Jules had been full of questions about dating, and hadn’t exactly been too thrilled with the rules Auggie, Em and Junie had hurriedly figured out for dealing with boys, but she was beyond excited.
Her little sister thought she was having her first real date—Auggie was practically in tears.No, they wouldn’t really be dating until they were seventeen, but there was no way crushes wouldn’t happen along the way.They were a normal part of development.A healthy part.And Jules’ crush was far less concerning than January’s overly strict rules for the boys she’d eventually want to date.
Auggie knew what it was like to look for perfection in a man—it was impossible.She suspected that was exactly the point.Trauma didn’t just impact one area of a victim’s life, it affected them all.January was going to eventually be able to heal from the scars of their father, it was just going to take time.The hurt would never fully go away.
“You look beyond excited,” Junie told her after they told the girls to get on winter coats and hats for the drive to the inn.“What are you planning for that beautiful, beyond amazing man you found alongside our road?”
“Something beyond crazy.”Junie and Em were her rocks and always had been, but Junie had been her second-in-command from the moment their father had left them that first time so long ago.They’d promised each other back then to take care of their baby sister, no matter what.Their bond would always be different because of that.Just like January and Jules shared that same sort of bond.“I feel…right.When I am with him, I feel right.I never expected to feel that.”
“Like Aunt Susan and Uncle Bill always said,” Em said, coming up behind them.She linked skinny arms around both their waists.“When a Tyler knows, a Tyler knows.”
“That’s what Gil likes to tell Sage,” Auggie said.She’d heard it before—several of her aunts and uncles said that same thing.
“I think you should grab him and ride off into the sunset.Get him naked, then tell us all about it.”Junie was serious.Sometimes her sister just said things that shocked.But were usually right on target.“We all know life is too short to screw it up by being scared.”
There was a thin scar on her sister’s neck.Given to her by the same man who had shot Auggie and Claudia and January five months ago.That night had changed them all.“This changes things for us again.”
“Yes, but in a good way.”Then Em grinned, looking just like Jules.“Besides, Clancy and I have been planning for you to marry Cal for like fifteen years.We decided you two were perfect for each other back then because you were both incredibly bossy and everything.We told her mom that, too.She laughed and laughed and laughed.Said she’d give her blessing in a heartbeat.So all of this, totally ordained by Jody and everything.”
“She had a great laugh.”Jody Grady had been the first real feminine influence on Auggie’s life that she could remember.Auggie and Cloe had been friends from kindergarten—even before Auggie’s mother had abandoned them.There were so many times she’d go home with Cloe after school when her parents would arrange it.She’d realized looking back that by sending her and Em to the Gradys when they’d been so young, they’d not had to deal with them.Junie had just been dragged along with them wherever they’d gone after she’d get off the school bus alone.
Most nights, Cloe’s father had driven her and Em home.The entire way, almost an hour from town.He hadn’t had to do that, but he always had.Those visits had stopped after her father had abandoned them the last time.Auggie had had to explain to Cloe that she wasn’t angry at Cloe then—she’d always lied and said her dad made her go home to watch Em and Junie.Auggie had loved being with Cloe’s mom back then, especially when Em was there, too.But there had always been that fear for Junie until she got back to her sister.
Jody Grady had shown her what having a real mother would have felt like.Auggie had never forgotten.Jody had had a wonderful laugh, and a mischievous spirit that several of her children—including her oldest son—had inherited.
“She was one of those women I wanted to grow up to be,” Em said, quietly.“I think you should go grab her son and keep him.Before some other woman gets there first.He is one of the only non-jerk men I have ever met.Unlike his brother, I might add.”
“I’m going to do just that.He’s meeting us there, so…we’d better get going.”He had texted her and asked what color she was wearing and if she was supposed to bring him a corsage.Excitement she’d never expected to really fill had her almost hurrying for once.“I don’t want to be late.”
“It’s okay if we are, you know.People are coming at different times—Clancy and Cloe will be late.They are doubling with Jack and Gabe Masterson, and Cloe and Gabe are coming from the hospital together.I think Clancy is with Jack tonight, but she might be with Gabe, or it might only be a just friends kind of thing.I’m waiting for details,” Em chattered away as she lifted the baby’s carrier after covering Maeya with a blanket.
It was really hard to keep up with Clancy’s love life lately.Em kept them all informed, but mostly Auggie suspected Clancy was doing it just to mess with Cal’s head a little.She was having fun doing it, too.And this was the first time all five Gradys planned to be in the same place in a while.Cal was looking forward to it.“I’m glad Cloe got time off to come.”
Cloe had turned into a workaholic after what had happened with her father.So much so it worried Auggie at times.
Gradys anywhere near Talleys had been kind of awkward over the last few years.Since Cal’s father.But they were getting better now for all of them.
Then they were in the van, and on their way, the only hiccup was Markie fussing a little before going into her car seat.
Auggie looked at Junie as her sister drove.Junie usually did drive now, since the shooting.“You good?”
Junie had gotten quieter since the shooting and finding the girls.Since that bastard Larry Kellman had abducted Junie right from the diner at razor blade point.“Just thinking.You should nab him, have ten more babies, and live happily ever after.I’d really think that you deserve it more than anyone.”
“I have six kids to raise.I’m not sure any man is fully prepared to step into that.”She wasn’t even going to think about more babies.Not right now.But…maybe someday?
“Neither were you.Or me and Em.But you are doing phenomenal at it, Aug.I don’t think you out of anyone I know, wouldn’t do your best to make a relationship work.Not if you loved him.And he sees who you are, too.Em’s right—Cal is a good man.It shines in his eyes when someone really looks at him.And when he’s with the girls, he comes alive.Like he used to when we were kids and he’d be with his family.I always envied the Gradys how together they were, and how they loved each other.I think Cal can love like that.It’s in the way he holds the girls, like he sees them for the miracles they are.It’s the same expression in his eyes when he hugs his sisters.That man knows how to love.And he deserves to be loved right back.”
Sometimes, Junie nailed it right on the head.Her sister understood people in a way that Auggie never would.Good and the bad.
But was loving him something Auggie wasn’t too afraid to do?
Wasn’t that the biggest question?
53
He’d dutifully demandeda full itinerary from his wayward youngest sister before leaving his house.Just in case she needed him to chauffeur.Her car had been acting up this week and Cal just didn’t trust the old clunker that much.She’d been working later hours than he liked—nature of her new job, as a part-time social worker for the county—and he worried.She told him he was worse than an old man, but someone had to keep an eye on those sisters of his, and Cadell had been extra busy with the new real estate development expansion they’d been working on.He’d taken over completely for Cal since the wreck and what had happened with Bruce Tyler.
Clancy was fine tonight.He wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of her dating either Gabe or Jack, but he was dealing with it.Both men were in their thirties.Clancy was still too young for men that age.He’d be keeping an eye on them tonight.It was Cloe that concerned him the most—she was apparently dating the Masterson Clancy was not—but he was going to rectify that tonight.
