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I looked over at Lance. He nodded slowly and looked as if he was giving Quinton’s words a lot of thought before he spoke.

“I appreciate your honesty. It means a lot to hear you say that, and I accept your apology. If life’s taught me anything, it’s that we’re all a work in progress.

And letting go of past hurt isn’t as easy as it sounds. ” Lance chuckled nervously.

“You can say that again,” Quinton said.

“Amen to that,” I added.

Quinton’s words seemed to lighten a perfect November night. I had no idea how much better things would get, though. It wasn’t until Quinton turned his attention to me.

“Nova, there’s something else. I’ve been talking with Skye, and we think it’ll be good if she splits her time between here and with you.

She’d alternate weeks. I was concerned because our daughter isn’t the most organized.

I know she’ll leave something she needs here or vice versa, but this means a lot to her.

And I know how much it means to you too. ”

I was sure my heart would burst right there at that table.

It felt like my birthday, Christmas, and all other holidays wrapped together.

Skye and I hadn’t talked any more about her moving in because, honestly, I still didn’t know if I was ready, but it wasn’t like Skye was a baby.

It was Mama who reminded me that I was the only one who remembered what Skye was wearing the night she was missing.

“You pay attention to every detail of her. You see things others don’t see.

Like every other mother does,” Mama said when we’d left Leah and Quinton’s house that night.

Leah smiled. “We think it will be good for her—and for all of us. We’re family, maybe not in the traditional sense, but family nonetheless.” She looked at Lance. “Even you, Lance.”

That got a laugh out of all of us when Lance pretended to be upset. We sat out on the deck, ate, drank, and talked until the sun started to set. Quinton had gone inside and grabbed two blankets for Leah and me.

Once the conversations started to die down, Leah looked over at Quinton. “Did you say you wanted to try those new cigars you bought the other day?” she asked.

Quinton furrowed his brows and stared at her for a minute. “Oh yeah, I forgot about those.” He stood and looked at Lance. “Care to join me?”

Lance wasted no time moving from his seat. “Don’t mind if I do.”

I drank the rest of the water in my glass and then looked over at Leah. “What was that about?”

She laughed. “Was it that obvious?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Quinton wanted some time to talk with Lance alone. You know, man to man.” She stood. “I’ll be right back.”

Leah went inside and then came back with two wineglasses and a bottle of wine.

We moved from the table over to the cushioned chairs that were around the firepit.

Leah lit the pit and then poured each of us a glass of wine.

We sat side by side on the sofa. Our bodies turned toward each other with one leg tucked underneath us.

It was hard to believe that there was a time, not so long ago, when I couldn’t be in the same room with my sister.

“So,” Leah said, unfolding her cover and draping it over both of our legs. “What’s the deal with you and Lance? And don’t you dare say nothing because even a blind man can see that’s not true.” She lifted her arched brows.

My face warmed, and it had nothing to do with the fire.

“Oh wow. You’re blushing.” Leah laughed. “I guess I have my answer.”

“No, it’s not like that.” I swatted Leah’s leg.

“But my feelings for Lance are different, I guess you can say. It feels so strange and so ... I don’t know, scary, to be honest. Lance has been there for me in ways I never expected.

Like Quinton said, he had every right to turn his back on me, too, but he didn’t.

He’s the same dependable and sweet Lance that he’s always been. ”

“Dependable and sweet?” Leah lowered her head but aimed her gaze at me. “Is that it?”

I was confused. “What else am I supposed to say?”

“You’re not attracted to him?” she asked.

I pursed my lips and dipped my head to the side. “Well, that goes without saying. Lance has always been gorgeous. Even as his friend, I knew that.”

“Okay, just checking.” Leah sipped her wine.

“Anyway.” I rolled my eyes and chuckled. “It doesn’t matter anyway because I’m not ready for anything serious. I can’t jump into a relationship, not now, maybe not for a while.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to rush into anything. Just because your feelings are changing doesn’t mean you have to act on them right away. It’s okay to just be, to let things unfold at their own pace.”

The back door slid open, and Leah and I both turned in that direction.

“Well, look who finally decided to come home,” Leah said when Skye walked out and joined us.

Skye leaned down and kissed Leah’s cheek, then mine. “How was practice?” I asked when Skye sat across from us.

“Hard. Then to make matters worse, I had to go to Ava’s to work on our project that’s due before we get out for Christmas. I’m over school. Can’t I just drop out?” She leaned back in the chair.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea. I’m sure it won’t send your dad to an early grave,” Leah teased.

Skye huffed. “My legs burn. Coach had us running so much today.”

“Why? What happened?” I asked, remembering the days when my basketball coach made the whole team run. Usually, it was because we’d either played a bad game or had a bad practice.

“At our last game someone on our team called someone on the other team the ‘R’ word. The other coach heard it and told our coach. No one owned up to it even though we knew who it was. Since no one confessed, everyone had to run.”

I leaned forward. “The ‘R’ word?” I couldn’t think of any curse word that began with the letter R .

“The word people say about someone who has a disability,” Skye explained.

I was still confused.

“Remember in school, how Mrs. Smith taught a small group of students, and the kids said that’s the blank class,” Leah said.

“Oh.” I looked at Skye. “You didn’t tell me about that word. Good thing I don’t use it anyway. I’ll still add it to the list just in case.”

It was Leah’s turn to be confused. “The list?”

“Skye’s been telling me about all the words that people were discontinued for using,” I explained.

Skye laughed. “Canceled, not discontinued.”

“Same thing.” I laughed too.

Skye stood. “I’m going to soak.” She gave Leah and me another kiss before making her exit.

Leah and I had almost finished the whole bottle of wine before Lance and Quinton came back out.

They sat and we all talked a while longer before Lance and I left.

I’d forgotten how much fun we all used to have together.

I couldn’t lie and say things weren’t a little awkward at times, but it was to be expected.

One night wasn’t going to erase everything, but it was a great start.