Presley had a big smile on her face. “We have a surprise for you. You’ve done so much for us, and for our girl, Cutler. We couldn’t resist.”
“Surprise!” I heard my mother’s voice before she even came around the corner. I froze for a second, my chest tightening. Then I saw her—my mom smiling at me, and everything hit at once: relief, joy, and definitely shock.
She and my father walked into the kitchen with wide grins on their faces.
“We came to have a big family weekend with the six of us,” my mother said, a big smile spread across her face.
“Hey, Mama,” I said, pulling her into my arms.
My Sunny.
The woman who’d been the brightest light in my life from the time she entered it.
“Surprise, son,” Pops said as he wrapped his arms around me.
We had both sets of parents under the same roof with me and Gracie.
Karma was definitely here for me.
twenty-two
. . .
Gracie
This.Was. A. Lot.
We’d spent the day out on the boat, and I’d had to shoot Cutler multiple warning looks to pull himself together.
I think my father referring to him as a second son, and basically saying he trusted him with his life, was a bit much for my best friend to handle, considering all that was going on between us.
Especially after we’d just had epic sex in the bathtub without a condom this morning.
Was that really this morning?
It felt like a hundred years ago now.
Apparently, my parents, who were friends with Cutler’s parents, thought it would be the ultimate surprise to have them all come on the same weekend.
And stay at the house together.
“With Gracie being here, and then Cage and Presley coming, we wanted to join in the celebration,” Emerson said as she leaned her head on my shoulder where we all sat on the couch eating pizza. “I’m really proud of you for taking this leap. It’s agreat move for your career. I can’t imagine the design experience you’ll get living in such an amazing city.”
“Yes. Thank you. I’m excited,” I said, but I felt like I’d been going through the motions lately. I didn’t even know if I was actually excited about it anymore, but I knew I was supposed to be. It was the right thing to do after the dumpster fire my life had been just a few months ago.
This is me getting my life back on track.
“Well, I can tell you that all the Chadwicks are very happy that you had this stopover here in Blue Sky Bay, because Emilia wouldn’t trust anyone else to design this home,” Nash said, tossing me a wink.
He and Cutler had so many similar mannerisms, and everyone teased them about it.
“Yeah. We’ll take you over to see the house tomorrow. It’s really coming along,” Cutler said.
“That sounds great,” Emerson said. “And we thought maybe tomorrow night we could cook out and sit out back and have dinner. Presley and Cage have some friends who have a place here, and we were hoping it would be okay if they joined us.” She and my mom had been giving one another strange looks. “Presley and I will go grab the groceries and do all the cooking.”
Something is definitely up.
“Who is it?” I asked.
