Page 148 of Made for Mayhem

Luke grinned, giving her a quick handshake. “No take-backs.”

Shannon crossed her arms. “You wear a lot of pastels for me to consider you a friend, but I guess the term fits.”

Tate nodded once. “Seconded.”

And Mason threw his arms open like a game-show host. “Congratulations, Aunt Daisy! Welcome to the mayhem!”

Daisy stared at me over Emmy’s shoulder in yet another bone-cracking hug. Her smile was small and real, and so full of emotion it nearly put me on my knees.

This was the family neither of us had grown up with, but we were making it together.

37

Acceptance didn’t come all at once. I didn’t wake up one morning and think, today’s the day I can say goodbye to Violet. I certainly didn’t wake up and think, it doesn’t hurt as bad.

It hurt every time I looked at her house down the road.

It hurt when one of her favorite songs came on the radio.

It hurt on Junie’s first day of third grade when once again I forgot I couldn’t just send her a picture.

But by the end of September, when the leaves were changing on the aspens and the entire valley was painted gold, I knew it was time to let her go.

We stood in the field that stretched between Violet’s house and ours, where the wildflowers had lasted the longest. Little bursts of purple and pink and white swayed in the tall late-summer grass, giving one last stubborn show before winter took them under.

“Are you sure about this?” Ty asked, voice low and careful. He stood just behind us, giving me space, but always there when I needed him.

Junie stood at my side, Violet’s urn in her hands. I ran a hand through her blonde hair, soothing both of us with the little motion.

“What do you think?” I asked, my words meant just for her.

Junie nodded, then looked up at me. “Mom always loved the fall here.”

The wind kicked up, lifting the grass in waves, carrying the scent of pine and cold air and the faint musk of dying wildflowers. I gazed out at the picturesque mountains around me, white coating the tips with the promise of winter coming soon. Everything was green and gold and beautiful, even as dead leaves fluttered to the ground.

Fall was an ending, but not the harsh, dramatic kind. It was softer, holding hope for tomorrow, and clearing the world for life to begin again.

Not today.

Not tomorrow.

But someday.

Together, Junie and I twisted the lid, my breath catching when it loosened. Ty stepped closer, placing a hand between my shoulder blades, just enough to remind me I wasn’t doing this alone.

Junie looked up at me. “Now?”

“Yeah,” I said, guiding her small hands. “I think so.”

Together, we tilted the urn.

The ashes lifted on a gust of wind, soft and pale and weightless, drifting out over the field, caught in the breeze. They blew toward Violet’s house, over the wildflowers, and up into the mountains she loved.

Junie pressed into my side, a tremor running through her. “Did it work?”

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. “Yeah, cutie. It worked.”

Ty pulled us both into his chest to ward off the chill. “She’s everywhere she loved,” he said. “Right where she wanted to be.”