My cheeks turned hot, and I hoped no one noticed. He probably had a hundred reasons this inconvenienced him, a plethora of things to do in the next few months before he became assistant principal. But, and I knew I shouldn’t take it that way, it felt kind of personal. Like he didn’t want to do this…with me.
Ford bomb whistled. “Christy is gonna be ticked.”
“Do you think she’ll break up with him?” Ashton asked, the two of them gossiping like middle school girls. I guess I could stop calling her Barbie. Silas’s girlfriend had an actual name. And I was with Ashton. She was going to be really upset. If she couldn’t handle me even glancing at him, no way would she roll over at us living together for three months.
“Nah,” Holden chimed in. “Hmm.” He raised both brows. “But maybe. Seemed like there might be a Karenhidden underneath all that makeup and bleached hair. Like if you tried to pet her, she might take your pinky off.” He made claws with his fingers and hissed like a cat being squeezed to death by a fur-obsessed toddler.
I covered my mouth to hide my laughter. Not a single class I taught at the studio made my abs as sore as the Dupree brothers.
“This will be a test for them then, won’t it,” Bo said, finally standing and stretching.
He offered Jenny a hand, and she stood too.
Jenny seemed frazzled and heartbroken. I swear, she’d aged ten years in the last month. “But why? I don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Holden walked over and hugged her to him. “It’s not a slight against you, Mom. Nobody could ask for a better granny.” He opened his arm for Bo to join.
Anna jumped up and joined in, wrapping her arms around the three of them. “I’ll come see you every day. Firefly Fields is only five miles away. Right, Lemon?” She craned her head to look at me. By then, Ashton and Ford were in on the hug.
I was afraid to speak. What if Bo and Jenny hated me after this? I wouldn’t blame them one bit. My entire life, Jenny had put a knot in my stomach. She was perpetually on edge, making sure everyone and everything was perfectly in place. The last year had almost unraveled her, amplifying her need to be in control. But I forced myself to answer. “Of course. Absolutely.” I desperately wanted in on that hug.
As if Bo could read my mind, he looked over the top of Anna’s head and stretched his arm out to me. “Come here, you darling girl.” That’s all the permission I needed. In three strides, with my arms open wide, I pushed all my love into that embrace.
“It’s gonna be all right,” Bo said as the hug finally ended. “It’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to.”
Ashton raised an eyebrow. “Of course it will, but can we all agree that Sophie was nuts?”
Everyone laughed.
Then Jenny asked the question I’d been thinking. “What if Silas doesn’t agree?”
Mr. Llewellyn shook his head, glanced at Anna, and reluctantly replied, “You’ll have to go before a judge, and they’ll decide who Anna is going to live with. It will probably be you and Bo. But still, it will take some time and money to get it worked through. It would be much better if Silas did as Sophie asked.” He shook his head. “I warned Sophie that it was a possibility that at least one party might be unwilling and she might want to consider a back up plan.” He shook his head. “But she was determined.”
“Wouldn’t be Sophie if she wasn’t,” Holden said and then sighed. “I’ll go talk to Silas.”
four
SILAS
Isat on the hillside overlooking the high school baseball fields. The Seddledowne Stallions baseball team was in the middle of an after-school practice. The field was far enough away that no coach was going to think I was a creeper and not close enough that anyone would talk to me. I needed to be alone. Needed time to figure out what I was going to do.
The envelope Mr. Llewellyn gave me was already worn at the corners I’d handled it so much in the last fifteen minutes.
Sophie had even put a stupid heart for the dot over the I.
I slapped it against my palm, my jaw clenched. She never could leave me alone. Even dead, she was hounding me to do whatshewanted. I gripped the envelope in both my hands, debating if I should just open it right now. Find out what herendgame was. Derail whatever plans she’d made. What was she going to do about it? Haunt me? Seemed like she already was. Besides, I knew what this was about.
Someone dropped down beside me and I looked over to see Holden staring at me with that dumb expression he wore when he thought I’d made a fool of myself.
“How did you find me?” I grumbled.
“Dude. Find My Friends. We’ve got the whole family on there. We can see each other at all times,” he said, like I was an idiot.
I guessed I was. I hadn’t used that app in years. Kinda forgot it was even a thing. It always felt like stalking to me.
“You didn’t say goodbye to Ford and Ash.”
I grunted. I’d left in such a huff I’d forgotten they were leaving straight from the lawyer's office to get back to college. Ford, the baby of the family, was catching a flight back to NYU, where he’d be preparing for finals, and Ashton was driving down to Virginia Tech, where he was enrolled in a master’s program for English lit.
