I nod, smiling softly.
This… this is what we lost.
The warmth, the noise, the way people fill a space without leaving gaps.Family.
And somehow… I found it again.
???
After dinner, the noise slowly spills outside.
Chairs scrape, laughter carries into the cool evening air, and people drift toward the fire pit like it’s second nature.
The sky stretches wide above us, stars scattered across it, endless and untouched.
The fire crackles low at first, then stronger as Ethan tosses another log on. Sparks rise into the air and glow briefly before disappearing into the dark.
I sit on one of the benches, the heat brushing against my skin, Mason beside me, quieter now than he has been all evening.
Voices soften, conversations stretch, and for the first time since we arrived, I really notice Jude.
He sits a little apart with his elbows on his knees, staring into the fire like it’s telling him something the rest of us can’t hear.
Dex is across the fire, laughing as Ethan shoves him, the two of them caught in some half-serious argument.
This is what family is supposed to feel like.
Penny nudges my shoulder gently.
“I’m so happy for you two.”
I glance at her, smiling softly.
“Thank you. I’m happy too.”
She follows my gaze toward the men, her expression warming.
“They’re good men.”
I nod, watching Dex.
“Yeah… they are.”
The fire pops. Someone laughs. Mia’s voice carries through the night.
It’s peaceful.
Until Lily’s phone rings.
She answers it with a smile, stepping slightly away from the group, but something in the pause that follows makes my stomach tighten before she even speaks.
“Oh…” she breathes, her voice soft and breaking. “Oh, honey… I’m so sorry.”
The air shifts.
No one says anything, but everyone feels it.
“If there’s anything we can do… anything at all…”
