Not only them but everyone who turns when they hear the sound of my father’s truck. Each one waves and welcomes us, rushing over to help with the unloading. They may be my blood, but damnit they are each my family. I need to be better about accepting their help and stop thinking I can handle it all on my own.
It’s what family does.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sophie
“And these?”Finn’s mom asks as she points to another delicious goodie on the plate of things Jillian baked for today. So many little finger treats, bite-sized yummy morsels, she slaved over. Honestly it is not a task but more a pleasure as she loves baking for others.
Every single one of us swears she should open her own bakery. But she is following the dreams I think her parents have pushed upon her instead.
“Those are butter cookies, with various flavors of frosting, strawberry, vanilla, cinnamon cream cheese,” Jilly Bean points to each one as she says the flavor. “The perfect little bite-sized treat.”
“Well honey they are amazing, and I may just sit here and finish the entire tray.” I smile as I watch Patricia, or Patty as she’s insisted we call her, steal yet another one.
At first she was so uneasy, constantly checking her phone, worrying and guilt written all over her face. A worried lip, wringing her hands over and over. Yet, here we are a few hours later and she’s finally begun to settle.
She is adorable.
“Ladies, I need to make some curtains for Jayden’s room, made out of this.” Adley flops a pile of material onto the kitchen table and the older generation all stop and look at what she is offering. It’s like a switch being flipped, each one moving in closer to sift through the different shades of blues and greens, their creative minds kicking into overdrive.
“He couldn’t decide on which action hero so I got a little bit of everything and I figured we could patch in the different shades of coloring to pull it all together,” she offers an explanation for the mass amount of different patterns.
“Oh I think this is great,” Marnie says and Anita and Patty agree nodding as they each begin to sort. “And with Kay here, there is no way we could go wrong.”
Kay Douglas, Rory’s mother, is the town’s seamstress and best quilt maker for hundreds of miles in our opinion. She can take anything and create a masterpiece.
“I think you did great, sweetheart,” she offers Adley as she pulls her in for a side hug. The two of them have really grown close these past few months and I’m thankful for that. Adley has never truly had a reliable, constant mother figure. She’s never had that connection that reminds you that no matter what the case is, you can always go to them for anything. With Kay she has it now. Adley is the daughter she never had.
“I don’t expect to get them done, but I figure today would be a great day to start.” She shrugs. “I have no crafting skills, so I’m leaning on all you to lead the way.”
For the next several hours all of us sit around, laughing more than crafting but we manage to get all the patches cut out and pinned together. Kay has decided she is going to take them home and finish sewing them all together. There is enough material left over to make some matching throw pillows for Jayden’s bed too.
It’s truly sweet how dedicated Adley is to making his room the perfect boy’s room. She’s all domesticated and devoted, a complete one-eighty from the attitude filled girl she was a year ago. Adley was truly the one I thought would never be able to find a man that could run head to head with her and not crumble.
Rory, he is a good man, and an amazing father. They belong together.
“Oh honey, your nails are so pretty.” I glance over to my left just as Patty lifts my hand and turns it a little. The color shimmers in the light’s reflection as she turns it left and the right. “The coloring changes with the angle,” she adds.
“It does, and thank you.” I smile as she gently releases my hand and looks up at me. “I do them myself.” Not because I want to but because I’m broke. Working as a physical therapist assistant while finishing up my degree isn’t the best income. But in the end it will pay off and I am so close to the finish line.
“Well, they are beautiful.” She pats my hand and I thank her as she turns back to the ladies getting lost in the conversation.
I sit at her side, watching her, loving the sound of her laughter. From what I’ve heard she is a woman that always puts everyone else first. Her needs and her desires always come last. Now that her husband is sick and fighting a battle with dreadful cancer, she has truly given everything she has to caring for him. I don’t know her well, today is the first time I have ever met her in person, but it’s nice to see her so relaxed and joyous.
I can see Finn in her, they share the same eyes. The chocolate brown, kind eyes.
As I sit there in a room full of ladies, all my best friends and their mothers and in-laws, I am lost in happiness. The only thing missing is my own mother.
I find myself thinking about how well my mother and Finn’s mother would get along. Then I shake away those thoughts, feeling like a fool. Fake…it’s fake and it will never be anything more.
CHAPTER NINE
Finn
“I’ll be backin a couple hours,” I tell Troy as I grab my keys and head for the back door. Troy has been my dad’s friend since they were in their early twenties. He hired Troy after he moved here and bought an old shack just outside of town. Rundown and in desperate need of someone to fix it up, he did little by little to make it his home.
Troy served one tour in the Army and was wounded during a routine trying jump. He came here angry and needing nothing more than a place he could disappear to. What he didn’t know is that Hudson was the worst possible place he could settle in for privacy.
