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She snorted, the cute little sound taking me back to when we were together. Until she spoke. “Can’t say I feel bad about that.”
I couldn’t help but grin, shaking my head. She glared at me when I insisted on opening her door, but she got in without a word. We still didn’t speak as we drove the three minutes to my mom and dad’s house. The four cars in the driveway hinted that my brothers had been summoned for dinner, too. Of course, Molly Pendleton would see tonight as an opportunity for an impromptu family reunion. At least, it was just immediate family. And Bristol.
After parking in the short driveway, I leapt out of the car and raced around to Bristol’s side, but she was already opening the door.
“Stop with the chivalry,” she admonished.
“No.”
Bristol rolled her eyes, releasing another annoyed huff.
“I’m not here for you,” she reminded me. She could say that all she wanted. I wasn’t giving up.
Before I could counter her argument, my mom raced out of the house. Did she run for me? Nope. Ignoring me, her oldest child, she folded Bristol into her arms.
“I’ve missed you so much, baby girl,” she said. Turning, she led Bris into the house.
“Yeah, hi, Mom. Missed you, too. How are you feeling?” I looked her over, trying to see any signs of the cancer that had attacked her six years ago. She seemed healthy, but I knew better than to believe appearances.
My mom waved her hand at me, otherwise not reacting. What did they say? You’re never anything special in your hometown. Not quite the saying, but close enough. There was nothing like family to bring you right down to earth.
Seven
Bristol
Axel’s dad, Benz, an older version of the man I’d once loved, hugged me much like Axel’s mom, Molly, had when we’d arrived.
“Missed you,” he said. Holding my shoulders, he held me away from me and stared into my eyes. “Just because Dumbass was a dumbass, that doesn’t mean you can’t come around, you know?”
I barely held back my chuckle while Axel groaned. Grappling with my memories, I kept my expression light and didn’t let the breakup and subsequent events play out over my face.
“Dad,” he moaned, stealing Benz’s attention and unknowingly giving me the needed reprieve to get myself the heck together.
Benz hmphed, unrepentant. He raised a brow at his son. “It is what it is, kid. Shoulda listened to your old dad. Who alive knows your Uncle Darius better than me? No one.”
“You know what about him? He put me in a car on the professional circuit.”
“Is thatallhe did?”
Axel didn’t answer, his lips flattening together. I had a feeling this was an argument they had often, especially when Benz turned a raised eyebrow on his son.
I loved these people—well, not Axel. I hated him. But his parents were awesome. They adored their son, but they didn’t give him a pass on anything. Thing was, I kind of understood why he’d done what he did. He’d had an opportunity, and he’d taken it. That didn’t mean I accepted his actions. I wasn’t giving him a pass, either. There wasn’t much that could be done to repair my heart after he’d done a burnout on it before racing to the victory lane of his future.
“You know what I mean,” Benz said cryptically.
When he slid a side eye toward me, I redirected my attention to Molly. I hurried my steps to catch up with her as she scurried back into the kitchen—her sacred domain as a cookbook author. I really admired that she’d done that, turned her passion for cooking into a publication to share with the world.
My steps slowed as I passed the wall of pictures where Molly documented their lives, noting the new ones that had clearly been taking on vacations during the past six years. The one on the end, a portrait of the five of them—Axel with his parents and two brothers—smiling on a beach with the ocean and a vivid sunset behind them, must have been taken during the past year. Molly rearranged her photos to reflect chronological order, so its position was a telltale sign.
My heart ached, knowing what was missing.
Stop!I yelled at myself.Just stop it! You can’t go back!
“I made the seven layer salad you like,” Molly called from the kitchen, and I finished my trek into the big airy room—Molly’s well-lit domain had granite counters, a huge island and even a double oven. “And Van’s girlfriend and I baked sugar cookies earlier today.”
“Yum,” I groaned, my mouth watering at the idea. To think I’d almost ordered delivery. Molly’s food was half the reason I’d agreed to come with Axel tonight. His family was the other forty-nine percent because if I were honest—really, really brutally honest—Axel was still one percent of the reason. Maybe more if I included the pleasure of seeing his family razz him.
It’s more than that, and you know it, my heart whispered, but I ignored it. I didn’t want to soften toward him. I wouldn’t allow it.
