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We laugh together, probably far more than the moment deserves, but it feels good to laugh with my sister, to agree on something, even if just for a moment.
"What's so funny?" Honey stumbles into the living room, her arms full.
"We were just talking about how much Dad would hate us turning this place into a nonprofit animal sanctuary." I get to my feet, because it looks like she's about to drop the wooden things in her arms.
Honey laughs and collapses onto a couch, arms still full. "He would die a second time."
"Are those our instruments?" Goldy asks, awe in her tone.
Honey grins and lifts the instruments one at a time. "Your fiddle, my guitar, Clover's mandolin, and Dani's banjo. I left Daisy's upright bass in the attic."
I get up and cross the room to my banjo. It's been more than ten years since I played, but just seeing it brings back warm, happy memories. "Remember when we planned a cross-country tour with our band?"
Honey laughs. "Too bad none of us can sing."
I pick up the banjo and toss the strap over my shoulder. I strum a few chords and they come out squawky and awful. I wince. "We were sure we'd be world famous if we could just find the right singer."
"How did they get here?" Goldy picks up her violin tenderly. "I thought Mom had them in storage."
"She did," Honey says. "I have a feeling she helped Sam with the house and brought them over. There's all kinds of stuff in the attic, like high school yearbooks and baby clothes. Mom probably saw this as her opportunity to clear out all our old junk."
"My banjo is not junk." I hug the instrument to my chest.
Honey smiles a big, open, carefree smile and I'm jolted back in time to her gap-toothed pre-teen years when the only time the five of us didn't fight was when we were making music together.
Goldy puts the bow to her fiddle and strokes the strings lovingly. The sound that comes out, however, is ear shattering. She puts the fiddle in her lap. "The strings look new and the bow is in great shape. Mom took some time to get these instruments ready for us, but she definitely didn't have them tuned."
"Let's tune them," Honey says.
So we do just that as the sun dips and darkness creeps through the house. By the time we have to turn on the lights, the instruments are tuned and Clover has joined us, her mandolin in her hands.
As Skidmark rolls around our feet, we play music, the notes coming back to us all as though no years have passed. I feel like a kid again, free to get lost in the music and the moment, sinking into the calm it brings, and smiling more than I have in weeks.
***
Skidmark is deep into a game I've created for him where he finds treats I've buried all over my room when I climb into bed after midnight, yawning and wishing I could train him to be diurnal. So far, it hasn't worked for me and, the more I try, the crueler the idea seems. Maybe I can carpet my room so his wheels aren't quite so noisy?
On my nightstand, my phone dings with an incoming text from an unknown number.
Hey, Dani, this is Hailey. Can I give my brother your number?
My first instinct is to pretend I never saw the text, because just the mention of the man who gave me three orgasms is making me ache for him and I cannot handle feeling this way about a man I'm not even sure I want to date. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to get used to seeing him and talking to him because my connection to his family is only growing.
Me: Of course.
I add a smiley face emoji and delete it before I send the message. I don't want to be too enthusiastic.
Hailey: Great. I got the paperwork for incorporating your farm and applying to make it a nonprofit. Not trying to be pushy, I promise. Tomorrow, I'll bring the paperwork by the bookstore.
It'd taken a two-minute conversation for me and Honey to agree we needed any help Hailey offered.
Me: That would be amazing. Thank you.
Hailey: I'm doing a happy dance right now. I'll be in touch.
Unknown number: Hey, Dani. This is Grant. Can I call you?
I can not hear that man's voice right now. I need more time to recover from what he did to me with his tongue before I can be even remotely logical when I hear his voice.
