Page 30 of The Wright Man

It felt like home.

Not the kind made of bricks and memories. But the kind made of people who loved you loud. The kind that came in sister stereo, over speakerphone, dragging you out the shadows by your ears.

I hung up smiling.

Riq whistled. "Yo. That was fucking delightful. Who the hell was that?"

"Family," I said.

Sticks raised an eyebrow. "The infamous Mystery Girl's people?"

I nodded once. "Her sisters."

Riq leaned back dramatically. "I see why you left this part of your life out. You been dodging a whole damn sitcom, pretending to be some hard ass Marine."

"Shut up," I muttered. "I'm definitely both."

I couldn't wait to see my surrogate sisters. That was the easy part.

The hard part was the other voice I'd been hearing in my head since I got off that plane. The one I hadn't heard in real life since the last time we broke everything and didn't bother to clean it up.

Angelica.

We probably wouldn't speak at the party. Not really. Not past the surface.

Not past the wound.

After all these years with oceans between us, she probably lived ten minutes away now.

And I didn't even know if she'd want to look at me.

But I was going to the party.

For Cap.

For Bella and Tina.

For the piece of me that's been missing for the past four years.

I didn't know if she'd be happy to see me.

I didn't know what it would feel like to see her again.

But I knew one thing... I wasn't running this time.

Not from her. Not from what we were. Not from whatever we still might be.

Chapter Five

Angelica

The first time I baked cookies for my dad, he cried.

Not because they were that good—though they were, thank you very much—but because they were hers.

My mom, Angela, was an amazing baker. At least, that's what I've been told my whole life. I don't remember much about her—she died when I was four. All I really have are flashes. A warm laugh. Features that looked like mine, only softer. A wide smile and skin the color of roasted almonds. She always smelled like vanilla, butter, and sugar, like a walking bakery.

My dad says he fell in love with her because of her cookies. She used to volunteer at the VA hospital when she was in college, bringing baked goods to the veterans every week. One day, she walked in with a tray of chocolate chip cookies and left with his heart.