I head upstairs and change into a pair of jeans and a Henley, throw on some mascara and lip gloss and run my fingers through my damp hair. I remember what I was like when I first started dating Ty. I would stress over my hair and makeup and clothes, but that was never the case with Holden. He has seen me at my worst and loved me anyway.
I bounce down the stairs feeling confident and content, two things that I haven’t felt in a very long time.
Twenty minutes later, Jude’s rental is pulling to a stop in front of the house. I jump out of the rocking chair and rush out the door. Zoey is closest, so I hug her first and as I hug Jude, Zoey opens the back door to get Declan out of his car seat.
Jude holds me in the hug for a very long moment and when he pulls back he opens his mouth to say something, but I hold up my hand to silence him. I smile. “Don’t start with your Dr. Phil psycho therapy before I get to hug my nephew.”
I turn, bend and extend my arms to Declan. “Deck!”
“Auntie Winnie!” Declan squeals and runs toward me on his chubby almost three-year-old legs. I scoop him up and swing him around as he giggles.
Dropping him onto my hip, I look up and see Holden in the doorway of the cottage. He’s smiling. I glance at Zoey and Jude. “Come on. You guys aren’t going to believe how great this place looks.”
They follow me up the stairs. Jude and Holden do that bro-hug, hand-clasp thing that guys do, and then Zoey hugs him. “I haven’t seen you in what feels like a century,” Holden says.
“I know,” Zoey says with a friendly smile. “But it’s great to see you back here.”
“It’s great to be back,” Holden replies.
“Show me your work,” Jude urges. “Let’s see if I have to run you out of town.”
Holden laughs. “Come on.”
We spend the next forty minutes going through the first floor because Holden is giving every possible detail about every single change. You’d think it might be boring, but the way he talks about his work is so animated and passionate, it’s keeping Jude and Zoey intrigued and impressed.
“Everything is beyond perfect,” Jude says happily. “I can’t thank you enough.”
Holden grins and it’s filled with pride. “I’m really happy you think so.”
Declan squirms on my hip. “Potty!”
Zoey and Jude both jump but Zoey reaches him first. “I got you, little man. Let’s do this!”
She lifts him off my hip and rushes to the bathroom, kicking the door closed with her foot. “We just started potty training,” Jude explains. “No accidents so far, but we live in constant fear. Constant.”
Holden laughs. I pat my brother’s shoulder. He looks around the renovated first floor again. “Dad would have fucking loved this.”
I nod and my eyes water, but I don’t cry. “He would have. I can see him sitting at the new peninsula in the kitchen, checking the hockey scores in the paper and ranting about some stupid penalty you took the night before.”
Jude laughs, but it’s heavy, choked. “You have to picture that? Him pissed at me.”
“They’re some of my favorite memories of him,” I say back and laugh as Jude gives me a little push.
Jude looks up at Holden. “We need a family minute.”
Holden nods and starts toward the porch.
“We don’t,” I argue before Holden can leave. He freezes, his gaze bouncing between me and Jude, wondering who he should listen to. I turn back to Jude. “You guys are staying for the weekend. We can have some annoying brother-sister moment later. Just enjoy it.”
Jude sighs but lets me win.
Zoey opens the bathroom door and Declan comes running out. “I peepeed in the bowl so I get a weeward.”
“A weeward?” I repeat.
“He has trouble with Rs,” Zoey explains with a laugh. “But if you think about it, ‘weeward’ kinda works perfectly.”
“How about as a weeward we go to the beach,” Jude says to his son. “There might be surfers.”
