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“Good to see you.”
She crossed her tattooed arms. “You’re late.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it.”
“Oh good, Campbell is here,” Aunt Lori said. “You can help me clean.”
I laughed and hugged her. “I think I will be carry the boxes guy.”
Lori shook her head at me and then drew me in for a hug. She was night and day compared to Vail with burnished hair past her shoulders. Normally, she wore sundresses, but today, she was in high-waisted shorts and a Lubbock High cheerleading shirt she’d had since high school. Her hair was pulled back with a headband, and she wore thick yellow gloves.
“How do you live like this, Hollin?”
Hollin guffawed. “It’s not that bad, Lori!”
Nora snickered. “It’s not great either. How does Piper stand it?”
“Jesus, y’all, I’ll get a housekeeper.”
Dad pulled in closer to me. “You look like you’re not sleeping.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “So I hear.”
“Campbell is writing again,” Hollin pitched in. Always the intermediary.
“Really?” Dad asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“And it’s not shit?” Nora asked with an arched eyebrow.
Dad laughed. “Nory, language.”
“Hey, those were his words!”
“True,” I agreed. “But no, not this song.”
“What changed?” Nora asked. She tugged me away from Dad and into the spare room she’d been staying in.
I knew exactly what had changed. But I just shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe the threat of returning to LA kicked me in the ass. Procrastination until under deadline.”
Nora narrowed her eyes at me, as if she could hear the lie in my voice. But she didn’t call me on it for once. She just put me to work. She didn’t actually have that much stuff. A bed, dresser, and love seat were the largest items. And with everyone’s help, we loaded up the cars and were on our way across town in no time.
Nora’s new place was a three-bedroom house on the south side of town that she was sharing with Weston Wright. Hollin had flipped his lid when she suggested moving in with the newest Wright to Lubbock, but it made sense at least. They both needed a roommate, and she couldn’t exactly stay with Hollin forever. Not that I let her know I approved. I could play the big-brother gig just as well as Hollin.
But West seemed cool. Even if the situation that had brought him to Lubbock was unorthodox.
Last year, Jordan and Julian had received an email from Weston, saying that he thought they were his brothers. Then, it all came out. Their dad, Owen, had had a relationship with a woman in Seattle while he had his family in Vancouver. They had three siblings. Weston, who was most interested in meeting them; his twin brother, Whitton; and their younger sister, Harley. Jordan and Julian had flown up to Seattle to meet Whitton and Harley and to try to get to know this new side of their family, but none of the Wrights had returned to visit Lubbock.
Then, Weston’s job as part of a backup band had fallen apart somewhere in Eastern Europe, and he’d said fuck it and come back to the States. He’d decided to try it out here rather than in Seattle. Especially since Harley had just gotten into Texas Tech as a National Merit Scholar. He thought it was only a matter of time before Whitton followed them here, but he was stubborn. And I could hardly blame him when his entire life had been upturned in a matter of months.
“Hey, you made it,” Julian said, shaking hands with me after I hopped out of the SUV.
“We made it. I might have overslept.”
“No problem. We got most of West’s stuff moved in already. You need a hand?”
“Julian, are you offering our help?” Jordan asked with a look.
He just grinned. “Some manual labor would do you good.”
I shook Jordan’s hand when he approached. “Don’t worry. I fucking hate it, too.”
“There’d better be beer after this,” Jordan grumbled. “That’s all I’m saying.”
Hollin’s ears perked up at that. “Did someone say beer?”
“After,” Nora said. She pushed him along and into the house.
I grabbed a box and lifted it onto my shoulder before following her inside. The house was skinny but long with the living room, dining room, and kitchen in a stretch on one side. There was a hallway to the other side of the house, which had the three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Weston stepped out of the room at the front of the house. He looked so much like Jordan and Julian that sometimes, it was disorienting. Especially since he’d recently cut off his floppy hair into a short hairstyle that resembled the rest of the Wrights.
“Hey, you made it,” Weston said, leaning against the doorframe.
“We did. This one overslept.” Nora threw her thumb back at me.
Weston grinned and offered his hand. “Hey, man.”
“How’s it going?”
“Good, I guess. Mostly surreal.”
“I could see that.”
Weston’s eyes tracked past me to Nora. “Hey, Nor, I took the front room, so you could have the en suite bathroom.”
