Page 14

“Come here, let me look at you,” Patience St. John called the second time I passed by the phone I had propped up on the sugar canister.

When I was stationed in front of my screen, her face split in a smile that felt like home. “Look at you,” she cooed, her squinted eyes twinkling as she looked over me. She wasted no time getting to the point. “When are you coming home?”

“I told you, whenever I finish this book,” I reported, blowing the thick, ticklish strands of my braid-out away from my nose.

Her smile faltered and she pursed her lips. “Well, how many words have you written?”

Instead of replying, I formed a 0 with my hand and held it up for her inspection.

She gave me a knowing look that said,I told you so. “Maybe it’s too soon to be writing. You should come home and relax with me and your dads.”

“Ma, you know I can’t relax in that house. I don’t think any of y’all know what that word means.”

My mother raked a dainty hand through her peppery curls and huffed. “It’s because we love you, True. What about if you come back and stay in the guest house? You can have your privacy.”

I wrestled more hair out of my face before I picked up the phone and carried her to the bathroom with me. “Mama, I don’t mean any harm, but I was in the guest house before I left and we see how that went.”

Every morning I woke up to one of my parents in the guesthouse, hovering…lovingly.

Once I propped the phone up on my toothbrush holder, I fished a bobby pin out of the dish by the soap and pinned my hair out of my face.

Bypassing the fact I’d pointed out, my mother tried a different tactic. “It’s just not like you to up and do anything. You’re so meticulous, we just thought…”

Her voice trailed and the assumption she didn’t voice hung in the air. She wasn’t wrong. I was a planner. Through and through. The only thing I liked to wing was my eyeliner, and leaving King’s Town had been the most impulsive thing I’d done in months.

A patient sigh cut into my thoughts. “But if you say you’re good, we have to believe you. At least for a little while,” she added wearily. “I’m not responsible for what your fathers do if you don’t show up for Thanksgiving or Christmas.”

With a smirk, I split a glance between my phone and the tiny, antique mirror mounted above the sink. Satisfied my hair was out of my face, I scooped up my phone again and walked to the bedroom while my thoughts wandered to my dads.

To say my family was unconventional would be an understatement. Thirty years ago, my mother was supposed to be doing her married best friends a favor by carrying their child. The child they wanted turned out to be twins, and she moved in with them for eight months so they could shower her with care and attention. Somewhere over the course of that time, they all fell madly in love. So my sister, Promise, and I were born into a three-parent household filled with more love than most people ever saw in their lifetime.

Yet, love hadn’t been enough to save my sister when she got the diagnoses that turned her world upside down. And I was starting to think love wasn’t enough to help me move past it either. I didn’t remember who I was before I started grieving her.

Being alone in this house all day had amplified the quiet thoughts I’d been trying to run from.

“You okay, baby?”Shit, I’d almost forgotten I was on the phone.

Clearing the persistent lump in my throat, I gave her a smile before letting my gaze roam over the room. “I’m fine, mama.”

My eyes caught on the sweats and T-shirt I’d folded earlier, leaving it out so I’d remember to return them to my neighbor. Were Noah and Greyson home? It was Friday night and they were young and fine as hell, so I felt like I already knew the answer to that question.

Still, I needed to get out of this house. So, if they weren’t home when I tried to return the clothes, I would drive to Lucky’s Tavern on the other side of the mountain. I’d only been once since I got in town, but the crowd had been nice and I liked their jukebox. And if I got too drunk, my granddad could come pick me up since their house was only a mile up the road.

With my plan and backup plan secured, I stayed on the phone with my mom a while longer, told her to tell my dads I was okay, then ended the call.

By some stroke of luck, I found a paper bag with handles in the kitchen and placed Noah’s clothes inside before walking out my door.

To my surprise, both of their trucks were parked on the side of the house and the glow of their cozy lighting lit the interior of their home.

“They’re home,” I mumbled to myself as the soles of my loafers hit the dirt path connecting our houses.

I couldn’t tell you why my heart kicked up at the thought of seeing them. I also couldn’t tell you why my mouth fell open at the sight of Greyson when he opened the door in grey sweats and nothing else.

I had to believe the universe was finally done fucking with me. Why else would it deliver True to my doorstep after I hadn’t been able to think about anything but her all day? Why would she be here after I spent the last hour debating whether I would take her a Tupperware full of food just in case she wasn’t comfortable eating here with us?

Well, the why didn’t matter when she was standing here now.

As soon as Grayson open the door, I shouldered my way beside him, crowding the doorway as we stared down at her.