“Alycia, honey, welcome to the family.”
Kyle goes still beside me, like the words hit him harder than they hit me, and the room erupts before I can process what is happening.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alycia
Ms. Mel says, “Welcome to the family,” and it’s like someone tossed a match into a pile of very enthusiastic, very combustible Hendrix siblings.
Cole nearly knocks over his water glass. “Oh, wow. That’s it. That’s the highest honor in this house. We’re never letting you two forget this.”
“Cole, stop announcing it like it’s breaking news.” Beau drags a hand down his face.
“Momma, you cannot just spring that on people.” Ramona claps once, delighted and horrified at the same time.
“I can do whatever I want in my house,” Ms. Mel declares, folding her napkin like the activity is confidence.
Kyle looks like he wants to climb under the table. Not metaphorically, but literally. His hand tightens on his napkin, his shoulders creeping up like he’s waiting for a rogue puck to fly at his face.
“Momma,” he says slowly, carefully, like he’sapproaching a wild animal. “We talked about boundaries.”
“I adore boundaries,” she replies brightly. “I just don’t always keep them. And this needed to be said.”
Something inside me goes very still while my body does the opposite. My heart kicks hard, and my breath flutters high. It feels like standing on the edge of a cliff. The ground beneath me is steady at the exact moment my brain registers how far there is to fall.
“Thank you,” I hear myself say. “That’s… incredibly kind.”
It’s dangerously kind because warmth like this has strings. It plants roots and opens doors I don’t know how to walk through. The weight behind her welcome, the certainty in her voice, the way every Hendrix in the room turned to look at me, not with suspicion or judgment… but with unconditional acceptance, like they’ve already decided I belong here. And that’s the part that terrifies me.
My chest goes tight, breath catching somewhere just below my ribs. I grip the edge of my napkin to hide the tremor in my hand. A thousand alarms fire in my brain—don’t fall for this, don’t read into this, don’t want what isn’t yours—but underneath them, something quieter rises. Before it can grow roots, her smile widens, warm enough to melt every defense I’ve spent years perfecting.
“Please, call me Momma,” she says, absolutely beaming.
Kyle chokes so violently, I’m surprised he stays inhis chair. His knee slams the underside of the table, silverware rattling like the entire house is reacting with him.
“Momma,” he sputters, voice cracking in a way I didn’t think was physically possible for him, “you can’t just— She can’t just— Alycia doesn’t have to call you…”
The words tumble out of him in a frantic mess, like his usually smooth brain-to-mouth connection has shorted out. The Kyle Hendrix who deflects pressure like it’s part of his job description is absolutely panicking. And somehow, his panic steadies me more than any breath exercise ever has.
He isn’t panicking because he’s embarrassed. He’s panicking because of what this means for me. He doesn’t want me to feel cornered or overwhelmed. He cares, more than he ever says out loud, how this lands on my heart.
Suddenly, it isn’t just me holding something fragile between us. He is holding it, too. Maybe I shouldn’t let that matter. Maybe I shouldn’t feel anything about it at all.
But I do.
Cole slaps the table like this is the season finale of a show he’s been binge-watching. “Oh, this is premium entertainment. I needed this today.”
“Can we not traumatize her in the first five minutes?” Beau exhales, gripping the bridge of his nose between his fingers.
From the other end of the table, Cooper appearsin the doorway, eyebrows arched. “What did I miss? And why does Kyle look like he’s about to pass out?”
“Your mother welcomed Alycia to the family,” Ramona responds, running a soothing hand down Kyle’s back.
“Oh.” Cooper snickers. “Yeah, that’ll do it.”
Kyle shoots him a betrayed look. “Coop. Not you, too.”
“You’ll live,” Cooper says, completely unbothered, taking his seat next to Ramona like this is the most natural chaos in the world.
