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Whatever he was going through, he wasn’t ready to talk about it. I decided I wouldn’t pressure him today, but I wasn’t going to let it go too long before I forced him to say aloud what was so obviously constantly racing through his mind.
Lawson’s hand slipped over mine and he laced his fingers with mine. Hampton didn’t miss the subtle gesture, and the hurt that flashed in his eyes went straight to my gut.
“So, you’re not going back to Philly, huh?” Georgia asked, spearing a potato and taking a bite out of it. “What about you, Lawson? Now that your case here is wrapped up, they sending you somewhere else? Back to Vegas maybe? You know, you still owe me a trip out there.”
My head whipped in his direction. I’d never considered he’d be sent somewhere else. And my life, and new residency program, was here. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t follow him across the country.
He must have seen the panic etched in my face because he balled up a napkin and threw it at his sister while assuring me, “I’m not going anywhere.”
I blew out a breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding and then turned to glare at Georgia. “You’re such a jerk.”
She popped a fried okra spear in her mouth and grinned. “Yep.”
“Georgia Rose, you’re incorrigible, girl! We raised you to be a lady and you turned out to be a terror,” Mr. Reed bellowed.
I laughed as she poked out a lip and batted her lashes at her daddy, feigning hurt at his words. As I settled in to dinner with the Reeds I looked around the table at my family.
I loved them all just as fiercely as they loved me and each other. We’d weathered worse storms than this and I knew we would continue to get through this tragedy.
Just as we always had.
Together.
As a family.
A peace like I’d never felt before settled over me and I swear, for a moment, I saw Jack smiling back at me from the chair next to Hampton’s.
I smiled back and whispered, “We’re gonna be all right. Thanks for watching over us.”
Epilogue
Piper
One Year Later
“I thought I told you not to throw me a party!” I hissed a moment before the front door flew open and Hampton waltzed in, his arms full of wrapped presents.
“Happy Birthday, Pip!” he shouted. He dumped the presents on the coffee table and then turned to where I was glaring at Lawson. “The big two-seven!”
I rolled my eyes and grumbled, “Twenty-seven is not worth celebrating.”
“Of course it is,” Lawson quipped. “Every day you’re alive is worth celebrating.”
Hampton made a noise in the back of his throat like he was going to be sick. “God, how do you stand living with him?”
“Not really sure, to be honest,” I shot back and turned on my heel, stomping toward the kitchen.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love a good party. Especially one that was in my honor. But Hampton was still not himself since his marriage to Smith had turned out to be a sham. He was getting there, but there were moments I would catch the sadness in his eyes.
In true Georgia fashion, she’d gotten into a relationship that was doomed from the start. Since the man she had been dating for the better part of the last year had been her boss, the breakup had been anything but pleasant and she’d been pretty tough to be around for the last few weeks. As a matter of fact, the last time she’d been at the house, Lawson had stayed hidden in his office for the entire visit.
As if my thoughts were a beacon calling out to her, Georgia came gliding in through the door, carrying two bottles of champagne. “Sorry I’m late.” She held up the bottles. “Had to grab some champagne.”
Lawson wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said through clenched teeth, “Thanks for grabbing that, but I told you I had everything covered.”
She pulled out of his grasp and said over her shoulder, “These are for me.” She frowned in my direction. “Hope you don’t mind, but I’m pretending it’s my birthday and getting drunk tonight.”
I groaned as she plunked one of the bottles down and kept talking. “I can sleep in your room tonight, right, Piper? It’s not like that bed’s been used in what? A year now?”
