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I didn’t have any either. Neither did Stetson, but years ago I’d heard our uncle Bruce comment about his oldest, our cousin Evander, treating his body like a coloring book. Probably one of the many reasons Evander quit coming home on leave. Isla wouldn’t dare cross her mom about getting a tattoo. If she wanted any, she’d have to live vicariously through Lyric.
Isla peered around the yard. The sun brightened her hair, but her blonde locks looked different. Did she color her hair a pale lavender so light it was almost her flaxen color? Bold move for Isla. She was almost twenty-four, but what her mother demanded, Isla did, and since she still lived with her parents, Isla did what she was told.
Isla pushed back her almost purple hair. “Where do you want all the tents? Or do Emery and the kids get the cabin?”
I shook my head. “No, they want the tent experience.”
Stetson pointed to the clearing across from the firepit but closer to the house. “Set up there. I want the kids to be close to the bathroom if they have to use it in the middle of the night.”
The girls set up the tent they were sharing, and I set up mine. The task gave me a way to work off my nervous excitement. We had the place for Emery’s tent all ready, making a loose triangle so that the entrances faced in.
Stetson hauled all of his supplies into the cabin.
I gathered bags from the back seat. When I turned, Nora was facing me, hands on her hips.
“So,” she said.
“So,” I said. I wasn’t always sure how to act around her as an adult. She was graduating from college this year. A legit adult. I’d raised her. Mom had disciplined her. I wasn’t her parent, but I’d had more responsibility than a brother for so long that I didn’t know how to be just a brother. “How’s school?”
She cocked a golden brow. Mom would kill to have Nora’s natural glossy color. Sometimes I wondered if that was why Mom was so hard on her. Did she blame Nora for sapping her youth? Two boys might’ve been different. Mom hadn’t known what to do with a girl.
“School’s fine,” she said and held her hands out for the grocery bags. There were more piled on the seat behind me. “Emery seems nice.”
“She is.”
“And you planned this weekend for her.”
It wasn’t a question, but I said, “Yep.” Her expectant look didn’t fade, and I sighed. She wasn’t the younger sister I could shut down when I wanted. She was an adult. Someone I could have a real conversation with. “Don’t tell me you’ve heard all the rumors?”
“Lyric keeps us apprised.”
I snorted, more out of defeat than anything. No one was going to gossip around the Barron girls. The town was afraid of their mothers. But Lyric was open season. People hoped to get the dirt from her since she had a direct line to us through Isla.
Lyric was cool, and as far as I knew, she didn’t talk shit about us. But did she have to pass on the nitty-gritty to my sister?
“Holden, I think I would’ve noticed that you haven’t had a girlfriend since Mom pitched a fit over Teagan.”
As long as Nora thought it was Mom that was the issue there. She’d be devastated to know that she’d lost a niece.
Except…if Nora had gone through the same thing and didn’t tell me? Stomach acid ate its way up my throat.
I’d feel like I failed her. I’d wonder why she didn’t think she could come to me. I’d regret not being able to support her.
“Are you afraid Mom’s going to give Emery a hard time too?” she asked. “Is that why you haven’t stayed with anyone since then?”
Dammit. She thought Mom derailed me and Teagan. Mom hadn’t helped, but it didn’t feel right to let Nora keep thinking Mom was to blame. I was her big brother. But she was an adult now.
I judged the time. I wanted to make sure I was around when Emery arrived, but I also needed to talk to my sister. I needed to build the support network I hadn’t had when I’d been at my lowest. Emery wasn’t going to show early if she had five people to get ready to camp.
“Hey, after we put these in the cabin, how about you and me take a walk? I’ve gotta talk to you.”
