Page 74 of Sudden Summer

I shook my head. I’d already spoken to the lawyer Beau got ahold of before. All I needed to do was reach out to them again. They’d tell me what the next step was. It took every extra ounce of energy I had to push down my anxiety, but I did. Clearing my throat, I set my hand on his arm. “No. I don’t need to see what’s inside there right now. You can send it to the lawyer for me, right?”

“Of course I can. Are you sure you⁠—”

“I’m sure,” I interrupted his half-asked question. “I’m not going to let this stop us from having a great day. This is some other day's problem. Whatever is inside that envelope doesn’t matter. Right now, we need to get Juniper over to Lach’s so we can start the celebrations.”

I got up from the chair and scooped Juniper out of her play pen.

“What do you say, my little lemon drop? Should we go see what this crazy family of yours has put together to celebrate your big day?”

“And then he poked me in the eye with the mascara wand!”

It had been the right call to push through. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so hard. The grill was going, filling the backyard with mouthwatering smoke from the steaks and burgers Danny had just dropped on, and my heart was so happy. A squishy Juniper was in my arms, chewing away on the strap of her sun hat.

Violet choked on her sip of lemonade, Hayes lightly slapping at her back while balancing Connor in his other arm. “Hold still, wiggle worm,” he teased his nephew. “We need to hear this whole story in case we need to blackmail Uncle Beau with it!”

“No,” I laughed, “no blackmail. It was so sweet of him! My wrist has been feeling so much better, and then today it just was aching out of nowhere.”

“You look great.” Vi reached out and squeezed my arm. “You and Juniper are so cute in your matching dresses.”

I smiled, looking over at him talking to Jessie. “That was another Beau thing. He ordered me a dress so we could match.”

Violet’s hand went to her heart.

“Damn, he becomes a girl dad and finally locks down the girl of his dreams, then what? Becomes a sap?”

“Don’t be mean.” I locked my jaw and widened my eyes.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he sighed. “I probably need to be taking a few notes. I’m the best looking brother and I’m going to be single forever!”

“Debatable,” Violet laughed.

“Thanks for believing in me, Vee.”

“Oh, no.” She patted his back. “I wasn’t talking about the ‘being single forever thing’—that might be true. I think it’s debatable whether or not you’re the best looking Ford brother.”

Hayes’s mouth dropped open. “Damn. You know what…that’s probably fair, because you never saw me in the Silver Springs charity calendar from a couple years back. They let me use the hose for my picture, it’s amazing. You know what? Here.” He handed Connor back to Violet. “I’m going to go inside and see where Lach’s copy is. I gifted one to everyone in the family, I’m sure he still has it…Birdie, you’re getting a little red on your cheeks.”

I didn’t give it a second thought as Hayes pulled his hat from his head and plopped it onto mine. I’d worn a long braid to keep my hair mostly off my neck, and I knew it could handle the hat without looking terrible when Hayes would come and take it back.

“Thanks. I’m surprised at how strong the sun is today. My gosh.”

Violet chuckled as she settled Connor on her hip. “He’s not going to like that, you know?”

“Who?”

“Beau. He’s not going to like that Hayes’s hat is on your head.”

I shrugged, laughing as I saw his eyes narrow on me. “He can come take it off if it bothers him that much.”

Beau

“God.” Jessie’s face tilted towards the sun, but my eyes only stayed on her for a second. Because just beyond her was Birdie, pulling a low hanging branch down to Juniper’s face. She tickled her cheek with a leaf, and both of my girls had bright, brilliant smiles on their faces.

“Are you even listening to me?” My sister crossed her arms as she sighed, looking over her shoulder. “Oh, never mind. No wonder you can’t pay attention to me.”

“Sorry. I was trying to figure out who the hell gave Birdie a cowboy hat to wear. I know our brother wouldn’t be that stupid…”

“Our brother, the mega-flirt? Mr. ‘Firefighting is the Sexiest Occupation’? That brother? Because I think we both know he would.”