Page 51 of Dandelion Sighs

My parents cheered from the sidelines. Mom held Lee up to cheer, and West was sitting on Dad’s shoulders, clapping. Pride shone from Sheridan’s face. I’d forever be in my family’s debt for this. For lifting her up when she’d been held down for much of her life. More people could see how fucking amazing she was.

When the game was done—my team lost—we went back for seconds of all the foods we hadn’t eaten during the first round. I slid behind Sheridan in the line at the table. “Great catch.”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t fast enough to get you out.”

Always hard on herself. She was excellent. “Don’t be hard on yourself, or we’re going to have to play again.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t. I already know I’m going to be too stiff to move in the morning.”

“One word to Poppy is all it’ll take.”

Her smile was grudging, but it made an appearance. “I was terrified it’d go over my head.”

“It would’ve been fine if it did. Especially since I could’ve gotten a home run.”

She dished out some cookie salad that Clover made, mostly for her husband but also for me. “Is this how it always is?”

The weight in her tone gave me pause. “It wasn’t always,” I answered honestly. “We were closer, but not like this. After graduation, we all scattered and did our thing. We’d get together at holidays and stuff—the big ones, like Christmas. But then Grandma Annie passed away, and that brought us all here.”

“Why? You just all missed Coal Haven?”

Shit. We shuffled down the line, and I used it as a chance to consider my answer. “Yes, mostly, I guess. Grandma left her house in a trust. Lily moved into that.”

“Oh, how nice. Keep it in the family.”

The back of my neck heated. Please don’t ask more. “Good that it worked out.”

“Are you talking crap about me?” Lily said from behind me.

Dread prickled down my spine. I had to play it cool and bypass the whole trust talk. “I said you use your kids to cheat at kickball.”

“They’re better than you, and one day you’ll have to accept that.” Lily played along, but she probably didn’t know what Sheridan and I had talked about. Regardless, the change in subject was a cool wash of relief.

Sheridan shot me a playful glare. “He was telling me about your grandma’s place.”

A burn in my throat matched the back of my neck. Oh no.

“Oh, the trust?” Lily shook her head, and I tried to send her a stop talking warning with my eyes, but she was looking at Sheridan. “I don’t know what Grandma was thinking. I guess I do, once Dad explained it. But marriage? Really?” She lifted a shoulder and grinned in the way that she often did when she was talking about Eliot. “I guess it worked out.”

Sheridan tipped her head. “Marriage?”

Lily blinked and glanced at me.

I’d been publicly dumped once, and I didn’t need to follow it by only proving that someone would marry me if they got something out of it. Sheridan talked openly to me about how she needed to prove herself—to her and to everyone else. It had resonated with me for a reason, only not when it came to what type of work I did. It mattered when it came to someone who wanted to invest in me.

Could I still get out of this discussion and bypass the topic completely? “Grandma made it a stipulation that Lily needed to be married a year.” Let that be the end of it.

I tensed when Poppy and Clover approached the table on the other side.

“Are you regaling her with tales of the trust?” Poppy asked. She planted her hands on the table. “Have you heard all the stories?”

Confusion passed over Sheridan’s face, and my stomach dropped to my toes and flopped on the floor. Crap.

I should’ve been honest. But maybe they wouldn’t get to the cabin.

“We have to be married for a year before we can get the property,” Clover said.

“And we can’t even live in it until we’re hitched,” Poppy added.