Tempting The Mafia Twins (Genesis and Kiefer) novel Chapter 48

Reality Check-2

“Then what do I do?”

“What do you know about kintsugi?”

“What the fuck is kintsugi?”

“It’s a Japanese art form. It’s when you take something which has been broken, most things I’ve ever seen were bowls, and repair it with a special glue made from tree sap and then when the sap is dried it’s covered with gold. The goal is to embrace the imperfections in the broken bowl and recognize there are flaws. in life and it’s part of the beauty of it.”

“This is dumb. When the fuck did you start listening to this stuff?”

“This girl I was dating a couple years ago. She broke a bowl, and I was going to throw it out and she told me she would fix it. She told me all about it. I mean I was there for the sex, but I never forgot the lesson.” Jerren grinned at Kiefer’s rolled eyes.

“And it’s on your mind now?”

“It is.” Jerren nodded seriously. “Your relationship with Genesis is broken. You are never going to get it back, not the way it was.

This is a pep talk, it’s a shitty one.”

“”

“You can put all the glue and gold on the cracks, Kiefer but it’s not going to make it look the way it did before. What you need to do is embrace the fact you fucked up, consider it a learning experience, one for both of you, an exceedingly difficult one and then actually learn from it. Prove to Gen you’ve learned. Let her know you’re sorry for the mistakes you made and then fucking move forward.”

“She hates me, Jerren. She can’t move forward.”

“Because she’s focused on the past. Help her see the future. Stop trying to stuff how good you thought your relationship was with her down her throat and instead give her a good relationship now.”

“What?”

“You keep telling her how much she loved you back then and how much you loved her. You keep yammering on and on about how she loved you once, she’ll love you again. If you want her to love you again, be the fucking man she deserves instead of this shitty dickhead you’ve been. Be the gold, Kiefer.”

“Have you been drinking?” Kiefer leaned closer and sniffed his friend’s breath.

“No. Be the gold for her. You can be the thing which holds her together when she’s breaking, Kiefer. You can be the sap,” 2/5

Jerren snorted and elbowed Kiefer.

“Were you testing the product?”

Jerren laughed at him and then slapped him on the shoulder, “not in a million years. You can’t fix what used to be Kiefer, but you can make something new out of the old, something which may last even longer.”

“Lose her again? You’re speaking like you have her back. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

He pushed off the bench and walked to his brother, Genesis, and Egan, knowing Jerren was right behind him, waiting for him to fuck up again. Standing next to her he could smell the shampoo she’d used in the morning, and it reminded him of her saying she got herself off to whatever it was Tadgh said to her. He looked upwards to the sky and then back to her.

“Genesis, I’m sorry. I was out of line, and I apologize.”

She looked to him. “And?”

“And that’s it, I’m sorry. No excuses, No arguments. No shifting blame. I’m sorry, I messed up, I messed up back then. I messed up yesterday fighting with you. I messed up a few minutes ago. I’m sorry.”

What do you want?” she eyed him suspiciously.

“Only to have a good day with you and Egan. It’s all. No more fighting. I promise to keep the stupid comments from my lips. Can we start the morning over? Please?”

“Fine but you need to promise not to piss me off.”

“Deal,” he winked at her. “Now,” he motioned to Egan. “There is supposed to be a sea lion around here somewhere. Shall we go find them now we’ve seen the penguins?”

As he exchanged glances with his brother who seemed confused about the out of the blue apology she simply shrugged and prayed when his father arrived, the old man might have better help than Tadgh’s comment to her before breakfast about not running interference or helping him out and Jerren’s weird advise about broken pottery.