Page 31 of July (New Orleans #7)

“Not like that will happen overnight,” Willa reasoned.

“I know, but I’m resisting.”

“Resisting?”

“If I don’t unpack, maybe there’s still a chance she’ll come home,” Jill said.

“Oh, babe…” Willa leaned in and kissed the tip of Jill’s nose. “You know that’s not how that works.”

“I know. But a girl can dream. When she first said she wasn’t coming back, I thought she was just overwhelmed and needed some time; that the one-year anniversary of his death was probably hitting her or something.

She probably left with a suitcase, and that’s it.

There’s so much of her stuff still here.

I thought she would have to at least come back to get it, and I could talk to her in person then; stage an intervention with my grandparents if I needed to.

Now, I just don’t know. I think she wanted to leave the whole house behind with everything because it reminds her of him. ”

“She must have really loved him,” Willa suggested.

“What about us?” Jill asked no one in particular. “He was her husband, but we’re her daughters. Will I just never see my mom again?”

Willa pulled her in for a hug and held on to her tight.

Jill hugged her back and tried to let all the worries that she had fall away as she released the tension she hadn’t known she’d been holding in.

She hadn’t heard Juni making any noise in a while, which was probably not a good thing, so when she pulled out of the hug, she walked to where she could see inside and found her sister playing on her tablet, which she’d brought into the kitchen somehow without Jill noticing.

“Juni, you were supposed to be setting the table,” she noted with a laugh.

“I am,” Juni said and quickly set the tablet down as if Jill hadn’t seen it at all, before she rose from the table and ran out of the kitchen with it to put it back in her bedroom.

Jill laughed until she heard her phone ring on the table.

“Sorry, this keeps happening.” She turned to Willa. “I promise I’m not usually this popular.”

“I’ll keep her occupied if it’s your mom,” Willa offered.

“Thank you,” she replied and hurried inside to grab the phone, finding that it was Rory calling her. “Rory?”

“Hey. What are you up to?”

“Cooking dinner. Why? And why did you call instead of texting? We’re not really the phone call type of people.”

“I did. You didn’t reply. Mel and Ky were wondering if you wanted to come over for a backyard barbecue.”

“That’s what I’m doing in my own backyard. Why are you calling me for them?”

“Mel asked for a phone tree. I got you. I tried texting, but it’s happening basically now, so I called instead. You’re already cooking?”

“I just started, yeah.”

“Well, pack it up and come to us. It’s everyone.”

“Everyone?”

“Me and Logan, Mel and Kyle, obviously, Bridgette and Monica, Sophie and Bryce, who came back to town for the weekend, and–”

“Okay. I get it. It’s everyone.” Jill turned around to see Willa, who was watching her carefully. “I have Juni.”

“Bring her.”

“And a guest ,” she added.

“Willa’s there?” Rory asked, sounding excited.

“Yes.”

“Bring her. Everyone wants to meet her.”

“When did we become an everyone?” Jill asked.

“Recently. I don’t know how it works,” Rory replied.

“We’re already cooking, Rory.”

“Finish cooking it, then, and bring it over here. Kyle is making burgers, hot dogs, and veggie things if anyone wants those. I’m bringing chips and stuff.

I think Linden and Asher are on desserts.

Bryce and Soph are in charge of drinks. I don’t know what Bridgette and Monica are bringing, but probably more food.

Enid and Caroline are bringing themselves, and I think more chips.

This wasn’t well thought out, so everyone will probably end up confused, and we’ll have forty bags of chips.

I’m starting a group text so that this doesn’t turn into a situation where we have ten bags of pretzels and no drinks. ”

“I don’t have anything to bring,” Jill said.

“Bring yourself and the food you already cooked. It’s last minute. Everyone knows that.”

“I have to ask Willa.”

“Okay,” Rory said. “Text me.”

“I will,” she replied and hung up the phone.

“What’s up?” Willa asked as she stood by the grill where she was flipping the chicken and rotating the corn like a pro.

“Okay. You are really sexy in front of a grill.” Jill wiggled her eyebrows at her.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Flip that chicken again.”

“In a few minutes,” Willa said with a light laugh. “That was Rory?”

“Mel and Kyle are having people over right now.”

“And you want to go?”

“It’s a barbecue. Tons of food. Maybe all pretzels. I don’t know.”

“What?” Willa laughed and closed the grill lid.

“It’ll be all my friends, for the most part, and they want us to go.”

“Should I go home, then?”

“What? Why would you go home? They want to meet you.”

“Because me being here this often is probably already making your sister wonder what’s going on between us. If I go to a party with you guys, that might make her ask some questions.”

“She knows we’re friends, and all of my friends will be there.”

“All of your gay friends?”

“Mel and Kyle babysat her before. She knows they’re getting married.”

“And you don’t think she’ll see us around all of your coupled-off friends and wonder?”

“I don’t know. But if she does, we’ll talk to her.”

“Jill, she’s ten. She could tell someone at the school accidentally.”

“Babe, we’ll be fine. If she does, we’ll figure it out.

If you’re really that worried about it, though, we don’t have to go.

I’m not sacrificing my night with you either way.

I would like for you to meet them and, more importantly, for them to meet you .

You’re amazing, and I want to brag a little, too. ”

Willa smiled at her, looking a little sheepish, and asked, “What about this food?”

“We can finish cooking it and just pack it up. We’ll take it there because I am definitely making Juni take a bite of that chicken she made. It’ll be hilarious.”