AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gah, she didn’t even want to think about that yet. It made her belly flip—and not in a good way. But she’d figure it out. That’s what Milly did, her life depended on her ability to figure things out. Like how to live in Manhattan on a junior logistic coordinator’s salary, how to get her boss what she needed before she knew she needed it, how to convince her parents that she was living her best life and not wallowing in the aftermath of losing her sister and fiancé only a few months apart. Milly managed so many daily how-to’s for so many people, she rarely had time to think about fun how-to’s.
Like, how to best have sex with Lucas on the kitchen counter or how to have as many orgasms one person could have in a twenty-four-hour period. Those were problems she’d like to solve. Sadly, she thought as she opened the cupboard, the most pressing two how-to’s at the moment had to do with a) how to cook a proper breakfast without burning it—cooking was a how-to she had yet to master—and b) how to make coffee with her parents’ ancient and temperamental coffee machine. The thing came from the era of paper newspapers, landlines, and freeze-dried grounds.
Humming to herself, Milly grabbed the bread from the cabinet, dropped four slices in the toaster, and sashayed back across the kitchen to the refrigerator. She opened it and grabbed the eggs, her bootie bopping in rhythm to the song in her head.
She turned toward the stove and the entire carton of eggs went crashing to the floor, because there, looking road-trip rumpled, stood her parents, Howard and Gennie.
“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?” she croaked, haphazardly buttoning the shirt all the way to the collar. Lucas’s shirt!
“It is our house, dear,” Gennie said.
God, she’d had freaky-deaky sex in her parents’ house. She threw up in her mouth a little.
“I know, but you’re supposed to be at home. Healing.”
“Seven days of staring at the television and I needed a change of scenery,” Howard said, stepping over the broken eggs and pulling Milly into his arms in a hug that nearly knocked the wind out of her. Where Milly was vertically challenged, her dad stood at a steady six foot two. Big arms, big belly, and an even bigger heart.
“Netflix is a crucial part of the healing process,” Milly said.
“A guy can only take so many episodes of Bridgerton.”
“You know your dad can’t stay in one place very long,” Gennie said. “I caught him geared up for a hike just yesterday morning.”
Zoe had inherited her curious side from their dad. Where Zoe was a nature photographer—an adventurer by trade—Howard was an attorney during the week and an outdoorsman on the weekends. He liked hiking, bird watching, and anything that placed him in the wild.
Gennie’s idea of outdoorsmanship was pruning her roses, but she obliged her husband and oldest daughter by going on weekend outings. Zoe’s idea of outdoors was scaling a mountain. Her dad would hike it, her mom would remind everyone to stay on the trail, and Milly would be back at base camp staring cluelessly at the map.
Growing up, her parents worried that Zoe would come home with a broken bone—or worse. When it came to Milly, her parents had worried that she’d never leave home. Zoe couldn’t be corralled, and Milly couldn’t be convinced that there was anything worth risking life and limb for. But her hermit habit sometimes concerned her parents as much as Zoe’s daredevil lifestyle.
“We wanted to check in on you,” her dad said carefully, then glanced over her shoulder at the unopened boxes blanketing the front room. “Make sure you weren’t holed up in the house in your pajamas.”
“Oh, Howard,” her mom admonished. “We’ve been here all of two minutes and already you’re smothering.” Gennie grabbed Milly by the hands and pulled her arms out to the side, taking her in. Thankfully, the shirt fell to her knees. “I mean look at her. Up and about, in the kitchen, looking fantastic. I mean she’s positively glowing. What’s your secret?”
Her secret was multiple orgasms in a single night.
“How are you handling things, Milly Rae?” her dad asked as if only the stone-cold truth were an option.
Milly winced. That first and middle name combo was only used when he was in lecture mode or worried. And right then he was worried—about her state of mind.
“I’m fine. Really.”
Howard folded his arms over his big belly. “We both know what fine means.”
“I know what you’re thinking. But I’ve been so busy catching up with Gemma and Kat,” who were going to have an encyclopedia of questions later, “that I’ve barely had time to breathe. In fact, just last night we went to Bigfoot’s Brews.” Which had led to sex with her childhood crush. “I even went skiing.” Into said crush.
Her dad’s eyes tracked the room and all the untouched boxes of her sister’s things. “I knew I shouldn’t have left you to do this alone.”
“Dad, I need to do this alone.”
“Why?”
“Because I need closure. You were there to say goodbye in her last moments, and I wasn’t. Plus, I doubt your doctors would approve of you lifting any boxes.”
“My doctor’s an idiot. I bet he isn’t even old enough for his balls to have dropped.”
“He’s the top cardiologist in the county.”
Howard opened his mouth to argue, then snapped it shut, his face going pale while his ears turned red. “Where is she?” He walked toward the mantel over the fireplace and touched the empty spot where Zoe’s urn used to sit.
