She looksamazing.
“Hi, guys,” I say with a smile as I walk toward the back of the store, where the checkout counter is, and all the women are gathered. “It’s a Lexington sister party.”
“Oh my gosh, Jules,” Darby says and gives me a side hug. “Shit, I haven’t seen you in ages.”
“I was just thinking the same thing about you. Are you home? Are you visiting? What’s up with you?”
“She’s just visiting.” Charlie sticks her lower lip out with a pout.
“Stop.” Darby chuckles and shakes her head at her baby sister. “I’m visitingfor now, but after this next term, I’ll be back up here, looking for an internship job to finish my degree.”
“Oh my God, that’s awesome. What are you in school for?” I ask.
“I’m in veterinary school,” she says. “Down in Colorado. And I like it down there, but I’m ready to come home.”
“Thank God, we miss you,” Billie adds with a wink. “Are you going to be here long enough for book club?”
“I’m here until next Tuesday.”
“Then that’s a yes,” Alex says. “Because book club is on Saturday. Right? Am I mixing up my days?”
“Saturday is right,” Billie confirms. “And we’re reading a Mafia romance.Be With Meby Gabrielle Sands.”
“Oh, hook me up, sister.” I wink at her, already excited to dig in.
Mafia romance is my jam these days.
“I’m down for that,” Darby says. “Reading something other than an animal anatomy book sounds fabulous.”
The next thing I know, Ava and Harper come striding into the store, and it turns into a spontaneous hour-long party of chatting and talking about books.
Millie even comes over from the coffee shop next door, takes our orders for some caffeine, then joins us. She’s married to Holden Lexington, the oldest sibling and only boy in the family, and I can tell that she’s excited to have Darby home, too.
It feels so good to havefriends.To be home in a familiar community, and I don’t have to do my best to avoid Brooks anymore, worried that he’ll be somewhere, glaring at me.
I don’t feel like I have to hide or be ashamed.
I can just be me, and for the first time in a long, long time, I feel like I belong. I didn’t realize just how much my heart needed this until now.
“I have to say, you look fantastic,” Darby says as we drift away from the larger group. “And I heard a rumor that you and Brooks are back together.”
I press my lips together, but I can’t stop the smile that spreads. “Yeah. We’re back together.”
“Good. You were always meant for each other, Jules. Anyone with eyes in their head could see it, even when we were in high school. I’m glad it’s working out.”
“So far, so good. How about you? Any men in your life?”
Darby smirks and shakes her head. “Nah. I’m way too busy with school, and I’m not really interested anyway.”
“Women, then?” I lift an eyebrow, and she laughs.
“No, no relationshipsat all.I’m as straight as can be, but men take work, and I have to put in enough of that in every other aspect of my life. I don’t see a relationship fitting into that any time soon. And that’s okay, you know?”
“For sure. I think it’s awesome that you decided to go back to school. Have you always wanted to be a vet?”
I sip my iced coffee, compliments of Millie, and Darby shakes her head. “I didn’t knowwhatI wanted for a long time. Mostly, for the majority of my life, I was just surviving, you know?”
I nod slowly. Darby’s childhood washorrific.I don’t know the details, just that their father was an abusive piece of shit. And I hate that so much.
