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As Errin and Kate camethrough the sliding doors at the arrival terminal, Kayla ran to her sisters with open arms. They immediately let go of the handles of their trolleys and were just in time to catch her. The Walsh sisters stood in a three-way hug while other travelers passed them by.
Tears fell on her shoulders from both sisters, and her nose started running as she cried. She was in full-on ugly crying mode. They had always been so close, and it hit Kayla like a freight train that she had missed them so much.
“Come, Walsh sisters, let’s go. The traffic in Austin sucks balls, so get a move on.” Kayla’s sisters giggled at Calum’s swearing. Calum had said he wanted to surprise Kayla by arranging for Kate and Errin to visit her. Her sisters didn’t know the real reason for Kayla’s departure two months ago, let alone the real reason why they needed to leave New Jersey ASAP.
Once they reached her apartment, Kayla had gone straight to her kitchen to make hot chocolate. She picked up the pan from the stove with a towel and filled four mugs with the hot milk, stirring it with the cocoa inside. It was a tradition in the Walsh household to drink some hot chocolate before going to bed when something big had happened during the day. Recitals, important games, first dates—all had been discussed in the kitchen over a cup of hot chocolate.
Their mother had initiated the tradition when they were young, and even now, when they happened to be together at their parents’ home, they would sit around the round kitchen table, sipping from their hot chocolate.
Their father had “improved” the tradition on Thanksgiving Day four years ago. Her youngest sister, Errin, had turned twenty-one on the Halloween prior to that Thanksgiving. With every family member legal to drink, their dad put a bottle of whiskey in the center of the kitchen table and said, “Time for some Irish hot cocoa.”
Errin had gotten really sick and was throwing up the same evening. Her brothers had laughed wholeheartedly, stating she couldn’t hold her liquor, but her mother had scolded her husband. Their parents agreed that the “Irish hot cocoa” was only to be had at Thanksgiving, not on other hot cocoa nights.
Kayla walked into the living room with the four mugs on a tray. Her brother and sisters sat next to each other on her couch with their feet on her coffee table. Kate and Errin shared a blanket, and Calum sat on Errin’s other side with his own throw blanket over his legs and his arm draped over the back of the couch. The sight of her siblings in her apartment had her lips trembling. She sniffed and blinked back the tears that threatened to fall as she handed each their mug.
“Thanks, sis,” Calum said before taking a sip. Coughing, he sat his feet back on the floor and sat straight up. “Fuck, Kay-Kay, do you have Dad hiding in the kitchen?” he asked through narrowed eyes.
Kayla smiled, knowing she went a little overboard in pouring the whiskey. She loved to joke around, and the practical jokes had been something else in the Walsh residence, growing up with three brothers. She always wanted to fit in with the boys and do as they did, and she certainly let them know that she could hold her own.
“It might not be Thanksgiving Day, but I figured we could make an exception and drink an Irish hot cocoa today.” Kayla smiled as she picked up her mug and sat on the awful pink flamingo pouf next to the couch. Her lips trembled as she continued. “Girls, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.”
Errin winced. “Ugh, Kayla, no. If you’re going to cry again, I’ll be obliged to drain this mug in one go, and you know how well I respond to alcohol. All I’m saying is that I’ll be giving these flamingos quite a show.”
They all burst into laughter. Errin looked like the most angelic girl in the world, but the things that came out of her mouth....
“Why do you feel the need for an Irish hot cocoa?” Kate was always so perceptive. She was the quietest one of the three sisters. She was the type of girl who could be out at a party and sit and observe others the entire time and then would state at the end of the night that she had a great time. And she’d totally mean it.
Kate wasn’t the person who needed to be heard; she was the person you turned to if you needed someone. If you needed advice, Kate would really listen to you and would never judge you. Kayla knew they’d clicked so well because of their different characters.
Kayla would always take Kate along with her and introduce her to her friends. Kate was only two years younger than Kayla, but she would always worry for Kate because she could be so shy around strangers. Kayla tried to take Kate under her wing and pull her out of her head.
“I have to tell you about what happened to me right before I left New Jersey. I... I don’t know how to tell you this.” Kayla looked up at Calum.
Calum didn’t need a word from her to know what she needed. He set his mug down on the coffee table and started. “Kayla had a real bad experience right before she left, and she didn’t want to scare us. She didn’t want me to get involved, and she felt like she even needed to leave the state.”
“Oh my God. Kayla, what happened?” Kate reached out and put her hand on Kayla’s knee.
“Is there someone the guys need to handle?” Errin was serious when she asked the one thing that normally would be a joke amongst them. The Walsh brothers did their fair share of handling boys when they were growing up.
“We’re handling it, but, girls, I have to tell you something that also affects you.” Both Errin and Kate turned their focus to Calum. “Kayla was attacked in front of her apartment on the Thursday before she left. She was beaten up badly, and she didn’t want us to see the state she was put in by that fucker.”
“Oh no. Oh God. Kayla?” Kate’s tear-filled eyes turned to Kayla as she fell to the ground on her knees in front of her, wrapping her arms around Kayla. As they hugged and cried, Kayla felt a second pair of arms surround her, coming from her back as Errin softly sobbed.
“What happened? Please tell me you’re all right?” Errin voice trembled as she held on even tighter.
Kayla tilted her head and looked at Calum again. He’d always been her rock, the eldest of all her brothers and sisters, and he never missed a beat, always knowing what the rest of them needed.
“Come, girls, give Kay-Kay some breathing room.”
Errin and Kate sat back on the couch and looked at Kayla with sad eyes. Kayla hated seeing the pity there as well. She despised pity, and seeing it coming from her younger sisters made her angry—not at her sisters, but at Tom. He might have physically hurt her that one night, but he was still hurting her as her whole world was still upside down.
