Page 114 of Feel It in the Air

30

MARGEAUX

I thoughtmy family was loud.

An Irish father and a Cajun mother is an explosive combination at times. To the point where my mother likes to joke when we go places that “here comes the Louds.”

Well, the Finnegans have nothing on the Hayeses.

Granted, we are a fraction of the size. Still, with Auggie, Miss Belle, Milo, Brenna, Anton, Hux, Jace, Ewan, Willa, Nash, Gus and myself all in this house, I’m not sure how the walls are not vibrating from all the energy. To think that Gus and his siblings grew up here blows my mind.

A bright-white, Victorian house with wraparound porch, large back deck, and built-in planters, Magnolia Manor, as the family calls it, is by no means small. Given the size of the family, that makes sense. It’s also currently decked out for Christmas, not a single inch left undecorated. A large, live fir tree stands in the corner of the living room, white twinkle lights glimmering in the soft glow from the fire, making it feel like something out of a magazine.

“All I want for Christmas is two…” Nash warbles, poking at the fire before adding another log. He sounds more like Scuttle from The Little Mermaid than Mariah with how off-key he is, but I keep the comment to myself.

“I’d say you get used to him,” Gus tells me, pulling me in closer to him on the couch. His warmth surrounds me, and I can’t help but snuggle into him. It feels good not to have to hide this. “But you don’t.”

“The wrong lyrics or just how off-key he is?”

“Either.”

“Both,” Willa adds.

“To be fair, Lucy sings it that way as well,” Auggie says, handing Nash a log. “I’ve always just assumed it was a mother of twins thing. And given who those twins are, not much different from mother of dragons.”

I laugh, still not used to the nonchalant, almost playful side of Auggie. Since our first meeting was a formal suspension, and our second was his reinstating my employment with an awkward apology and the requirement that Gus and I both complete fifty hours of community service as restitution for breaking policy, his real personality has been a bit of a mystery to me. Getting to see his “dad” side now is a complete one-eighty from the man I watched walk my colleague out of the office the other day.

I like it though. A lot.

“You picked quite the Sunday dinner as your first, Margeaux,” he continues. “Not often you get all of us together these days.”

I look around the room, the various members of the family grouped off with each other, the whole scene so easy and natural that I assumed that this was an everyday thing. Or well, an every week thing.

“Y’all don’t do Sunday dinner every week?”

“We do,” Gus says. “But with our schedules, we don’t all always make it. To have all seven of us kids here, plus partners, is something that is usually reserved for special occasions.”

“In case you were unaware, you’re the special occasion,” Anton quips, giving me a wink.

A wave of self-consciousness washes over me, my cheeks starting to heat up, and this time not from the fire or from Gus. No, I suddenly feel very much on display. The invite to Sunday dinner came before all the drama that went down. It never occurred to me that those events might have changed the way I’m viewed.

“Anton…” Auggie warns.

“What?” He shrugs. “We went from zero significant others to two in less than six months. That’s a big deal.”

“Excuse you! Three!” Willa exclaims, pointing to her boyfriend.

“He still doesn’t count.”

I look to Gus, sure that I’ve missed something. He shakes his head, laughing off the comment, so I accept it for what it is—normal family banter. A family that I’m thankful to be counted a part of.

“Plus, since you’re here, you can tell us what went down,” Anton pushes.

And there it is. The real reason.

I should have known. After all, Hickory Hills is a small town, and there is only so much one can do to keep a lid on things. Especially things as big as this. To Auggie and Percy’s credit, they did a damn good job at keeping the details under wraps. Sure, the whole town knows that Teresa and Ryan were fired and that Sheriff Smyth was called to escort them from the building. But the whys and the hows of it all—that’s still under lock and key.

And will remain that way.