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Dad parks, and I can see my brothers’ various vehicles parked in a straight line off the side toward one of the bluffs. The views out here go for miles. You can practically see across the whole state, and the crisp air burns when I take a deep breath.
“Told you he’d come,” Rhett gloats to a surprised-looking Duke.
“Shut up,” I say.
Harlan comes to stand in front of me before resting his hand on my shoulder. “You okay?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”
Dad and Finch pull camping chairs from the back of his truck and unearth a cooler, which I find out is full of beer when Harlan passes me one.
“Your mama used to love coming up here. Hell, I think at least two of you were made not five feet from where we’re sitting.”
“Dad.” A chorus of disgusted groans comes from me and my brothers.
“We don’t want to know that shit,” Harlan grumps.
Dad shrugs, a shit-eating grin on his face.
“We made a good family together. Nothing wrong with having pride in that.” Dad’s voice is a little hoarse, and it makes my own throat tighten in memory.
“You guys remember that year that we took that big-ass two-layer cake she made for the twins and snuck off into the barn to eat it before the party?” Jedd asks.
I shake my head. “No. When did that happen?”
Harlan scratches his beard. “You were about two. Too young to remember. But not too young to realize the frosting on your face is what gave us away. Mama was spitting mad. She had to go out and buy a store cake. I thought she was gonna whoop us. But you gave her your puppy dog eyes and she just blew out a breath and patted your head like you could do no wrong.”
Finch chimes in, “Didn’t she chase Dad around the kitchen with the rolling pin after he caught sight of your mouth smeared in chocolate and died laughing?”
“I remember her coming at me with that rolling pin, but not because I was laughing,” Dad says and we all chuckle.
I offer my own fond memory of being a stupid teenager. “I remember when Rhett and I got drunk at Jake Hennesey’s party, and Blake ditched driving us home for a shot at getting into Shelly McClain’s pants. I was telling Jem about how well Mom took it. She didn’t even yell at us.”
My dad nods. “Your mama was always pretty even-tempered when it came to you boys. She just wanted the best for you. I expect that’s still the case from wherever she’s looking down on us.”
We all pause to take a drink, a silent celebration of the woman who meant the world to all of us.
“So, you gonna take the job at the station?” Duke asks me after a minute.
I nod. “Yeah. I’ll talk to Jackson about transferring me when I get back to town.”
Rhett narrows his eyes on me. “What does that mean for you and the lovely Jem, who is a delight by the way.”
My brothers are all watching me keenly now and I shrug. “I don’t know. I need to talk to her about it. But I imagine that we’ll try the long-distance thing for a while and see what shakes out.”
My brothers are all looking at me with pity now. They’re as worried as I am about how Jem’s going to take the news. Harlan’s stare is especially intense.
But I have to believe that we can make this work. Even if it’s going to be hard as hell to leave her in Felt when I come back to Everette.
16
JEM
Everette is just as quaint as Felt, but in a different way. Whereas Felt’s Main Street is a long road that runs through town, Everette’s has a square with an adorable gazebo in the middle at the center of town. There’s a small park in the grassy area, and it’s impossibly charming.
The sheriff’s department looks like a newer building, or one that was recently renovated. It’s situated next to the only gas station that I’ve seen in town and across the street from an honest-to-God ice cream parlor.
I push through the doors, and the smell of coffee and paperwork hits me in the face.
