After the shooting and seeing Lake again, I had stopped the rentals on my house, so I knew nobody would be there. When my father passed, leaving it to me and I couldn’t bear to go back, I had a company taking care of it as a vacation rental.
I guess it was the perfect time to take a walk down memory lane, but my body was still tense with apprehension.
My home may have looked completely different inside but the bones of it were the same, and if the walls could talk they’d tell many stories.
I stood just inside the doorway, my feet frozen in place as my gaze scanned the surroundings. Memories slammed into me with a force that should have knocked me over.
The loss and sorrow that had embedded itself in my heart knowing I wasn’t there for my father when he died, was almost too much to bear. I’d run from the feelings I had for Lake and lost her along with my dad in the process.
Forgiveness was not something I deserved in my mind, but she was giving it to me anyway. My father, however, wouldn’t have that chance. I’d give about anything for him to be standing there to welcome me home and lay into me for my stupidity.
“He was never angry,” Lake said, reading my feelings like she was a fortune teller flipping tarot cards. “Your father was so proud of you and loved you so much.”
A lump the size of a boulder clogged my throat as I fought to keep my composure.
For a second I thought I’d made a mistake dredging up my past but Lake was so much a part of it, how could I not let that part of me in so I could build a future with her?
I felt a soft hand slip into one of mine and in the next second a tiny palm slid into my other. I glanced down at the connection of each, then back up into the beautiful faces of the girls who flanked my sides. Without actually saying anything, their eyes said everything.
They were there for me, sharing all their strength and encouragement.
But that wasn’t all.
They were giving me their love.
Right there and then, I knew I’d spend the rest of my life showering them with the same.
Chapter Nineteen
LAKE
I had a sister.
The landscape sped by as I sat shotgun in Bronson’s SUV and we headed toward Braxton and Jurnee’s house for an impromptu BBQ. My phone had rung mid-morning and I was surprised to see that it was Jurnee calling me to invite us over. She said she’d woken up and thought it was time for a get-together.
What had perplexed me even more, was that the down-to-earth, cute, friendly woman—the classic girl next-door—had asked me if not only myself and Stormi would come, but also Bronson. It didn’t escape me during the conversation that she hadn’t inquired if we were a couple.
Had Bronson said something to his friends about us or did Capri spill the beans about our kiss?
When I mentioned going to the gathering to him and admitted how confused I was about the request for us both to attend, having the inquiry come to me alone, he just smiled. Then he said something that made me swoon and my heart quickened with possibilities of a future.
“They’reourfriends, not just mine, Cupcake. And I just want to be wherever you are as much as I can. I don’t want to be without you again, Lake.Ever.”
I wasn’t sure what to think about it all or how to respond when I was still struggling to believe that more between us was possible. But Bronson didn’t seem put off by my silence. He just walked over, tenderly kissed my forehead, and winked, something he seemed to do a lot lately.
With that, I swooned all over again.
Reeling from my feelings for Bronson and the news that I had received a few days before, I thought maybe going to hang out with my new, wonderful friends would be a good distraction.
With an extra push on Bronson’s part, the results of the DNA relationship test River and I took had come back a bit sooner than we’d expected. I’d come home from work to find an answer to what could be another major life changing event—they seemed to be happening a lot recently—waiting for me.
I stared at the piece of mail for hours before I gathered the courage to call River so we could open it together, knowing that she also should have gotten the results. Having agreed to do it at the same time, I wondered why she hadn’t called me yet. Was she as nervous as I was or maybe she wished she hadn’t assented to it at all?
When I had met River she kind of seemed strong, bold, but a bit damaged. Not broken per say, but as though life had thrown her for a loop. I don’t know why I seemed to sense that but maybe because we did have a bond we weren’t aware of yet.
I wavered when she answered, not sure if I was ready for what we may find. But she knew exactly why I was calling and with a no-nonsense attitude she got right to the point. Something I felt was a coping mechanism because her voice quivered when she spoke after hearing the news, just as mine had as I read them.
“So, I have a sister,” she said quietly before going silent.
