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“You sound surprised,” Teddy said as I hugged him next.
“I don’t know what I expected. Maybe that things would feel different without Mom—” Then I broke off, remembering that my brothers didn’t like to talk about her after she’d passed.
Jameson leaned a hip against the counter, an amused expression on his face. He was always smiling. Even when Dad would get frustrated with his grades or his laid-back attitude. “I guess it’s different for you. You didn’t live here after—”
I swallowed over the lump, not expecting to broach this subject with my family. “It’s different.”
“We’re just happy you’re home for the holidays,” Dad said as he poured olive oil over the cut-up veggies.
“I am too,” I said, surprising myself. I never had time to take off. There was always a new project to work on, another hotel that needed my help. But now that I’d made the time, I wanted to do it more often. If my boss couldn’t see my worth, was it necessary to work through holidays, never taking any vacation days?
“I’m going to fire up the grill.” Dad handed Teddy the veggie platter and they went outside.
Wes grabbed a box of crackers from the pantry and dumped them onto a plate. “I heard you’re spending a lot of time with Aiden at the inn.”
“I’m staying there, and his sister, Marley, wants to renovate the basement. Hotels are kind of my specialty, so she asked for my advice.”
“You could stay here. Daphne moved out of the cottage,” Jameson said, sounding like he would prefer that.
“I was worried that staying here would be hard for me,” I admitted softly.
Wes nodded. “I can understand that.”
“I didn’t handle things the best back then. I didn’t come home. I didn’t help out. Not like Teddy did.”
Weston frowned. “Dad wanted you to stay in school. He would have been pissed if you quit.”
“Teddy moved closer.”
Teddy had taken on a larger role when Mom died, He’d moved closer to home to keep the rest of the kids in line, making sure they went to school and their grades hadn’t fallen.
“He knew he wanted to be a police officer near home. It made sense for him to move back. Mom always thought you should go away to school, experience all that life had to offer. When she got sick, she made Dad promise that nothing would change. That everything would go on as it had before.”
“You can’t lose someone like that and expect everything to be the same.” I’d felt bereft after she died, and then when I lost Aiden too, I thought I’d never recover. That I’d always have this hole in my chest.
“Between Dad and Teddy, they tried to keep things the same, but they weren’t,” Wes said.
I shook my head, guilt seeping into my tone. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“You did what you were supposed to do, lived your life. Dad was proud of you,” Weston said.
“Everyone’s all grown up, and I feel like I missed it,” I said fondly.
“Not everyone’s grown up.” Wes glanced at Jameson, who said, “Hey,” and threw a cracker at him.
“You’re right. Nothing has changed around here,” I said with a smile, and my brothers’ shoulders relaxed.
I enjoyed my brothers’ teasing.
“When are you going to grow up and get a real job?” Wes asked Jameson.
“I have a real job. Besides, I wasn’t cut out for police work. I don’t want to arrest people. I like helping them.”
My heart warmed at Jameson’s comments. He’d always had the biggest heart. “I think it’s great that you’re a firefighter.”
“I suppose it’s better than living in the basement, playing video games,” Wes said light heartedly.
I remembered there was a time when Dad was worried about Jameson, when he couldn’t’ seem to make a decision about what he wanted to do with his life. But not everyone had their life planned out in high school. “The important thing is that he’s happy now.”
