Page 55 of The Scars We Heal

His shoulders bounced, mouth opened in a laugh, and he gestured for me to come outside.

“Well, no going back. Consequences of your actions,” I mumbled to myself as I stepped out onto the front porch. Forcing my voice to pitch slightly higher, I called out to him. “Hi!”

“Enjoying the show?” He winked, picking up a few pieces of wood and throwing them in a pile.

May as well tell the truth. “I was, actually. Knocked a vase right off my kitchen counter.”

His brows raised. “Did you get hurt?”

I shook my head. “No. It didn’t even break, but it gave me away. What are you chopping wood for?”

“Mostly just to have some on hand in case the power goes out or something happens, but now that you’re out here, what would you say to having a little fire tonight?” he suggested.

“That sounds nice, actually.”

When my siblings and I were growing up, our family always had fires to make s’mores and roast hot dogs. After I moved to Washington, we never did anything like that. I didn’t know if Whitley had ever had s’mores roasted over a campfire. The only kind she’d ever had was made in the microwave.

“It can be a nice little hoorah before we all head back on the road out to Oregon.”

“Do you need me to do anything? Go get some groceries?” I asked, wanting to help out as much as I could.

Jake shook his head. “I’ll have one of the guys grab some stuff when they drive in. No need for you to make a trip all the way into town.”

“Let’s get this party started!” Mikey hooted when he hopped out of his pickup with a massive case of beer. Colter, Ellison, Reid, Hayden, and Sierra followed closely behind him.

“Hi! Aw, you didn’t bring the little guy with you?” I joked, pulling both Colter and Ellison into a hug.

“Nope. Grandma’s on baby duty tonight.” Ellison laughed. “I wanted to stay home, but she convinced me to come. Said I needed to get out of the house.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s good.” I thought back on the early days after I gave birth to Whitley. I was cooped up in the house without a lot of help. It was one of the darkest times of my life. Not that I remembered too much, but I was sure Mom remembered and that was why she was so adamant Ellison took breaks and made time for herself.

“Take a seat, guys. We’ve got hot dogs and marshmallows.” Jake gestured to the lawn chairs surrounding the fire pit, and the table I set up with all the food.

Although the sun hadn’t yet gone down, the temperature was already starting to cool, making it a perfect late summer evening.

“Toss me one of those, will you?” Jake held out his hands like he was readying himself to catch a football, and Mikey tossed him a can.

“Need anything, Cait?” Mikey asked, holding up a can of beer.

With a soft laugh, I shook my head. “No, I’m all right. Not a big beer fan. Whit and I have some lemonade.”

“That’s okay. You and the rest of the girls,” he replied.

“Mommy! I want chocolate!” Whit’s squeal pierced through the air as she stepped out of the guest house and ran toward the s’mores table.

“You need to eat dinner first, bug.” I caught her when she ran past, lifting her into my arms.

She kicked a little in protest, but eventually calmed when she realized she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Here, take this.” Jake offered us one of the roasting sticks.

Whitley reached out, making grabby hands at the skewer. I took it instead, though, keeping it out of her grip. The last thing I needed was for one of us to accidentally get stabbed by my kid.

“I want it!” she screamed in my ear, causing a ringing sensation.

“I’m going to help you, okay?” I did my best to keep my voice level, but some days she tested me. “Do you want a hot dog?”

“No! I want chocolate!”