Page 35 of One Weekend in London

Each picture is perfect.

A treasure.

And way too good not to share.

Smirking to myself and intending to stir up a maelstrom back home, but not finding it in myself to care, I open up my family’s group chat without hesitation. It’s perfect timing too because Rhys’s phone rings and he glances at the screen, annoyance dancing across his face.

“I have to take this, love.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

I press a second kiss to his jaw before he turns and answers the call, my focus falling to my phone as well. Biting my lower lip, I start quickly typing, nearly bouncing in place.

Me: [photo] Guess who’s on a day-long date with her very own Prince Charming?

Knox: What. The. Fuck, Sadie?!?! A date? Who is this guy?

Of course Knox would reply first. More overbearing and overprotective than all of my other male cousins combined, he’s a complete pain in my rear. But he’s also one of the best men I know, even if he doesn’t believe it most of the time.

Still, where’s Lillian when I need her?

Tasha: Oh holy crap! Is that Rhys Kensington??? Tell me this isn’t some kind of joke because I’m pretty sure I’m gonna faint. #sexyAF

I should’ve known it wouldn’t be long before my favorite troublemaker, albeit a harmless one, showed up. And I’m not the least bit surprised she knows who Rhys is. She’s more up-to-date on celeb gossip and news than I am on my own life.

Weston: Who the hell is Rhys Kensington? And @Tasha, what do you mean sexy? Keep it up and I’ll lock you in a closet and throw away the key. You’re too young for a boyfriend, much less to be gawking at full grown men!

Tasha: Boy, please. Some girls my age are already getting engaged and having babies. And I gawk at men all the time. Why, just this morning I saw Hendrix Cole at the gas station and lemme tell you...

She has a point about Hendrix.

Too bad he’s married and twice her age.

Weston: You’re a teenager! And Hendrix? If he’s your type, then somebody kill me now. Just go on and put me outta my misery! @Papaw, come get your granddaughter!

Great. The looney family patriarch has been summoned. This whole conversation is about to go to hell in a handbasket faster than I can blink.

Me: Glad to see nothing has changed since I left.

Lillian: @Sadie, nope! You know how the men in our family are—pure ridiculous at times. How’s the date going? Miss you so much! Can’t wait until you’re back home.

Me: [photo] @Lillian, it’s perfect! He’s perfect! So glad I followed your advice and took a chance. Now he says he wants me to stay longer. Maybe it makes us both crazy, but I’m starting to think that might not be the worst idea...

Knox: Again, WHAT THE FUCK? @Papaw stop talking to your chickens and get on here! @Sadie no way in hell are you staying in London. The last thing I need is to leave Tate right now, but if I have to get on a plane and drag you home, I will. @Eli, @Weston, @Deacon, @Emmett, @Rhett, @Sutton, get your passports ready!

I nearly snort. I’d like to see them try and take me from Rhys. But then my smile falters when I think of Tate, Knox’s teenaged daughter and my baby cousin. Scarred by trauma and lost in darkness, she’s been lashing out as of late, dangerously rebelling each and every way she can.

It breaks my heart to see.

I’ve tried everything to help her, our entire family has, but nothing’s working. Therapy, medications, group interventions—none of it has made a dent in the grief-constructed walls she’s built.

The only person who has a snowball’s chance in Hades of saving Tate is Wendy, the single mom Knox has been shadowing ever since she rolled back into Garrison a few years back.

But Knox is too blinded by his own pain to see what the entire Winslow family already knows—Wendy is the key to fixing both his and Tate’s broken hearts.

Hopefully, he’ll soon realize that.

Before it’s too late.

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