I was the one in need.
Chapter 5
Lily
Igroaned as I drove up my parents’ long brick driveway. I counted the cars parked neatly along the side and realized that I was the last one to show up. The house I’d grown up in had changed a lot through the years. It started out as an average two-story, three-bedroom and two-bathroom ranch house with white clapboard and dark blue trim set on fifty acres of land backed by forest and foothills. It was still white with blue trim, but now it was a sprawling eight-bedroom, five-bathroom monstrosity with a huge pool, a pool house, an apartment over the garage that my Grandma Rosemary had just moved into, and an office retreat in the backyard for my mom to write her books in.
Mom was a novelist who wrote under the pen name Dahlia Lake. She wrote romance. She was a firm believer in true love and she was an unapologetic matchmaker. She was slightly nuts, but her heart was in the right place. She loved kids—there were eight of us, after all—and she was always begging us for more grandchildren.
Instead of moving every time my mother popped out another baby, Dad would just add on to the house. In addition to his job as Sweetbriar’s chief of police, my dad was theultimate do-it-yourselfer. He had just finished adding a massive great room to the house so we could all fit for Sunday dinner. This would be my first Sunday dinner with the family, and I was already off to a bad start, seeing as I was late.
I cut the engine and turned around in my seat. “Dylan, we’re late. I might get grounded,” I joked.
“Ooh, you’re in trouble.” He laughed at me. “I’ll tell Grandma it’s my fault. She never gets mad at me because I’m so cute.”
I hopped out of the car and opened the back door. I gave him a grin as I unbuckled his seatbelt. “True, you are cute. But we’ll be living in town and Grandma is going to babysit you all summer when I work at Violet’s. Cuteness is only going to get you so far when we’re here all the time. Keep that in mind.”
He considered my words. “Okay, you’re on your own, then. I’ll save my cuteness for when I spill milk or break a window.”
“Solid plan.” I held out my fist for a bump. “Let’s go in.”
He jumped out and started running for the front door.
“Lily Elizabeth Barrett-Sullivan. You are late,” Mom shouted from the huge brick porch. “Tell me you did not stop for snacks. You’d better not be full after I’ve been cooking all of your favorites all day,” she said as she headed for my car. Rose was hot on her heels and headed for the back seat to steal my baby.
“Hi, Lily,” Rose said as she unbuckled Calla and gave her a snuggle. Calla pulled her hair and “kissed” her cheek. Calla kisses consisted of an open mouth and copious amounts of drool.
Deliberately not mentioning the fact that we’d stopped at Violet’s for a snack, I informed her about my visit with Luke. “Dylan wanted to meet Luke, so I decided to get it over with.” I was hanging by a thread; so much was going through my mind. I needed to sit down or have a drink or take a decade-long nap.
“Oh my goodness!” She put her arms straight up in the air. “Yay! Rose, she went to Luke’s! How did it go? Is Dylan okay? Mark and Mara grabbed him as soon as he crossed the doorway. I didn’t even get to say hi or get a hug.” Mark and Mara were the children of my oldest brother, Asher, and were twins the same age as Dylan. There were a lot of twins in my family, but Rose and I were the only identical pair.
“Well, we’re here for good. Plenty of time for hugs now,” I said and hugged her for emphasis. My mother was a tall, willowy woman. I had been looking up to her literally and figuratively my whole life. She was a force of nature with long, wavy silver hair and blue eyes framed with black, cat-eye glasses. She was always dressed stylishly, even when she’d had all of us kids running around. I didn’t know how she managed it because I could barely find time to brush my hair. In fact, I usually just threw it up in a bun without even touching a brush.Slob, thy name is Lily.
“I’m so excited.” She looked first at me and then at Rose holding Calla as tears filled her eyes. “I finally have my little fairy babies back together! And a tiny redheaded fairy grandbaby too.” Mom called us her little fairies because Rose and I had been so small when we were born, and we’d stayed small and short into adulthood. Our other siblings were tall, even the girls. Mom took Calla from Rose just as Dylan ran up to us. “There you are, Dylan.”
“I’m here, Grandma, but I’m not a fairy,” he said and hugged her around her waist.
“What do you want to be, darling?” She squeezed him back and kissed the top of his head.
“I’m a lumberjack like my dad Luke.” He laughed and ran back inside the house.
Mom beamed at me as we started walking to the house. “You had a good talk with Luke, then?” She snuggled Calla close and kissed her chubby cheek. Calla did not pull her hair.Even though it was long and shining silver in the sunlight, she just stared at it, watching it sparkle in the sun.
“Dylan did the talking. I didn’t know what to say, or maybe I have too much to say.” My eyes burned and my lips trembled, each a sign I was about to burst into tears. What was it about being near my mother that made me so emotional?
“Oh, honey?—”
Rose interrupted her. “Mom, give me the baby and take her upstairs to talk. I’ll check on Dylan and get him some dinner. Go on upstairs, Lily.” I loved my sister so much. She always knew what I needed. She headed out of the entryway and into the living room where she was accosted by Violet, who demanded to hold Calla again. I rolled my eyes and followed Mom up the stairs to the upstairs sitting area.
“Shoo, Levi, Jude. Go down and get something to eat. Lily and I need to talk.” My youngest brothers were lounging on the giant sectional playing a game on the Xbox. They took one look at my expression, and each gave me a hug before practically running down the stairs. They were allergic to female tears and emotions of all kinds. I turned to plop onto the overstuffed couch and snagged a pillow to hug.
“Stop hugging pillows, Lily,” Mom demanded. “You have your mama to hug now.” She sat next to me and pulled me sideways into her arms. “Tell me what happened. Luke seemed so determined to make things right with you. I’m surprised it went badly.”
“It didn’t really go bad.” I sniffed as I rested my head against her shoulder. “I just couldn’t talk. I took one look at him and it was like going through a screwy time machine. Being near him again felt familiar. But I also couldn’t stop remembering how much it hurt when he left me. And I was attracted to him even though he looks different. It was so confusing.”
“How was he with Dylan?” sheprodded.
“Perfect. He said everything right. Dylan is going to love him, which makes me happy, but I also can’t help but think of Will. Dylan was so natural with Luke, and it made me wish we’d all been together all along. Then I felt guilty, like I was betraying Will. I loved Will very much and I still do, just not like...” I covered my face with my hands. I couldn’t even say it out loud.
