“Um, what is going on?” I said as Luke reached my side and wrapped his arm around me. And by extension, Madison, who looked up at him with a smile.
Mikey pulled back and gave Luke an assessing look. “Who’s this, Aunt Lily? You got a boyfriend?”
“This is Luke. Dylan’s dad.”
Mikey smiled huge and stuck his hand out like a grown-up would do. “Hi, Luke. I’m Michael Austin Hale, but everyone calls me Mikey. I’m Dylan’s best friend in the entire known universe, and probably all the unknown parts too. We’ve been best friends since we met at age two and a half. We are both six years old and were in the same class for kindergarten. So, basically, we’re exactly like brothers.”
Luke shook Mikey’s hand with a bemused smile. “Nice to meet you, Mikey.”
Mikey pointed up at Madison. “This is my little sister, Madison Elizabeth Hale. She’s four, but she’ll be five next week. I’m going to be in first grade with Dylan, and Madison will be a kindergartener when school starts.” We heard the front door open. Mikey turned around and pointed. “That’s my dad. His name is Trevor Joseph Hale, but I call him Dad, and Dylan calls him Uncle Trev. Our dads used to be partners before Uncle Will died. I miss him a lot, but I’m glad Dylan has another dad. You seem nice, but if you weren’t, Aunt Lily would kick your butt, so I’m not going to worry about it.” Mikey smiled up at Luke, then looked at me. “Aunt Lily, can I play with that Xbox that’s hooked up in the living room? Mine is in a box on the truck.” Gosh, this kid. Precocious, to say the least.
“Go for it,” I told him and watched him run off into the house.
Trevor smiled at me as he strode down the front walkway. Trevor was handsome and tall and sweet and a great dad. I guessed this was the reason why he had been incommunicadolately. He’d been too busy packing and moving to answer my texts.
“Hey, Trev. What’s going on?”
He opened his mouth to answer, but my dad beat him to it as he popped out of the garage.
“Trev is the new detective on the force. Isn’t that great? We needed another good man on board. He’ll partner up with Cade eventually. And he’s going to stay here until his house sells and he gets into another one in town.” He turned to Trevor. “There’s room in the garage now, son. Let’s unload your stuff.”
Trevor laughed. “Well, that’s the story. I didn’t intend to keep it from you. Everything just fell into place quickly. One minute, I’m on the phone with your dad, and the next day, I’m in a truck driving down. It’s good.” He smiled softly. “We’ll be closer to my family, and Dylan and Mikey can be closer too.” He stroked Madison’s cheek. “And this one was really missing you.” She looked at me with her huge blue eyes. I cuddled her closer as she tucked her head into my neck.
“I missed you too, honey,” I whispered in her ear.
Trevor stuck his hand out to Luke. “I’m Trevor. You must be Luke. It’s nice to meet you,” he said.
“You too, man.” They shook hands. This day had been a roller coaster, and it seemed we still weren’t ready to get off.
Cade came out the front door with a huge smile. “We’re all in luck. Mom heard you’re here, Trev. She and Gram are cooking right now. Dinner tonight, all of us, at the house.”
Dad poked his head out of the garage again. “Lily, I packed you up. It’s all loaded in the back of Cade’s truck, and when we finish unloading Trev, we’ll take it to the house. You and the kids are all set.”
I guess that was one less thing to worry about. Maybe I could get someone to unpack too. Then repack and unpack again when this whole weird mess was over. I groaned.
“Thanks, Dad. We’ll head over, then.” I turned to Trev. “I’ll take Madison and Mikey with me, if you like.” My answer came when Mikey shot out of the front door like a bullet. It was impossible to keep anything from Mikey; he had the hearing of a bat and was nosy like you wouldn’t believe.
“Dad, say yes. I can’t wait to see Dylan. A man needs his best friend. Am I right?” I shifted Madison to my hip and stuck my hand out for a high-five. Mikey smacked my palm with a grin.
“You sure?” Trevor asked me, and I nodded. “Thanks, Lily. This will make unloading go by so much faster, and I’ll help unload your stuff too.” He hugged me and Madison goodbye, did his secret handshake with Mikey, and headed for the moving truck.
“Mikey, my boy, Dylan will be so happy to see you. Best surprise ever.” I smiled down at him. “Let’s go.”
Luke helped me load the kids up. Then we were off. Again.
I spotted Jane’s car in the driveway when we turned down the windy lane to my parents’ house and did a happy dance in my head when I saw her. Jane was tall and full of curves I was jealous of. She had light brown hair the same shade as Will’s hair cut into a wavy bob. And she shared the same beautiful green eyes as Will and Calla. She got out of her car just as Luke pulled to a stop. I hopped out with a squeal.
“Jane!” I called. The look on her face squelched my excitement.
Yeesh, the roller coaster was on a down slope again.
Jane took a step toward me as Luke moved around to the back to unload the kids. “I opened the family safe deposit box today to get my passport and I found an envelope with your dad’s name on it in Will’s handwriting.”
“That is definitely weird. Did you open it?” I asked as I hugged her.
She hugged me back. “No, I figured I’d letyour dad open it.” As we pulled apart, Luke came around the car with Trevor’s kids. “Hi, Luke. Hey, kids,” she said.
“Hey, Jane,” Luke’s voice was cautious as he returned Jane’s hug. Hugging was a good sign, right?
