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I grunted at his comment, though I’d been just as surprised as everyone else when Mason Kade’s announcement to retire broke the day after mine.
And we both moved to Fallen Crest.
Will grew quiet, listening to our conversation.
Channing smirked. “It’s kinda funny, though. You and Billie moving to Mason and Logan’s old neighborhood. You’re just down the block from Mama Melinda and Sam’s dad.”
I gave him a look. “Stop fucking needling me, Monroe.”
He laughed, taking a drag from his beer. “Or what? You’ll take back my friendship bracelet?”
“I’ll break your wrist so it’ll heal so you can never wear another friendship bracelet.”
He and Will both started laughing.
I was joking.
Somewhat. Kinda.
I wasn’t really joking, which both knew and that made them laugh harder because in the end, it wouldn’t matter. After the initial phone call when I told him Billie wanted me to have friends, something switched in Monroe. He wouldn’t have let me not be friends with him after that, and me breaking his wrist, he’d still show up the next day. He’d demand an apology as he’d also be unloading things to help me build a treehouse, which he would tell me that I needed to do for my nieces and nephews, because he’d done it for his own kids.
“Where did they end up moving to? Are they back in this neighborhood?”
Channing was loving this conversation. There was a look of amusement but also a twisted grin on his face. “They moved to a different neighborhood, but their dad’s old house is in this neighborhood too. I can’t get over how everything is just coming full circle.”
He was referencing old shit from when we’d been in high school. It was in the past and had no bearing on the now. None of it mattered.
I was getting tired of the direction this conversation was going. Channing got a kick out of it all, but I didn’t. We’d only be here half the year anyway. Six months here for my family, especially since Stevie had taken to Billie in such a strong way.
Stevie was almost obsessed with Billie.
It worried Harmony a little, who was more tentative in her own relationship with Billie, but that’s because of Harmony’s family. Her parents considered themselves in the ‘old money’ society of Fallen Crest. They adored their new grandchildren, but Billie’s past with the Midwest Butcher and how it came out about her brother made them decide they were in some place where they could approve of Billie or not. A lot of people were hesitant to form friendships with Billie. The part where they decided they were in a place to have an opinion was something I’d be clearing up to them, and shortly. They were in no place to approve of Billie or disapprove, and I was looking forward to the day I made that abundantly clear to them. I’d already started making moves to help me when I’d solidify that fact to them. The sooner the better.
However, the funny part of all that was that Billie didn’t care. She truly didn’t, and said it took off the pressure of her having to be friendly with them. She was good with the circle she had, with me, Lo, and now Stevie.
I only cared where no one had any fucking right in deciding not to accept Billie, unless she decided she didn’t want to be accepted by them. But Billie reassured me this wasn’t a fight I could or should take on. It was useless because narrow-mindedness wasn’t something I could break, like Monroe’s wrist.
Still, it pissed me off, and the few times we’d come together for a holiday, Harmony’s parents and the rest of her family knew exactly how much I didn’t like them. Will wasn’t a fan either, and it’d affected his own relationship with his in-laws.
That was family shit that would happen no matter where we lived, who we were, or how old we got. Family would be up and down, as far as I was concerned, but Will and I were good. Will and Billie were good. Billie and I were good with Stevie, Georgie, Sammy, and now Will’s two boys, so in that regard, I was content as fuck.
“What’s this I hear that Stevie decided to transfer to FCA?” Channing sensed I wasn’t going to react to any of his questions, so he let it go, throwing his next question to my brother.
That got my attention.
Will faltered as he was in the middle of taking another drag from his na-beer. He glanced my way before coughing and nodding. “Yeah. Uh. She originally wanted to do public school here, thought Fallen Crest Academy would be too different from Roussou. That’s what she was used to, but she made the decision a week ago.”
“She’s going to FCA now?” I asked him.
He frowned at me, watching me carefully.
I’d extended a scholarship to Stevie years ago. If she wanted to go to the private school in Fallen Crest, she could go. It was her decision. Will and Harmony were financially maxed out in a legal fight against Shannon for custody before she’d been sentenced to prison. I helped cover Stevie’s therapy fees, but I found out later that they decided to have Georgie and Sammy both see a therapist, and they were also covering those fees themselves. They hadn’t wanted to use their insurance, hence why I set up the scholarship. Though, I would’ve set it up regardless and already had started before they told me.
Stevie turned the scholarship down, though she didn’t know I was the one behind it.
He nodded. “We checked. The scholarship she was originally offered said they’d cover her. They said it was set in stone for whenever she wanted to use it. Real generous of them.”
Channing’s head moved back an inch. “I’ll say. I had no idea there were scholarships for kids to go to FCA, though it makes sense. That school is expensive.”
