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But taking one look at my mom now, I was astonished and shocked to see her look so accepting.
“Uh,” I stuttered out. “This is Hades. Hades, this is my mom, Sally.”
My mom continued to shock us by walking right up to Hades, drawing her into her arms, and giving her the biggest hug I’d ever seen her give to anyone that wasn’t a child that was of her own womb.
“I’m happy to have you,” she said. “Now come sit down. I’ll have Hannibal bring in another chair.”
So that was what I did.
When I arrived, it was to see everyone sitting with a gap big enough for me between my brother, Hunter, and Hades.
I took the seat and Sally grinned wickedly before saying, “Everyone dig in.”
• • •
“Will you go swimming with me, Hades?” Darcy asked Hades.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to swim for thirty minutes after you eat?” Hades asked no one in particular.
“I think that’s a myth,” Dad said.
Hades shrugged then turned back to Darcy. “Sure. But I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“I have one you can borrow,” one of my older nieces, Gracie, called out. “It’s even been washed. It’s on top of the dryer in the laundry room.”
Gracie wasn’t being gracious. She just knew that if Hades didn’t get in with Darcy, she would have to.
“Okay,” Hades nodded. “Let’s go get dressed.”
The two of them disappeared inside, and my family exploded.
“You’re just going to bring a girl home and not tell us she’s coming?” my mom hissed quietly.
“I didn’t plan on coming,” I pointed out. “How would I tell you we’re coming when I don’t even know I’m doing it?”
“Well, you showed up here,” she pointed out. “So you had to have a little bit of knowledge that you were coming. A head’s up would’ve been nice. I almost didn’t have enough food.”
I laughed then. “Had Hades been a normal girl, you would’ve had plenty. As it is, she eats like a horse.”
She really did.
She’d put away not one, not two, but three pieces of grilled chicken. She’d had a heaping mound of mashed potatoes, an overly generous amount of gravy, and enough salad that it would’ve been enough for her vegetable count for a week.
Damn, she was impressive.
“Where’d you meet?” Dad asked curiously.
I gave them the very condensed version of how we met, hoping they wouldn’t ask just how long we’d actually ‘known’ each other.
Hancock interjected here and there, then said, “She’s a fuckin’ awesome photographer. I was thinking about asking her if she would be interested in taking some action shots of my boys at practice tomorrow. Then getting her suggestion on a design for a banner for them this year.”
They spoke in length about everything, but my mind was already on the woman that had disappeared out of the glass sliding doors with Darcy hot on her heels.
I got up and walked to the door, cracking it open slightly so I could listen.
“…heated pool because Grammy didn’t like that we couldn’t swim whenever we wanted to,” Darcy was explaining.
“Well that is really cool,” Hades said. “I haven’t had the chance to swim all that much in my life. There’s just never enough time in the day. So I’m glad that I have the opportunity to do it here.”
She jumped in and surfaced seconds later as she flicked her hair out of her face.
Darcy jumped in right beside her, then swam right to Hades and stared at her hand.
Specifically, the mood ring on her finger. The one that hadn’t moved since she’d arrived a few days ago.
“What does black mean?” Darcy asked in a quiet whisper.
Before she could answer, Hades’ phone started ringing, and she swam over toward it.
She glanced once at the screen.
“Well,” Hades said as she swiped out of the phone app and to a different app and started typing something in. When she had whatever up she was looking for, she twisted her phone to the side so that Darcy could see from where she was now hanging off the side of the pool. “Black means ‘sad’ or ‘burned out.’”
“What does burned out mean?” Darcy asked.
Showing she had the patience of a saint, Hades explained, “Burned out typically means ‘worn out.’ Or ‘tired’ or ‘overworked.’ ‘Stressed.’”
Darcy nodded as if she was absorbing every word.
“What about the purple that it’s showing right now?” Darcy continued.
Sway came up to stand beside me, looking over the edge of our parents’ deck right along with me.
“She’s really good with her,” Sway said quietly. “And your mom loves her.”
I knew.
“You should make sure you hang onto this one.”
I looked over at Sway with a confident smile and said, “I plan on it.”
CHAPTER 19
Coffee helps, but I’m still a bitch.
-t-shirt
HADES
It was his hand on my thigh the rest of the night that did it.
It all started innocently enough, I supposed.
