Song: hopeless romantics playlist by Beverly

"No."

"But—"

"What part of no," Ambrose licked his finger and turned the page, "do you not understand?"

"The word itself since I don't hear it that much anymore." Vincent hissed, taking the wet dish from Jill and drying it before putting it away.

Ambrose chuckled, scanning Cameron's weekly packet of homework for wrong answers. "What a good time for a refresher of the value of the word, then. Let us begin—"

"Ambrose!" Vincent whined, hands flying to his hips and leaving Jill to finish cleaning up on her own. "I know what no means! Dio mio, it's the littlest things with you. Do you understand sarcasm?"

"We grew up together. You know the answer to that question."

Ambrose ignored the rest of Vincent's mumbling once he switched to Italian. He was too busy reading over Cameron's messy handwriting to entertain his cousin right now. Searching for a flaw in the math and reading comprehension answers took time and effort. If he found any wrong then that meant he'd have to have Cameron fix them the next morning. On the way to school so he could learn from his incorrect answers.

Usually he had Cameron do it the night before. After dinner when Ambrose had more time to walk him through the problems and explain where he went wrong. But after devouring Jill's dinner of chicken alfredo, cream spinach, and grilled asparagus, Cameron was out. He was asleep before his bed time of 8 o'clock and didn't even make it past one word from the next chapter of their book.

Ambrose grinned, finding no errors that needed to be fixed. This was the sixth day of Cameron getting everything on his homework correct. He couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride weasel its way into his heart at the revelation.

He slid the packet back into the red folder and placed it in Cameron's backpack. Ambrose set it on the chair by the dinner table then went to the fridge to take out some ingredients. He was vaguely aware of Jill going overboard on the cleaning and rearranging miscellaneous objects. A nervous tic, he surmised. A habit from when she lived with Noah and needed to keep everything in pristine condition.

"It's ok." Ambrose grabbed Jill's wrist, stopping her from furiously scrubbing at a spot on the counter. "Jilly, that stain was there before we moved in. Remember?"

"I remember. God, it's just so annoying to see it there." Jill huffed, loose strands of hair clung to her sweaty face. A dewy glow illuminated her features, highlighting how annoyed she was.

Ambrose watched as she gnawed on her bottom lip. Gaze fixated on that one spot. He dumped the food on the counter, covering up the stain and jerking his chin towards the cabinet. "Can you get me two meal prep containers, please?"

Jill jolted out of her dazed state and scurried to the dark cabinets. When she returned she watched with interest as Ambrose sliced thick cubes of deli turkey breast and tossed them into the longer compartment. Two hard boiled eggs were sliced open and placed in both containers. Then he filled each bento box with 2 cheese sticks, sliced apples, grapes, and pretzels.

Ambrose made eight ham and cheese pinwheels stuffed with lettuce and a cream cheese spread on the tortillas. Three went into Cameron's lunch and the remaining five were for Ambrose. Jill brought the Iron Man lunch box without needing to be asked and loaded it with an apple juice box too.

Vincent reclined on the couch, sipping his red wine like a petulant child and observing. They worked well together, Ambrose and Jill. Whenever they were in each other's orbit, everything fell into place naturally. No muss, no fuss. Just results.

He narrowed his eyes, tracking Jill's movements as she placed the lunchboxes in the fridge. If he was going to get through to Ambrose, then he would have to go through Jill first. Ambrose would listen to Jill if she told him to give Lilah more than a second of his time.

"Jilly," Vincent called out sweetly, "come join me on the couch."

Jill shared a look with Ambrose but joined him nonetheless with a glass of wine for herself. She topped off his dwindling drink and sat next to Vincent, legs tucked under her as she leaned sideways.

"This is a cute uniform," Jill said, taking a small sip as she thumbed over the country club logo. "Will Ambrose have to wear this too?"

"Nah. Servers have different uniforms," he replied. "Black dress pants, white long sleeve dress shirt, and black shoes. He's gonna be a real treat for any hungry eyes."

"Too bad I'm not on the menu." Ambrose plopped down onto the leather recliner across from them. Alcohol free and tired, as usual. "I don't have any of that shit. Well, not anything that fits anymore."

"That's your fault for getting so damn big."

Jill chuckled, taking in Ambrose's eye roll and Vincent's muttering with affection. "We can go shopping this weekend. I need to get more clothes and we can do Cameron's winter shopping too."

Ambrose nodded. "Might as well. I have the budget set aside for him now so I can get him some better clothes."

"Same." Ambrose's tired gaze flicked towards her and Jill smiled innocently. "What?"

"You should be saving that money for yourself. Don't worry about him. I've got it."

Jill raised a brow. A challenging glint, something he hadn't seen since they were kids, gleamed in her wide eyes. "Are you telling me that I'm not allowed to buy things for Cameron now?"

Ambrose's eyes went round. He was wide awake now and suddenly so very small in his large black hoodie. "I didn't—"

"If you want to do something, then do it. If you want to go somewhere, then go. I'm not here to be your dictator, Jilly. Do you understand?" Jill recited in a gravelly, wobbly tone. A poor imitation of Ambrose's voice that had her and Vincent snickering into their wine. "What, don't tell me that all that was just talk?"

Ambrose's cheeks warmed with heat. His mouth fell open but Vincent beat him before he could get a word in edgeways.

"I guess it was." Vincent faked a frown, rolling his wrist so that the red liquid sloshed in the clear glass. "Pity. I thought Ambrose was still a man of his word."

