Page 6

Ash

Istretch, waiting for my sister to get here for her visit. It will be our last one. I get to go home next week. I don’t know if I’m excited or terrified about that. I guess they’re the same feeling; it’s just how you choose to look at it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about slipping back into old habits once I get there.

A car pulls up, and I smile when Willow jumps out of the passenger side and waves at me. Jackson shakes his head, and I see him wag a finger at her. He’s clearly upset she jumped out before he came to a complete stop. She doesn’t even wait for the lecture to end before she starts running toward me.

I hold my arms open wide, and she barrels right into me. I have to take a step back to keep her from knocking us over. “I’ve missed you,” she whispers against my neck.

“I’ve missed you, too,” I tell her. She’s still in my arms when I shake her husband’s hand. “Jackson.”

He takes it and wraps his other arm around his wife and me. “Brother, it’s good to see you,” he says, patting me on the back.

It feels so good to be in the arms of my family again.

After some small talk, we sit down and the more serious discussions begin. They tell me everything that’s been happening at home. I don’t interrupt them.

“JD had a woman in his basement?” I ask in disbelief. That’s literally insane.

“It’s been pretty crazy around the old homestead, but things have settled down,” Jackson assures me.

I run my hands through my hair, leaning back in my chair.

“Oh, what kind of tree is that?” my sister asks, pointing at a tree down the hill.

“I’m not sure.”

She looks at Jackson. “I’m just going to …”

He cuts her off. “Go on.”

“I’ll be right back.” She hurries down the hill, pulling her phone out.

Jackson laughs, turning back to me. “She has this app on her phone. All she has to do is take a picture of the damn thing and it will tell her what it is. It will also pull up every detail about it. Which I’ll be listening to all the way home.”

It makes me chuckle. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by the idea, though. “How has she been?”

“Good. Real good,” he tells me.

“I’m happy to hear that.”

We sit in awkward silence for a few minutes. It tells me everything and yet nothing.

“Lex …” I begin to ask.

He shakes his head, staring at the ground.

“That’s what I thought. She hasn’t written to me, and the few times I’ve been allowed to call, she doesn’t answer.”

“I’d really like to lie to you on this one, brother.”

I sit back, watching my sister walking around the grounds. She keeps looking back at us.

“Just give it to me straight. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings.”

He nods once. “She’s gotten worse. She’s tried to escape us at every turn. When Elizabeth showed up, I thought maybe we were on to something. Lex seems to be comfortable around her, but ever since JD’s dad broke in, she’s slipped right back into her previous behaviors.”

It’s like a punch to the gut. “So, she’s been drinking and … stuff?”

“I’m afraid so. Last night we found pills on her.”