“I supervised!”
A glimmer of a smile crossed Grace’s expression. Dane kissed her temple. Emma leaned into Ashford, whispering in his ear, and he nodded.
There. The problem wasn’t fixed, but at least we could take a break before the inevitable next round.
While everyone was busy clearing the table, I grabbed Grace’s hand and tugged her down the hallway toward the laundry room. “Hey, I’m sorry it all went down like that,” I said quietly.
“Me too.” Grace hugged me, and I rested my cheek on her head. “I tried texting Grayden after he left to see if he’s alright, but he hasn’t written back. I don’t even know if he has a place to stay.”
“I’m sure he’ll figure it out. He did show up tonight out of the blue. He had to expect it might not go well.”
Grace looked like she wanted to disagree, but then nodded. “Yeah. I was shocked to see him. But it felt good to hold him.” Her voice faltered. “He’s my brother, Piper. I hadn’t hugged my brother for half my life until tonight. It isn’t right. I just want this to work out. It has to.”
“It will,” I said firmly.
“You always say that.”
“I’m always right. Sometimes it just takes a while for the rest of the world to catch up.”
Dessert helped everyone settle down. We shoveled pastry crust and sweet fillings into our mouths, taking comfort from all those calories. I poured cups of coffee from the carafe I’d brought anddeclined Callum’s offer to spike it. Didn’t want to be tipsy when I drove Ollie home.
After more hugs and lingering goodbyes, I grabbed my container of leftovers and managed to get a yawning Ollie into the back seat of the car. He was tall enough to be out of his booster, but still too small for the front.
Of course, the first thing he said when I started the engine was, “Mom, I want to know who Grayden is.”
Shit.
Whatever I said to Ollie, it would probably get back to Ashford’s daughter Maisie. Those two were so close. As good as cousins. And I didn’t want to ask him to lie to his friend. What kind of example would that set?
Though I did stretch the truth sometimes myself for perfectly legitimate reasons…
I bought myself a minute or two by studying the road and tapping my fingers on the steering wheel. “It’s one of those complicated family things, Ollie-bear. Grown-up things.”
“Mom,” he whined.
“Hold on, I’m getting to it, okay? Just let me explain.”
Ha, like all this made sense to me. But I was the parent. I was supposed to have all the answers, even though I was still trying to figure out life myself.
“The thing is, Grayden is part of the O’Neal family.”
“How?”
Well, I couldn’t avoid it, could I? “He’s the oldest brother. It was Grayden, then Ashford, Callum, and Grace.”
“I didn’t know they had another brother! Maisie doesn’t know either!”
“Yeah, that’s the complicated part. Ashford doesn’t talk to Grayden anymore. And he doesn’t want Maisie to talk to Grayden.”
“Why? Is he bad?”
“He’s…no. He’s made some mistakes, but I don’t think he’s bad. Grace and Callum don’t think so.”
“What did Grayden do? Why doesn’t Ashford like him?”
Phew, couldn’t we just have the where-babies-come-from talk again?
“Grayden hurt someone. He had to go to prison. I don’t know exactly what happened. It was a long time ago.”
