Read 27 Truths: Ava's story (The Truth About Love Book 1) for Free Online Page B

about this?” he asks.
    I nod.
    “Ava, if you feel that badly, we can go back to the house,” he says, looking at me curiously.
    “Just stay close, okay?”
    After I say it, I wish I hadn’t. It just slipped out.
    “Baby girl, we’ll all stay close.”
    I force a smile and give a nod as I take his hand, and he helps me out.
    I reach back into the vehicle to grab my purse and realize I forgot it.
    Shit.
    “Everything okay?” Dad asks, giving my hand a squeeze.
    “Just forgot my bag.” I shrug, and he closes the door.
    When we walk into the house, Tessa and Harper both greet me and feel my head.
    I smile brightly and give a chuckle. “And to think, I’m feeling jet-lagged from an hour flight. I’m fine, really.”
    Dad eyes me suspiciously, and I notice Tessa watching him.
    All eyes are on me again.
    “Seriously, I’m fine.”
    “What happened to your eye?” Harper asks.
    “She hit it on her bedpost,” Dad explains.
    They all seem fine with the answer.
    Piper walks up to me and lifts her arms. “Fairy god-Ava.”
    Without thinking, I pick her up and hug her. “Much more social today, huh, beautiful girl? Have you gotten into the Ross family eggnog?”
    She squeezes me tightly around the neck. “It’s yummy.”
    I realize Dad, Harper, and Tessa are still eyeballing me. Then I realize they are probably worried that she could catch my fake illness.
    “I swear it’s jetlag and probably the sushi from lunch yesterday. I’m fine.”
    I can do this. I can, and I will.
    I position Piper on my hip. “Take me to the eggnog.”
    She points her chubby, little finger in the direction of the entry hallway that spills into the garage full of people filled with the Christmas spirit. One of those people will be Luke.
    The first people I spot are Harper’s husband Maddox and his father Brody. I glance at Harper and wag my eyebrows. She expects it.
    For seven years, I have made no secret that I have a lustful school girl crush on the older of the two rock stars. The only reason Maddox has been safe is because he’s been Harper’s since the two set eyes on each other.
    My heart aches for a moment because I have secretly felt the same way about Luke, like he was made for me. I still can’t help thinking that maybe, just maybe, someday …
    Harper is looking at me, expecting me to follow up with the menacing glance, so I give it to her.
    “Brody Hines.” I shake my head. “Does that man just get hotter and hotter?”
    “Ew,” I hear from behind me and turn to see London, Brody’s stepdaughter, making a face as if she is going to get sick.
    “Sorry, London.” I smile and use my free arm to give her a hug. “Damn, look at you.”
    “What happened to your—”
    “Hit it on her bedpost,” Dad says, and London nods.
    London has grown into a beautiful young woman. She looks like her mother Emma: tall, brown hair, blue eyes, and high cheekbones. She is classically beautiful.
    “She got boobs,” her little sister Lexi says as she walks toward me to give me a hug. “I wear a bra now, too.” She smirks and shows me her bra strap before hugging me.
    “Like you need one for your itty-bitties,” London huffs.
    “I do, too!” Lexington protests, pulling her shirt tightly against herself. “See?”
    “Okay, you two,” their mother Emma says, shaking her head. “It’s Christmas, so could you two possibly take a break from the arguing?”
    “Is it present time yet?” Lexington asks Emma.
    Brody comes up behind her and scoops her up, throwing her feet over his shoulder and then tickling her.
    Her shirt falls down, and she cries out, “Daddy, my boobs!”
    “You do not have boobs,” he says. “You’re a baby and going to remain a baby, you hear me?”
    They walk away, her laughing and him telling her she’s always going to be his baby. She then tells him babies don’t have boobs.
    I watch Emma and the way she looks at them. They did not have an easy beginning, but they made it. They made it, and they