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I tried not to think about it and instead I smiled at Shelby, who was wearing one of my sweatshirts and swimming in it, I might add. All the girl brought were shorts and tank tops. “Thank you. Maybe the scars will add some character.”
She laughed and patted my hand. “Emma, you are a delight.”
A delight? I hadn’t heard that one before from a peer. “So are you,” I breathed out.
Unfortunately, it was true. Ask Kellan, who was drooling across the way for her. He kept asking Sawyer if he wanted his camp chair. Kellan was happy to take the rock. Ashton probably would have offered too, but he had mysteriously disappeared after we’d returned from our excursion. He said he had to get to the nearest town that had reception for an important business call. That was odd. Who had a business call on Saturday? And what business? Was he leaving the Ranch already? I wouldn’t blame him. It’s not like it was a career that had a lot of upward mobility, and the pay wasn’t stellar. Dad was fair and always gave bonuses, but judging by the expensive SUV Ashton drove, he was used to a more lucrative career. He’d done something in construction when he lived in Vegas. He never said exactly what. I hoped he made it back before the sun completely set. These roads at night were hard to navigate.
For a moment, I took in the fire at twilight. The way it crackled and danced. In it I saw my mom. This was her favorite thing to do when we camped. I eyed the dutch oven with her famous pineapple upside down cake that we were going to have for dessert. It was about ready to be enjoyed. I could smell the sweetness. It smelled like Mom. I looked around at the faces that reflected the glow of the firelight: Jenna’s, Brad’s, Aspen’s. Sawyer’s I saved for last. His beautiful face was already smiling at mine. Four beautiful people inside and out who had helped me through the most difficult year of my life.
While I was staring at Sawyer, Jenna said, “You know what this reminds me of?”
We all turned our attention to the cute preggers lady.
Jenna gave me a mischievous grin. “Remember when we were about thirteen and we begged your mom to let us spend the night outside because we wanted to set off the firecrackers we had been gifted without anyone knowing?”
By gifted she meant we stole them from her older brother.
I shook my head at her. “We were real geniuses.”
“Well, maybe if someone hadn’t left the bag near the fire pit.” Jenna smirked.
“Hey, my s’mores needed saving.”
Jenna rolled her eyes.
“What happened?” Sawyer asked.
“Well, let’s just say Emma could have been a great pyrotechnician”
I turned to Sawyer. “We lit up the sky like the Fourth of July. My mom and dad came running out after the initial boom to find our backyard lit up in an array of colors. While my dad dragged Jenna and me to safety, my mom stood and smiled, taking it all in. I thought she would have been furious, but she kept saying how beautiful it all was.” I choked up.
“She was the best,” some emotion crept into Jenna’s voice too.
“And could she bake,” Brad remembered fondly. “That chocolate peanut butter fudge she made every Christmas was the bomb. She always let me lick the spatula.” That meant a lot to Brad, who only grew up with his father.
“I remember when I got my wedding dress back,” Aspen tried not to gag, “and the alterations were all wrong. Your mom stayed up all night painstakingly taking stitches out all while telling me not to listen to the naysayers telling me I was wasting my life getting married so young and having a baby. Babies were a blessing, she said, no matter how they came. She never judged me for getting pregnant with Chloe or when Leland ran out on us.” Aspen cried. “Every week for a year she brought me a box of diapers with cash hidden in it.”
I never knew that. My tears flowed. I had to catch them before they soaked the dressing on the injured side of my face.
“Not once did she ever forget mine or Chloe’s birthday.”
“Her birthday presents were the best,” now Jenna was choking up.
Brad was nodding.
“They really were,” I said. “I don’t know how she did it, but it was like she knew exactly what would make you supremely happy. And it was never anything you asked for. When I turned nine, she gave me a telescope. Never in a million years would I have ever thought about asking for one. But night after night after my mom put the twins to bed, she would take me out on the deck and she would show me the moon and tell me stories about when she was growing up and where she was when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. We even got to see some of Jupiter’s moons through that old thing.”
