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Once Avery seemed content with all that knowledge, Raevynn turned toward her friend on the couch, becoming a bit more serious. “Avery, I’m really sorry I didn’t keep in touch.” She needed her friend to know she had so many regrets, and that was definitely one of them.
Avery sighed, her expression exposing a moment of sadness. “It hurt a lot at first,” she confessed softly. “I’ll even admit that I was mad that you didn’t even text me. But a few months after you were gone, Collin explained to me what happened with your mom. How the two of you were caught together and she’d issued some threats toward him and demanded he walk away from you. I knew then, deep in my heart, that it was most likely your mom who kept you from contacting either of us.”
“It’s true.” Raevynn’s chest ached and her voice cracked with so much pain. “I truly regret not finding a way to reach out. Can you forgive me?”
She recalled Collin asking her the same question the night before, for different reasons, but it made her realize that the two most important people in her life at that time had been wrecked emotionally by her mother’s selfish actions.
“Of course I can,” Avery said, and pulled her into another warm hug that alleviated all of Raevynn’s concerns and fears.
“Mommy and Rae-Rae!” Harper called out from the kitchen, interrupting the moment between them. “Come and eat!”
Raevynn laughed as they stood up. “Rae-Rae?” she mused of the nick-name Harper had given her. “I kind of like it.”
“I’m sure your full name was too much of a mouthful for her, and that’s just what came out,” Avery explained with a grin.
Harper proudly carried a platter of the pancakes she’d helped make with her uncle to the small dining table, and Lucas helped Collin bring the butter, syrup, plates, and utensils, then they all sat down and enjoyed breakfast together.
With the kids happy to be at the beach house and hanging with their uncle Collin, who they clearly adored, there was a lot of teasing, laughter, and a little bit of chaos. But unlike Raevynn’s hectic world, this was a wonderful, carefree, and fun kind of chaos that lightened her heart and made her smile.
She realized it was the kind of happy chaos missing from her life, and she vowed that was going to change.
CHAPTER TWELVE
An hour after their lively breakfast, Raevynn helped Avery and Collin fill a pullable utility wagon with the various beach items stored in the garage. Chairs, towels, sunscreen, an umbrella, their cooler bag of drinks, sandwiches, and snacks, and a ton of sand toys for the kids.
They all five made the short trek to the beach a few blocks away from the house, and once they found a place on the sand, she and Avery set up an area with the towels and an umbrella, while Collin took the kids closer to the water so they could build sandcastles together. He’d taken off his shirt and wore a pair of swim trunks, and Raevynn furtively looked her fill of his solid chest, chiseled abs, and the way his muscles moved in the daylight.
Beneath the shade of the big umbrella, and because it was a Monday and the beach wasn’t crowded, Raevynn didn’t bother wearing the floppy hat or her sunglasses. Sitting in one of the fold-out chairs, she watched as Collin got down on his knees in front of Harper and Avery, helping them fill their buckets with wet sand for their fortress.
“Your kids are adorable and so sweet,” Raevynn said, unable to stop the tug of genuine envy pulling at her. “I’m so happy that you and Kevin ended up getting married. You always were the perfect couple.”
Avery glanced at her and smiled. “You should have been my maid of honor,” she said softly. “You weren’t there physically, but you were in my heart and thoughts that day.”
She swallowed the knot in her throat. “Thank you.” They’d talked and dreamt about their weddings together, and it was hard to accept how much Raevynn had missed out on. Despite her career, she should have kept in touch somehow.
“Kevin had to work today but said to tell you hello.” Avery paused for a moment, then added, “Maybe the four of us could get together sometime.”
She knew her friend was referring to herself and Kevin and Collin and Raevynn. She didn’t know what the future held yet, but one thing was certain. She would make time for her friendship with Avery. “I would really like that.”
Avery squeezed her arm. “Good. Then let’s promise to make it happen.”
Automatically, they extended their littles fingers to make a pinky promise—just like they used to—then laughed as they realized how easily they’d fallen back into familiar and fun habits.
“How do you like being a hairstylist?” Raevynn asked a short while later.
Her friend’s eyes lit up, giving Raevynn her answer before Avery even spoke. “I love everything about it. The cutting, the coloring, the
styling, and chatting with clients. It’s a fun job,” she added with a laugh.
Absently, Raevynn reached out and touched the short, wavy strands around Avery’s face. “The way your hair is cut and styled now is so cute,” she said wistfully.
“Thank you.” Avery beamed at the compliment. “Keeping it long, especially after having kids, was just too much work. It’s so much easier and lighter to take care of now.” Then she tipped her head and took in the endlessly long braid Raevynn had put her hair in before leaving for the beach, just to keep it from getting tangled in the breeze. “And you . . . you kept yours so long.”
She shrugged. “All part of the Raevynn Walsh brand,” she said wryly. “But if I could, I’d chop it off as short as yours.”
“Then you should,” she said, repeating what her brother had said. Then, she grinned. “If Taylor Swift can lop off all her long, curly hair and rock a shoulder-length style, then so can you.”
After the past few days of reflection on her persona and career, Raevynn was beginning to believe she could, too. She tucked the possibility into the back of her mind for now, but she couldn’t ignore the growing desire to make some extreme changes. Her hair being one of them.
