“Damn straight it is. Now about this sister, Hazel. You need to make contact, Jay.”
“Yeah, I’ve come to that realization too.”
“Nice to hear that leaving cleared your head, then. Love you, bro. See you soon.”
“Yeah, love you, too, Dan.” He cut the call, then found Blue’s number and proceeded to stare at it for several seconds. What would he say to her?
Jay went with a text message saying only that he had heard she was hurt, hoped she was doing okay, and that he would be back soon.
Rereading it after he’d sent it, it came across cold and impersonal to Jay. But it was done, no going back now. He then pulled up the DNA email and clicked on the website link. Unsure what the hell he was supposed to say to this sister Hazel who hedidn’t know, he found the site’s internal messaging system and simply said his name was Jay and that she was his half sister.
When he woke the next morning, Blue hadn’t replied, but Hazel had. Her message said,I received a notification about you, Jay, and have been plucking up the courage to reach out to you. I’m so pleased you did it first!
But Blue’s silence told Jay she was pissed or hurting after the way he’d behaved. Or, she was too ill to message him.
“You know that’s not true,” Jay muttered. Dan had told him she was fine.
He didn’t reply to Hazel immediately, needing time to work out what he wanted to say. Jay instead, plotted how to go after those shitheads who’d hurt Blue. Then he worked through what he needed to say to her. He was still no clearer when he boarded a plane home to Lyntacky the following day.
He wasn’t a wing-it kind of person, but he had a feeling that was how this was going to go. Jay didn’t often feel nerves because of his meticulous planning to ensure he always knew what he was doing, but he felt them today as he touched down at the Lyntacky airport.
Could he fix what he’d broken between them? They were having a baby, so he had to fix it.
He’d told Dan he was arriving early today and what time he’d land so he’d be able to play in the baseball match, so when he stepped out into a fine Lyntacky day, he was surprised to see Robyn Duke there, leaning against her car.
“Are you waiting for me?”
“Dan had to work this morning and then set up for the game, so he asked me to get you.”
The woman still looked like she was in her thirties. Genes, Dan always told him. Duke genes didn’t believe in aging.
“Thanks, but I could have found my way home, Robyn.”
“Well, now you don’t have to. I have instructions to take you to your place, let you change, and then drive you to the game.”
“Right, the game,” Jay said slowly.
She pushed off the car and came toward him, arms open. The hug came with her familiar scent. Robyn had smelled the same since the first day he’d met her when she’d stepped into his don’t-come-near-me space and hugged him close.
He remembered the scared boy he’d been when she held him, every muscle locked. He’d been certain she’d let go when she felt his tension. She hadn’t. Instead, she held on until his body had no choice but to soften. Until something in him had cracked just enough to let warmth in. It had been the first hug from someone who really cared.
“In you get. I got us coffee,” Robyn said when she finally released him, but only when she was ready to do so.
“Thanks.”
Jay climbed into the passenger seat and took the coffee from the cup holder. The first taste made him sigh. Strong. Perfect. “This was made by Ryder, right? I can always tell.”
“My boy is the best at coffee making.”
She didn’t start the car, but turned slightly in her seat and looked at him.
Jay blew out a breath, knowing what was coming. He’d had these conversations before with Robyn or Asher. The senior Duke version of an interrogation was gentler than most, but it was no less thorough. The car wouldn’t be starting until she’d said her piece.
“So, Jay, what’s going on with you?”
He stared at the dashboard for a moment, watching as a van rolled in to park in front of them. There was no point not telling her the truth because she’d pull it out of him anyway.
“I want Blue Jay McAllister in my life, Robyn. Want her and the baby to live with me as a family.” No more secrets, hethought. If he wanted his life to change, then he had to be the one to instigate that.
