Page 8 of See It Through

“Not when it’s the size of a tree trunk,” I shot back.

Cormac clapped once. “All right, children. Don’t get started, or we’ll be hearing the two of you snipe all night.”

“Hey…” Mom grabbed Maccie’s hand and held it between both of hers. “Isn’t parenting my job?”

He offered her a crooked grin. “I thought you could use a break after trying to keep Cay in line for thirty-one years.”

Mom kissed the back of his hand. “My sweet baby, always looking out for your mom. Don’t worry about me, honey. I’m giving free-range parenting a try. They can learn from their mistakes while I get to cease worrying about them killing each other.”

I waved my hand. “Hello, I’m right here.” Then I picked up Cay’s arm and made it wave too, though it took a lot of strength to do it. “Cay’s here too. His feelings are hurt.”

“They’re not,” he added wryly, tucking his hands in his pockets so I couldn’t use him as my puppet anymore.

Cormac cocked his head, exchanging a glance with our parents. “Are you sure about the free-range thing?”

At twenty-four, Mac was the youngest, and he was pretty wonderful. As much as we all doted on Phoebe, Mac was the baby, and even though it pained him, we all saw him that way.

In his finely-tailored suit, however, he didn’t look like a baby. Maccie was as tall as Caleb and our dad but lean and rangy. His hair was similar to Cay’s but slightly shorter and more refined, and he kept his light beard neatly trimmed. He was the only one who had Mom’s icy blue eyes, and they were gorgeous. In fact, in looks and interests, he took after our mother more than the rest of us.

Maccie had gone to college for hospitality management and was now the assistant manager of the resort with plans to take over entirely in a few years. While I would be bored to tears working inside day in, day out, Mac was good at it. Empathetic to his core, people loved him because he was good to them. In that way, he was very much like our dad. Not that our mom lacked empathy, but she was sharper with a barkanda bite.

I folded my arms over my chest, putting on an offended pout, though I wasn’t in the least. “I’ve been free range since I moved out of this house. Somehow, I manage to feed and clothe myself.”

Phe nodded. “She hasn’t even burned down her apartment.”

I raised a finger. “Not even once.”

Cay’s huge hand landed firmly on my back. “Pretty sure the fire department has you blacklisted, so it’s good you haven’t needed their services.”

I rolled my eyes, muttering, “Forget you’re cooking noodles one time, and no one lets you live it down…”

“You started a fire,” he stated.

I held my fingers an inch apart. “A small one, and that was at least a decade ago. You need to let it go.”

Mom hopped up from Dad’s lap and swept around us to return to cutting the melon. “Speaking of a decade, guess who rolled into town last night? Hannah was just about to tell us about it.”

Caleb’s head cocked. “A decade? What’s that about?”

I blew out a heavy breath. “Remington is back.”

He flinched like he’d taken a blow. “Back where? In Sugar Brush?”

“Yep.”

Cay scrubbed his bearded cheek and turned away. His normally loose limbs were drawn tight, and his jaw moved back and forth as he processed this bit of news.

Remi leaving hadn’t impacted me much. I wasn’t one of those girls who’d paid a lot of attention to the boys my brothers hung around. For me, Remi had been here one day, gone the next. I moved on easily. But Caleb had moped around the ranch for months. He’d checked the mail for letters or postcards, his phone for texts or missed calls. Then, one day, he just stopped and never brought up his old friend again.

I’d thought he’d gotten over it.

Looked like I was wrong.

“What’s he doing back now?” he asked lowly.

“We didn’t share a heart-to-heart.” I wasn’t about to tell my family a buck-naked Remi had burst in on me. They wouldn’t have taken too kindly to that, and it wasn’t like the naked part had been a big deal. It was his existence in a house where he no longer belonged that had gotten under my skin.

“What’d he say?” he pressed.

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