Page 3 of The Stars

“We will need the others,” Lucas said to Mia. “For now…” He glanced at his watch. “I can text them to meet us at the Harvest Moon Family Restaurant. We just ate, but I bet everyone else would enjoy brunch.” Lucas turned to Amy and smiled. “My sister Tara owns the new place.”

“Oh, I’d heard that it opened up a few weeks back. I’ve been out of town for… a while.” She shrugged. “I can walk from here,” she suggested when they headed back to the car. She didn’t want to bother the couple any further.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll text Joe and have him meet us there too,” Lucas said, pulling out his phone.

By the time they’d all climbed back into the car, his phone chimed with her brother’s reply.

“They’re heading there now,” he said to the car.

“Thanks,” Amy said and sat back. She was quiet for the rest of the trip, deep in thought about what she was going to tell her brother about being abandoned outside of town.

When they pulled into town, all of the tension Amy had been feeling for the past few hours disappeared.

She hated to admit it, but being home felt right.

When she stepped into the new restaurant, she instantly wanted to make her escape. But a few more people came in and, for some reason, she became too curious to leave. Introductions were made over lunch. Everyone was there.

She knew everyone. Some had grown up in the small town while others were new. She had known Xtina for years and had met her husband Michael at least once before. They had a daughter named Harper.

Brea and Ethan were both new to town. Ethan was Michael’s twin. They had a son named Milo.

Both Jess and Jacob were locals and had a son Reed. It had been a shock to find out a few years back that Jacob was Michael and Ethan’s older brother, who had been given up for adoption against their parents’ wishes when they’d been teenagers. Jacob was the law in town and had taken over for his adopted father a few years back.

There was a woman named Joleen and her husband Mason.

Lucas’s sisters, Tara and Selene, were also there with Tara’s fiancé Colt and Selene’s boyfriend Scott. Selene and Scott were very friendly with Mia and Lucas, while Tara and Colt acted as if they’d only met the couple a few times before.

When Joe and Liz walked in, Amy felt a rush of embarrassment hit her when her brother wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m going to kill him for leaving you stranded,” he whispered in her ear. “Later.”

She wanted to argue with him, but in truth, she wanted to get her hands on Ryan just as badly.

“I’ll let you,” she said back.

Tara and Colt had just opened the restaurant, Harvest Moon Family Restaurant, and since neither of them had had a chance to sit down and talk much, she didn’t know much about them.

“We don’t close for a few more hours,” Tara said to the entire group when she stopped by their table to refill everyone’s water. “But if you want, we can all meet out at Xtina and Michael’s place this evening?”

“That’ll do. We want to go check into our rental and maybe have a shower and change,” Lucas said.

“Let’s say eight?” Xtina suggested.

Amy didn’t think their conversation had anything to do with her, so she happily nibbled on the onion rings her brother bought for her while the rest of the group talked about cooking dinner at Xtina and Michael’s place.

She planned to get to her parents’ place, shower, change into some old clothes that she kept there, and watch an old movie while she ate all the junk food her mother kept hidden around the house.

After they finished their food, they all left and went their separate ways. Joe dropped her off at her parents’ place and she took a very long bubble bath and enjoyed her parents’ jacuzzi tub and her mother’s expensive bath salts and shampoos.

Then she pulled on her thickest and most comfortable pajamas, the ones with the cows all over them, and climbed into bed. Even though it was two in the afternoon, she fell fast asleep.

At first, she didn’t realize that she was dreaming. The mist circling her blocked her vision, making her believe that she was in a large room filled with smoke. Her lungs burned with the dampness of the space. Her skin, muscles, and even her bones ached as if she’d been beaten.

All the time she heard water dripping. Slowly. Methodically. Annoyingly.

She was freezing and soaked to the bone.

“Hey,” someone whispered. “Are you okay?”