"Same."

"I guess it's better you find out now."

Jill hummed, nodding in agreement. "Instead of figuring it out the hard way? True. At least now I know where I stand."

"Ok, shut up," Ambrose interrupted. His lips twitched. He fought the smile that was threatening to overcome his face with great difficulty. "I just don't want you to spend too much of your money. That's all. Put yourself first."

"I will," Jill said firmly. She drained the last of the sweet wine then placed the glass on the coffee table. "But I also wanna buy Cameron a few things. He used to like that, remember? Going shopping with us."

Ambrose grinned fondly, the nostalgia overwhelming him. "I remember."

How could he ever forget how cute baby Cameron was in his Spiderman car seat? Puffy baby coat squishing him and halting his movements. His little legs swinging and babbling baby talk as he sat in the cart. With Jill or Ambrose pushing him around, it was always a good time when the three of them went out.

Cameron wanted to touch everything. All the colorful food and the potted flowers for sale. He wanted to eat whatever he could get his hands on. He wanted to play in the middle of a checkout.

Ambrose always felt lucky that Cameron had been such an easy baby. He was easy to settle after crying. He never screamed or bit people when he started teething. He asked for what he wanted when he wanted it once he started talking. Raising Cameron at so young an age was still tough and there were a lot of sacrifices that had to be made. But Ambrose didn't regret it one bit.

The attitude, though, certainly sucked. It didn't start until Jill vanished from Cameron's life and Ambrose hoped it would go away now.

He really didn't like getting calls from Mrs. Black about the way Cameron acted in her class. It made Ambrose feel like he was failing even more than he already was.

"Alright," he relented, meeting Jill's hopeful eyes with a soft stare. "Buy him whatever you want."

"I'm coming." Vincent smirked. "He won't be grounded anymore which means the sweet treats can return!"

Ambrose rolled his eyes at the little (tipsy) victory dance Vincent did in the middle of the living room. "As long as you don't buy him the entire menu then it's fine."

Vincent paused in his drunken shenanigans and looked to Jill for help. "So, The Lilah Disaster."

"Ah," Jill laughed, "so that's where this conversation was really going. The Lilah Disaster."

Jill shook her head, glancing at Ambrose from the corner of her eye. If it were possible his hackles would certainly be raised. All it took was mentioning the woman he hated so much to sour his happy mood and Jill found that a little funny.

She had heard both sides of the argument over dinner. From the animated, sympathetic, horribly theatrical tale that Vincent spun. In his version Lilah was a smart, kindhearted woman that fucked up. Majorly. And she was now on a gallant crusade to correct her mistake and make amends with the man she wronged.

Then there was Ambrose's more realistic, bleak, harsh version of the story. Some dumbass from only God knew where came in with her hoity toity money. Spoiled Cameron and ruined his dinner. Gave him a sugar rush that, in turn, gave Ambrose a migraine. And then somehow managed to accuse Ambrose of a crime he didn't commit. While having the gall to look sorry for herself after giving him no choice but to go to the police to clear his name.

Jill split the difference between the stories and settled somewhere in the middle.

Lilah probably was the sweetheart Vincent painted her to be. And the pain in the ass that no doubt came out whenever she was around Ambrose. Jill didn't think she was as horrible as Ambrose said she was, though. But she did agree with him that Lilah did sound awfully ignorant when it came to money. Something that Vincent seemed reluctant to admit, but Jill was certain he was also aware of.

It was difficult for someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth to understand those with less. And vice versa.

"I think you should hear her out."

"Yes!" Vincent clenched his fist, eyes bleary as the lightweight waved it around in victory. "Thank you, Jilly!"

Ambrose sighed, turning his attention to Jill instead of the drunk that was gyrating to no music. "No is a complete sentence."

Jill waved him off. "We're all going to be seeing a lot of each other once November first hits. It would be nice not to have this hanging over us." Jill leaned closer, expression sympathetic and soft. Her eyes tugged on Ambrose's heartstrings and he mentally cursed her. "Look, you don't have to forgive her if you don't want to. But she fucked up. She knows she fucked up. And she wants to make a genuine apology. I say, hear what she has to say and then go from there. Remember what your dad always used to say?"

Ambrose mumbled and Jill tilted her head to the side. "Dio mio," he muttered, crossing his arms and sinking down in the chair. "You don't have to forgive but the least you can do is listen."

"And never say it's ok when someone wrongs you," Jill said with a smile. "Because...?"

She glanced at Vincent. He paused his air humping, wine bottle much emptier as he held it by the neck. "Because thank you can more than suffice. Never give them a reason to hurt you twice."

Vincent erupted into a fit of giggles and Ambrose groaned once Jill joined him. "Fine," he conceded. "Fine. I'll hear her apology, ok? Happy now?"

Vincent drained the last of the wine with a dopey look on his face. "I'm much happier, cugino. Thank you. And you!" Vincent collapsed next to Jill, squishing her cheeks as he mashed her face up between his hands. "Jilly Jelly. Pretty pretty. I've missed my secret weapon against Ambrose for so long. We have a lot of ground to make up."

Jill beamed. "We can start with shopping and giving Cameron sweet stuff this weekend.

"Vincent," Ambrose's mischievous eyes slid towards the pair, "did you know you ruined Jill's first kiss?"

"What?!"

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QOTD: Now that Jill has managed to sway Ambrose, do you think Lilah has a better shot at apologizing? Or will their tempers get the worst of them? What would you like to see on the gangs weekend shopping trip?