And then they were laughing.
The forbidden kind of laughter only a serious moment can inspire, when you just can’t help yourself once you get going. Ava’s eyes watered once more, but this time from laughter.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. Even in death, Dad couldn’t help but fuck me over one last time,” Lucas said.
Ava tried to swallow down her laughter to comfort Lucas. It took a couple of tries before it stuck. She dabbed at her eyes with the neck of her shirt to dry her tears.
“I’m sorry. We weren’t laughing at you,” Ava said.
“But you have to admit that was a hell of a way for him to go,” Noah said.
Lucas rolled his eyes at both of them and tugged off his shirt to dry his hair and face with the partially dry material.
“I think he heard you, Lucas, and that was his acknowledgment. That he forgave you, too,” Noah added, his voice dropping the mirth of their laughter.
“By making me choke on his ashes?” Lucas said.
“I think he was trying to break through your tough exterior,” Ava said.
Lucas shoved his face into the wadded-up shirt for a moment, his shoulders hunched forward. Was he crying? Ava wasn’t sure she knew what to do with a crying Lucas. He never cried.
He dropped the shirt in his lap and looked toward the sky. “Well, I wish he’d chosen a different way. Though maybe that was the point,” he mused.
The three siblings lapsed into silence, each absorbed in their thoughts about their last words to their father. Ava searched for the pair of loons on the far side of the lake and watched as they dipped under the surface to swim to a new place.
Noah broke the silence first. “So what now?”
“For the first time in a long time, I’m actually not sure,” Lucas said. “I might stick around here for a while. Figure some stuff out.”
“Really?” Ava asked.
Lucas stared down at the shirt in his hands, wringing it tight. He nodded. “I can stick around, make sure the cabin sells. You both need to get back to work, but I can stay remote for longer.”
Noah smiled. The breeze ruffled his hair, making him look even younger. “Thanks, man,” Noah said. “What about you, Ava?”
“I think it’s time we talked about the will,” she said. Nerves ate her from the inside, her anxiety spiking at the thought of another fight with her brothers. But they needed to settle this. She couldn’t give Owen her decision until they did. A decision that came as naturally as breathing the more time she spent with Owen and Avery.
She wanted to stay.
She wanted the promise of a future with them, the family she regretted not having.
She wanted to be a part of the bed-and-breakfast.
Her brothers remained silent, and she realized they were waiting for her to continue.
“I want to stay in Cedar Falls, but I need your help.”
Chapter 31
The Gala
“You have your speech, right?”
“Right here.” Owen patted the left pocket of his suit jacket.
“And you did a tech check? Does the PowerPoint show up correctly?”
“Many times, trust me,” Owen assured her.
