Page 104 of An Adventure For Aster

“That is what Aster said. Get it done and get home.”

She hoped she got to see him on Sunday. She’d offer to help unpack. She knew Daphne was upset staying at Aster’s, but it was only a month or so.

Aster had told her work had to be done in the cabin to get it up to speed as it’d been empty for months and no one had touched it in years other than repairs immediately needed.

Raine was hoping to spend some time with Daphne too and get closer to her. Maybe showing her the area.

It’s not like Daphne would be working full time, but she would be spending time with Poppy and her family to get to know Holly and Tatum and getting the baby on a schedule that worked for everyone.

“It sounds like things are finally falling into place for everyone,” her mother said. “Right?”

“Yes,” she said. “Colton is out of my mind. He has been for years. Him moving back to the area means nothing. I’m sure he got the message when I shut the door in his face. Even if I was single I wouldn’t take him back.”

“That’s my girl. Burn you once and that is it. I’m glad it was never put to the test back then,” her father said.

She knew that if Colton had come back she might have forgiven him and it would have caused tension in the family, but it all worked out for the best.

Maybe she’d struggled financially over the years but nothing like her parents did and they got through.

She was in the best space in her mind. The best of her life right now.

She wasn’t going to let a darn thing change that.

35

FOR THE BEST

“Aster, since you’re here, I could use your help in the bathroom.”

He looked at his father on Friday morning. Daphne was finishing the last of her packing and he was starting to load everything up. He’d rented the smallest U-Haul he could and didn’t need that as it was.

His sister didn’t have much furniture she was taking. Everything in her room was hers when she was a kid. It was more clothing, shoes, a TV, her mini fridge, and a dresser she’d bought since she’d run out of closet space.

She didn’t even empty that but rather they loaded it up as is.

“Sure,” he said.

“Dad,” Daphne said. “We need to get on the road in less than two hours. Aster already booked a hotel for us to crash at tonight and it’s like twelve hours away.”

He’d told her that this morning when he got here. He showed up at seven and got right to work. In his mind, there was no reason to not get on the road by nine.

His parents were up and just sitting at the table drinking their coffee and not lending a hand.

The fact there wasn’t much more left for him to load up and his father hit him with this now only pissed him off.

“You can check in at any point,” his father said. “This won’t take long.”

It wouldn’t take long because he was putting his foot down. They did this shit to him all the time. When he was home on leave it wasn’t a big deal, as he had nothing else better to do.

But now it was just them being selfish.

“What do you need?” he asked when they got to the end of the hall at the bathroom.

“I want to replace this vanity. I need some help.”

“Bringing it in?” he asked. “I can do that, but that is it. I can’t spend all day here doing this. You should have said something last night and I could have helped after court.”

His father frowned. “I thought you’d be busy.”

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