“I’m twenty seven, Leah.”
“Yes, and stunning as ever,” she says, pulling back to beam at me. Her eyes drop to the bag slung over my shoulder. “Let me take that upstairs for you—your old room’s all made up.”
“Oh—no, I actually booked a cabin a few streets over,” I say quickly. “Just for a bit of space. You know… a quiet pocket.”
Her expression softens. “You sure?”
“Promise I’ll still be here most of the time.”
“Fine,” she sighs. “But don’t blame me when Tamara eats your share of the cinnamon rolls.”
“I knew you liked her best,” Tamara calls from the other room. “Frankie walks in and she’s getting cinnamon rolls, meanwhile Eli and I carried half the province’s groceries and barely got a nod.”
“Should’ve stayed closer to home,” Herb calls from the kitchen doorway. He’s wearing an apron that readsKiss the Cook, He’s Retired. “Instead of swanning off to Denver with that boy of ours. Frankie stuck around a bit longer.”
My throat pinches softly at that. I didn’t expect to feel emotional already, but here I am. Herb and Leah were the lifeboat when Mom and Dad died: always feeding us, checking on us, filling in the gaps of adulthood we weren’t ready for.
They didn’t have to take me in—they weren’t technicallymyfamily, but they became it.
And they’re like that for half of Maplewood. No judgement, just the unconditional kind of love you never forget.
“Nice to see you, Franks,” Herb says, pulling me into a brief, warm hug that somehow feels more like home than my apartment ever has.
“You too, Herb.”
“You staying long?”
“Just a few days. Got a cabin closeby—didn’t wanna overcrowd.”
“Pfft,” Leah waves a dismissive hand, turning back to the stove. “Youarethe crowd.”
Before I can reply, there’s a thud from the living room followed by an exasperated“Logan!”
“What?” comes a voice far too innocent to be believed. “It bounced.”
I poke my head in to see a stupidly handsome man with dark hair and broad shoulders, retrieving a bauble from under the couch, as though this is a perfectly normal activity. He must be Logan Miller, Eli’s teammate and Lulu’s fiancé.
Eli glowers at him from beside a fortress of neatly wrapped presents. “You chucked it at my head.”
“I passed it. It’s not my fault your reflexes are slowing with age.”
“You’refour yearsyounger than me, jackass.”
“Exactly.” Logan spreads his arms. “Prime of my life.”
“Your prime nearly decapitated me.”
“I would’ve caught it,” Lulu says from the armchair, legs tucked beneath her and cheeks pink with laughter. “Don’t blame me for loving someone with superior aim.”
Eli groans, gesturing between his sister and teammate. “I still can’t believe I have to see this with my eyes.”
“You shouldn't have let Lulu buy the house across the road from him, then,” Tamara says, smiling at me as I flop onto the loveseat beside her.
“Yeah well, I didn’t think he’dbetray me,” he mutters.
“Me neither,” Logan says, tossing an arm over the back of Lulu’s chair with a sit-eating grin. “But then I saw her ass in those tight blue leggings during her morning run and knew I was done for.”
“Get out.”
