They all give me the same unconvinced look.
“Fine,” I groan. “It’s maybe slightly related.”
“Oh honey,” Holly says gently. “All of this is related.”
She gestures to the sea of memories across the carpet—years of little confessions I kept tucked away forsafety, and now I’m about to hang them on a wall and call it heritage.
My chest squeezes.
Dixie holds up a print and stares at it like it's proof of extraterrestrial life. “Jesus. Look at his stupid face. Man was genetically engineered to ruin women.”
Charlie snorts. “Heartthrob bones.”
“You’re damn right,” Dixie says.
Eve lifts a photo of Everett leaning against the North Ridge sign. “This was the winter his dad broke his wrist, right? Everett got his first chance to get a taste of running things, right?”
My throat tightens. “Yeah. That’s how I got the shot.”
Holly digs into the box and pulls out a folded scrap of paper. “This looks…dangerously like a diary entry.”
“Oh God,” I whisper, too late.
She unfolds it.
It’s my handwriting. Messy. Smudged. Sixteen-year-old catastrophe.
If he kisses me tonight, I’m not going to survive it.
Holly gasps. “Yeah, I knew you had pics with notes… but I didn’t realize you were having full-blown emotional episodes in cursive.”
“I—shut up.”
Charlie picks up another scrap. “He’s going to break me in half one day and I’m going to thank him.Damn, Sierra. No wonder the darkroom was biblical.”
My face burns. “These were PRIVATE.”
“And now they’re décor,” Dixie says, tossing it into the “maybe hang this” pile.
Eve shakes her head, smiling softly. “Tonight isn’t about protecting your secrets. It’s about telling the truth. Even the feral teenage ones.”
Before I can respond, My phone buzzes on the quilt.
Not Everett.
Shelly Morgan.
Relief slams through me and blow out a breath when I see her message.
“You reached out,” she says softly.
“I did,” I whisper. “Last night. I asked her if…”
I swallow hard. “If she thought Bruce might want to come to the heritage walk.”
Charlie leans in. “Shelly’s a badass. I adore her. She’s giving big Grammie Bea energy.”
Holly nods. “Warm, loving, and absolutely capable of dragging someone by the ear if needed.”
