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“Take a look over here.” Jude had set my box down in one of the bedrooms. I peeked inside to find a dresser, a bookshelf filled with books, and a chair for reading.
“Jude...” I breathed.
Levi led me to the small living area. “This is all new. Violet picked it out, obviously, since most of it is purple.” The tiny living room was now fully furnished. A couch, cozy chair, pillows, throw blankets, tables, plants, family photos, and cute decorations filled the room. They had thought of everything, and even better, they knew what I would like. Levi beamed at me as he said, “We got you the TV.” Of course they did. It was huge.
“We got your internet hooked up too,” Jude said. “The WiFi password is Bilbo69Baggins, with both Bs capitalized.”
“Thank you!” Sobbing, I held my arms out, and l laughed through my tears when they enveloped me in a huge hug. “I love you guys.”
“We love you too,” Jude said as he gave me an extra squeeze. “And listen, this was almost a big-ass surprise party, but we knew you’d hate everything about that. Except for cake. And yes, there is one. It’s chocolate, and it’s in the fridge downstairs. Mom made it. So, you’re welcome.”
“You’ll be all set for morning.” Levi ruffled my hair. “There’s food in the kitchen, too. Mom and Rose went shopping and stocked the fridge and cupboards for you. Violet bought you a coffee maker but told us to let you know she’ll open the shop and you can come in for coffee with her whenever you’re ready.”
“I can’t believe you guys did all this for me.”
“We missed you, Holls. And all of us want you to stay in Sweetbriar.”
“I love it. I love all of you. I’m going to learn how to cook and make a big dinner to say thank you.”
“Meatloaf,” Levi declared. “Have mom teach you to make it. I’ll come over and learn with you. We can figure out the mashed potatoes ourselves. It can’t be that hard, right?”
“Right? I mean, boil them, mash them...”
He threw his hands out wide. “Exactly.”
“Like, now that I have my own kitchen, I’m motivated to cook. What’s that about?”
“Maybe because you want to bake Liam some snickerdoodles?” Jude teased.Had everyone heard about that?Cinnamon was his thing and I wanted—damn it—I just wanted to make him smile. Maybe there was a snickerdoodle holiday I could use as an excuse.
“Hmm, maybe.” I was so happy, I laughed instead of slugging him in the arm for teasing me.
“One more thing before we go.” Levi stepped back and aimed his phone at me. “Smile. It’s for the group text.”
I curved my lips into a quivering smile with tears streaming down my face. “This picture is going to be horrible.”
He grinned at me and said, “It’s perfect. Don’t wipe your nose.”
“Levi!” I squealed when I realized how bad it was running. “Take another one.”
“Nope.” He pocketed his phone. “That shot captured everything,” he teased.
“I don’t like leaving you here without a car,” Jude muttered.
“Well, I can’t afford one yet and Lily’s is back at her house. I can’t keep borrowing it.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Did she say that?”
“Well, no. She offered to give it to me, in fact.”
“We’ll bring it over tomorrow. Don’t be a dumbass. You can’t walk everywhere. What if it rains? And this is Sweetbriar—it could hail or snow at any given minute no matter what season it is. You know that.”
“You’re probably right,” I conceded. “But I’m not letting her give it to me.”
“Whatever, as long as you have transportation. And I don’t mean an umbrella and a bicycle, okay?”
“Fine. I agree.”
“Okay, we’ll get going and leave you to it.”
