“And the cabin we’re staying in is perfect. It’s so comfortable. And roomy.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
The logistics of lodging for everybody had been a nightmare. He, Rob, Hannah and Joey had lost an entire day to making the drive to Maine and back with campers borrowed from the family. On Monday evening, after the wedding, most of the Maine family would head home, but a few of them would crash in the house.
That wouldn’t be fun. The campground had two buildings on it—the store that also served as the office, and a small house that needed a lot of TLC. Brian and his brothers stayed in the house during the camping season, though only Rob didn’t keep a primary residence in the southern part of the state. They hadn’t had TLC to spare for the house yet, though, and throwing a couple more guys in there would be tough. They might have to break out tents. Then the Maine family would drive the campers back on Tuesday when everybody left and the newlyweds took off for their official honeymoon in Bar Harbor.
They’d decided to give the big cabin on the hill to the bride and groom because, even though they’d have to use the bathhouse, it was the most private. And Kyle’s brother and best man, Wes, along with his sister-in-law, Amber, and Ron, Wes and Kyle’s grandfather, would be staying in one of the campers. Kyle and Wes had lost their parents to a car accident when they were in college, so it was just the four of them.
Everybody had a place to sleep, but Brian and his brothers had burned through a lot of sticky notes figuring it out. It was like a seating chart, but for beds, and he hoped they’d never have to do it again.
“We definitely appreciate it,” Kyle said again. “Ihaven’t spoken with your grandparents yet, so I’ll catch you later.”
“Make sure you bring a chair because once they get going, you’ll be there awhile.”
Sometime later, while Brian and Stella were sharing some food in a shady spot under a tree, Steph wandered over and sat on the ground next to him.
“Have you seen Siobhan yet?” she asked, not being one to beat around the bush.
His shoulders tensed. “Briefly. We said hi.”
“Is it going to be okay?”
He wasn’t sure what she meant byokay, but he turned and looked at her. There was an anxiety in his cousin’s eyes that he didn’t like seeing there, so he dug deep and gave her a genuine smile. “It’s going to be okay, Steph.”
She blew out a relieved breath. “I’m glad. I know it was a big ask, so thank you for being okay with it.”
“Her kid’s cute.”
She gave him a thoughtful look that didn’t make sense to him. It was a pretty standard comment to make about a person’s child. “He is. Quite the blue eyes.”
He snorted and nodded his head toward the gathering of people. “No shortage of those around here. I guess he’ll fit right in.”
Steph stared at him for a few seconds and then pushed herself to her feet. “I guess if it’s going to be okay between you, I should go find her and tell her to come join us. I need her to meet Kyle’s family, and plus, our family’s been asking about her.”
He nodded, but she still hesitated a moment before turning and walking away. She was acting a little weird, but she was probably just really afraid any awkwardnessbetween him and Siobhan would put a damper on the festivities.
“Not going to happen,” he told Stella, who looked ecstatic about it. Or maybe it was the cube of cheddar cheese Brian slipped to her. “We’re just going to sit over here and mind our business, girl.”
Chapter Three
Siobhan sat in her camper, staring at her cell phone, while Oliver played with puzzles on the floor. Of course Kelly’s number had been disconnected. She didn’t even know where her sister was living right now, but if there was one thing she did know, it was that she didn’t pay her bills and went through pay-as-you-go cell phones like candy.
She didn’t want to call their mother. Siobhan had worked hard to maintain a separation between them, and reaching out would be an invitation for a flurry of renewed contact before Janelle Rowe got distracted and forgot about her again.
Instead, she stared at her reflection in the darkened cell phone screen and remembered the day Kelly had shown up at her door with her car stuffed with her belongings. She had to leave Brian, she’d said. He was awful and she’d fallen in love with somebody else. She was pregnant and afraid of how Brian would react to her cheating and carrying somebody else’s baby.
Siobhan had questioned her so thoroughly, trying not to judge her for the adultery. Kelly was definitely a lot like their mother. How could she be so sure it wasn’t Brian’s baby? Because they fought all the time and hadn’t hadsex in months. Why had she run? She was afraid. Brian had a temper and she was afraid he wouldn’t let her go.
Seeing her younger sister so distressed, her body heaving from the sobs, had been her undoing. She’d helped Kelly move in with her new love, and she’d been the one to show up on Brian’s door to demand the rest of her sister’s things. Whenever possible, she’d been Kelly’s liaison in the divorce, which thankfully had gone quickly, and Kelly was still able to hide her pregnancy the last time she was forced to see Brian.
The man had been like ice, with anger simmering below the surface, and Siobhan had been weak with relief when the legal connection between him and her sister was finally severed.
Oliver was three months old when Kelly and her boyfriend showed up at her door and asked her to adopt him. They hated being parents because they had big dreams and they were going to travel. If she didn’t take him, they were going to surrender him to the state and let somebody else adopt him.
Siobhan had taken Oliver and made him her son, even though she knew it would mean seeing less of Kelly. Their mother had always been selfish, often leaving the girls to fend for themselves. Since Kelly knew how it felt to have a mother like that, Siobhan had hoped becoming a mom herself would change her sister. It hadn’t, and Siobhan knew it was for the best that Kelly had bailed while Oliver was still an infant.
But she also knew that, like Janelle, Kelly avoided anything that made her feel guilt and shame—or anything resembling a complicated emotion, really—so she knew their relationship would shift to a distant one.
