I always will be but that doesn’t mean I haven’t learned certain things about life.” She turned so her tattoo was visible again. “And that’s what it’s all about in the end. It’s only for living. Not for any of the bullshit we always manage to saddle ourselves with.”

“You’re right on many levels,” Maya started to say, but was interrupted when Quinn’s phone rang.

“It’s my dad,” she said without looking at the screen. Even Maya recognized Bill’s special ringtone on Quinn’s phone by now. “I’ll call him back later.”

“No, please, take it.” Maya could do with a breather. And perhaps also with a reminder that Quinn had told her father about them and he still called his daughter every day as though it was all just so very normal. “Talk to your dad.”

“Okay.” Quinn took the call