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I walked into the Armstrong home and felt intimidated, even though I didn’t need to be. Noah and his parents were right there to hug me and tell me how grateful they were that I was there.
Kayla came over and put her arm around me. With a wink, she asked if I wanted to help her cut up salad in the kitchen. It was like I’d stepped into a time warp; I had always helped her with the salad.
“Wait a sec. I have to hug her,” Canyon said, opening his arms and squeezing me. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you at church, but it’s good to have you back.”
I felt my face flush as Noah took my hand. I didn’t have time to react, because the door flew open and Dylan walked in. I hadn’t seen him since the hospital.
Dylan smiled and came right to me. “Kayla said you were coming to family dinner. I had to come and see this myself.”
“I missed you,” I said, hugging him. When I was in high school and dating Noah, Dylan had been such a cute kid. We had shared some fun bonding activities. I pulled back, and there were tears in my eyes.
All the Armstrongs were gathered around. It was like this perfect television family moment. I looked at each of them and said, “I’ve missed all of you. I’m really grateful to be here.”
Dylan punched Noah in the shoulder. “I’m just grateful to have both of you back. It’s an Armstrong family reunion.”
Noah sniffed and looked around at the whole family. “It is. I’m sorry for kind of ditching you the past eight years. I love you all.”
His family said in unison, “We love you too.”
His mother cupped his face with her hands, and then she hugged both of us. “It’s so great to have you guys here.”
Noah’s father grinned and patted his wife’s shoulder. “Okay, that’s enough. Let’s eat dinner.”
When he said it, things seemed to shift, and it was just like old times. We talked about me, and they all had questions. I found myself opening up and sharing some of the hardships of my marriage.
We also talked about times past, and I found it therapeutic to listen to all the good memories. Some of them I’d forgotten about. Some even had my brother in them. They seemed to dance around talking about Greg, like they weren’t sure how I would react.
I grinned at them. “It’s okay. I know I held a grudge for a long time about Noah saving me instead of my brother, but I am grateful for Noah.” I took his hand. “It wasn’t fair to punish him for his good deed. I just had to grieve. I’m sorry.” For years, I’d needed to say those words.
We talked some more about summer days at the lake and all the fun times we had. I was updated on each of them. Damon’s wife had left him, which I’d heard. Canyon was the perennial bachelor, but they all teased him about the girl he had dated in high school. Kayla faced similar teasing about her own high school sweethearts.
She was brash about shutting it down and changing the topic. “I want to talk about the family resort. I want to buy more land.”
This seemed to take everyone by surprise. I had heard she was running the resort the Armstrongs owned, but I hadn’t realized they’d been talking about expansion.
Dylan gave everyone a nod. “Kayla did ask me to be here for this.”
His father grunted at him. “Did you come to see Ella? Or to try talking us all into leveraging the family resort and buying more property?”
Dylan’s eyebrows waggled. “I wouldn’t have come here if I couldn’t see Ella.” He pointed at me. “Though Kayla did want backup.”
I turned to Noah, who seemed clueless. He steepled his fingers and stared at Kayla.
Damon shook his head. “Don’t you think you have enough to manage? Why do we want to expand?”
“I agree,” Canyon said with a nod. “You’re already managing so much.”
Kayla waved a hand. “Listen, Wyoming might not be a hot spot like places in Colorado, but it’s growing with more and more people moving out west. I think we need to invest in the surrounding properties, and the property above Mom and Dad’s estate.”
Noah’s father frowned. “I don’t think we have enough to leverage that much, do you?”
“Do we really want to stretch ourselves that thin?” his mother pointed out. “Wouldn’t you be stretching yourself thin too?”
For a second, Kayla looked stunned. Then she folded her arms and scowled at everyone. “I’m tired of all of you treating me like the cancer kid. I can handle anything. I’m the one responsible for all the profit we’ve made in the past two years.”
Noah’s father put his hand up. “You’re doing a great job. No one is disputing that.”
Her mother nodded. “We don’t care that you’re a cancer kid. We just want you not to have to work so hard.”
