I walk over and hug her. She stands stiff in my arms for a few minutes, but slowly she begins to relax. “You didn’t mess up,” I tell her. “Thank you for being there for my mother.”
I’m not one to get mad about things. My dad always taught me to keep a cool head. I guess that’s why I’m surprised he’s so angry.
“Since everything is coming out so quickly, I guess I better give everyone their letters.” She goes back to her car and pulls out a box.
I stare up at the sky again.Why didn’t you just tell us when you were here?
The two of us head inside, but before we make it through the door, Brody and my grandmother show up. My heart starts to beat faster because Grandma is going to lose her mind. I hadn’t even thought about how she might feel about this.
Lexie places her hand on my arm, seeing my panic. “She already knows.”
My head snaps her direction.
She doesn’t hesitate to tell me the truth. “Your mom sent Brody the first letter. She wanted to make sure Jenny was in a good place before putting you through all of this. The next one went to your grandmother, but that also didn’t go as planned. None of this is going as planned.”
I run my hands through my hair. “Yeah, well I don’t think we’re the ones in charge.”
She laughs sadly. “That’s true, but it always works out in the end, doesn’t it?”
“It does.” I pat her on the back, not waiting for my friend and grandmother. “Do you have one of those letters for my sister?”
“I do.” She sets the box on the coffee table once we’re inside. “She was next anyway.” Lexie hands it to me, and I give her a hug. “I’m going to call a club meeting. We’re going to rip the band-aid off real quick-like, but I want to talk to Lily first.”
She nods, wiping her eyes as I pull away from her.
“It’s all good, Lex. You did good. Mom would be proud.”
I find my sister and Dan in the kitchen helping Daisy clean up my uncle. I bend over at the waist in front of him. My head tips side to side, and I whistle. “Dad sure did get you good.”
He grunts.
“I’m calling a meeting,” I say, typing as I speak.
“Someone needs to follow Raffe,” Dirk finally says.
Dan raises his hand. “I’ll go.”
I look at him. “No.”
He folds his arms over his chest. That might have made me back down as a teenager, but I’m a man now. I stand to my full height, and then I nod my head toward Lily.
Dan gets my message, and his arms slip around my sister.
That’s what I thought.
“We’ll send some guys out after the meeting, but I don’t think we’re going to find him until he wants to be found.”
“He’ll be up at the cabin,” Dirk says confidently.
I shake my head. “Not this time.”
Dirk’s gaze meets mine. “It’s that bad?”
I hand Lily the letter my mom wrote to her.
She carefully unfolds it, and then her eyes quickly scan the page. It’s a good thing Dan is still hugging her from behind because her legs give out beneath her.
I pull out the chair beside Dirk. Dan lowers her into it.
