Read Online You're Still the One by Darcy Burke - Free Book Online

camaraderie in the room. They were an amazing family, and she wasn’t a part of it. Nor would she ever be.
    The conversation turned as Maggie asked Tori how her new house was coming.
    â€œThe foundation’s dry,” Tori said. “They’re due to start framing tomorrow.”
    Bex looked over at Tori. “Did you design it?”
    Tori nodded. “We’re pretty excited. So are Sean’s folks. They can’t wait to come visit from England. We’re looking forward to having them here for a month or so.”
    â€œSounds fun.” For them maybe. Whenever Bex had thought of her parents commingling with the Archers, she’d practically broken out in hives. The Archers were so well-adjusted and normal . And her parents were so . . . not . She couldn’t imagine the level of awkwardness that would’ve ensued, and she didn’t want to. Thankfully her mother had never wanted to visit her in Ribbon Ridge, and Dad preferred to be a homebody.
    Maggie shuddered. “Sure, if your parents aren’t weird like mine.”
    Bex instantly felt a connection to Kyle’s fiancée. “What’s wrong with your parents?”
    Maggie gave her a gimlet eye. “What isn’t wrong with them?” She shook her head and smiled. “That’s not fair or true. They’re good people. Loving. They’re just . . . odd. They have an open marriage and have since I was a kid. It was a strange way to grow up.”
    â€œBut you had love,” Aubrey said. “As opposed to the cold fish I grew up with.” She grimaced as she slid a glass into its Bubble Wrap.
    Another kindred spirit, Bex thought. Maybe cold wasn’t the best word to describe her mother. No, absent or oblivious were both more apropos.
    Maggie passed off another bag of pretzels. “True. And as weird as they are, I wouldn’t trade them.”
    Bex wasn’t sure she’d trade hers either. As self-absorbed as her mother was and as distracted as her father was, Bex had enjoyed a freedom most kids would’ve killed for. Which wasn’t to say it had been the best upbringing. It was, however, the only one she had.
    â€œI can beat all of you,” Alaina said, arching a brow to the table at large. “Raise your hand if your dad was a felon.” She paused. “Anyone? No? How about a mother who was literally once a crackwhore?”
    Bex stopped in the middle of tying a bow and looked at Alaina. She couldn’t recall if this information was common knowledge—given that most of Alaina’s life was plastered in the media it probably was—but Bex hadn’t known that about her. “Yikes, that couldn’t have been easy.”
    â€œEspecially when you throw in my pastor grandfather, who we might as well nickname Grampa Judgy.”
    Bex winced. Alaina might have a seemingly perfect life, but you never really knew the truth behind someone’s façade.
    â€œSorry we can’t contribute to this pity-fest, but we have the best parents ever,” Tori said, smiling, in a clear attempt to lighten the mood. Not that it had turned dark, but Bex didn’t know these people well enough to say for sure.
    Emily’s mouth quirked into a satisfied smile as she focused on tying a bow. “I can’t disagree there.” She set the box of chocolates in her done pile and glanced around the table. “And I certainly hit the jackpot when it came to children and children-in-law.” Her gaze hit Bex last before going back to the task in front of her.
    Bex didn’t for a minute think that short look meant to include Bex in anything. She and Hayden had never even been engaged, no matter how much they’d all expected that to happen.
    Emily wrapped another pink-and-navy-striped bow around a box of chocolates. “If Bex and Hayden had gotten married, everyone here would be an Archer or Archer-to-be.”
    Every muscle in Bex’s body tensed, but she