Leigh laughed, standing up with Aperture in her arms. “He’s already terrified of you. Mission accomplished.”
“Excellent.” Wren headed to the kitchen. “I’m making tea. Claire should be here soon.”
“Claire’s coming?” Leigh asked.
“I texted her you were bringing Dex. She wants to meet him.”
“And you’re still okay with that?”
“Define okay.” Wren’s voice went quiet. “We’ve spent a lot of time together over the past couple of weeks. I think we kinda needed this.”
I watched this exchange, filing away information. Claire. Another Pierce cousin. There was clearly still some awkwardness between the family but at least they were trying to work through it. Leigh having some time away seemed to have forced them to deal with it. Leigh had mentioned something before about Wren isolating from the family, but I could see how close the two of them were just by looking at them.
“Okay,” Wren said, turning back to us with forced brightness. “Tea?”
She was up and leaving the room before either of us answered. Leigh looked at me and just shrugged before looking back toward the door Wren had left through in concern.
We settled into the circular living space with mugs of tea. The lighthouse was beautiful in that artistic, slightly chaotic way.Paintings propped against walls, books stacked on every surface, the cats weaving between furniture legs. Windows wrapped around the entire space, offering panoramic views of the ocean.
“Leigh never told me that you were an artist,” I said, looking at the painting that was sitting on an easel nearby.
“Oh I’m not. I’m a coder. Software developer. It’s actually pretty boring but at least it pays the bills. I just have an extreme amount of hobbies,” Wren said with a shrug.
Leigh laughed. “Remember that time you decided welding was going to be your next one. I think there’s still a burn mark on the ceiling somewhere,” she said looking around to find it.
“The ceiling?”
“It was a weird night,” Wren told me, shrugging it off like that was a totally normal explanation.
There was a knock at the door. Wren looked at Leigh and for a moment something seemed to pass between them that I couldn’t quite interpret. Then Wren stood, and left heading towards the door, moments later, another woman walked in with her.
Claire had the Pierce family look. She looked slightly older but she was nearly identical to Wren. Except where Wren’s hair was messy and barely tamed, Claire’s was slicked back without a hair out of place.
For a moment she looked like she didn’t quite know what to do but then she saw Leigh and instantly relaxed.
“We’ve missed you,” she said as Leigh embraced her. “I’m not going to lie, a part of me thought you’d decide to stay with your Mom.”
Claire glanced at Wren and then settled into one of the chairs as Leigh passed her a cup of tea. “I was going to, but Dex fancies checking out coastal life.”
“So you’re really doing it,” Claire said, looking at me. “Moving here.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Good.” She settled onto the couch. “Leigh deserves to have someone choose her for once.”
“Claire!” Leigh protested.
“What? It’s true.” Claire turned to her cousin. “You’ve spent your whole life being the one who stays, who takes care of everyone else. It’s about time someone came to you.”
Wren nodded. “She’s right. And Dex, welcome to Blue Point Bay. Fair warning though, we’re kind of a mess.”
“I’ve had practice with complicated families.”
“The secret brothers?” Wren asked playfully.
“Yeah.”
“Leigh says they’re good people.”
