Page 64 of Promised Summer
“You could have told me you were gay back then, honey. You know I don’t care who you love,” Mom called to my back.
My steps paused at her comforting words. Some people had to worry if who they liked would cause a rift with their family. I was so fucking lucky to never have to worry about that.
“I’m demisexual, Mom, but thanks,” I turned and called back to her. She smiled one of those big, proud mom smiles that almost had me tearing up.
I found Karla happily telling her gigi all about Lily’s new pups. Her gigi was indulging her, smiling and nodding every few seconds.
I watched them for a few moments, my heart so filled with all the love my family had graced us with. I knew it played a big part in Karla’s healing journey.
She’d changed so much from when we first arrived in Kither Springs. The quiet, shy girl who barely spoke a few words to me was long gone, and now I couldn’t gether to be quiet for more than a few minutes, and I couldn’t be any happier about it.
I had no doubt that Karla would always miss her mom—I would too—but my strong girl was moving into the future instead of being trapped in the past.
I wassofucking proud of her.
After giving my grandma a hello hug, I told them I was heading to the store for some groceries. Karla quickly said she was going to stay there with her nana and gigi. I couldn’t stop the smile at seeing how close Karla had gotten to them.
Once I got everything I needed from the store, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen. The chicken was seasoned and tossed in the crock pot, and two Concord grape pies were in the oven. I could prepare the rice and beans right before heading back to the cabin.
I cooked a shit ton of everything, because I’d seen those men eat at Mama Denn’s cookout, and I was sure they’d worked up an appetite.
There was just one very important thing I needed to do before we headed back. Jones had done so much for me, and I wanted to do something for him, too.
I told Karla we had a secret mission to complete for her papa. She was completely on board and ran to the car before I could even tell the others.
I laughed and quickly followed her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
JONES
It didn’t take long for us to add the decorative molding. I’d found some with a floral design I thought Karla would really enjoy. Painting the flowers all around the room took up most of the morning, though I was surprised by how artistic Clay was with the brush. While the rest of us were using stencils I’d purchased, he’d painted by hand. And his flowers looked a hell of a lot better than ours.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with Ryker helping build a small twin-size bed that Karla could sleep in comfortably. The queen that was originally in the room was fine, but she needed help to get onto it since it was so high off the ground.
Ryker worked his carving magic again. He carved vines, similar to the ones he did for my bed, but these vines turned into flowers in the middle of the headboard.
Honestly, I was more shocked than anything else at how efficiently he was able to create this art and to have it done within a few hours. Ryker said it was a pretty simple piece, but I think he was just being modest again.
A message pinged on my phone from Ryan, saying they were on their way home with dinner. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face, knowing that this place reallywastheir home now. It wasourhome.
Ryker shook his head when he saw my expression, but he let me know he was happy for me. I started cleaning up for the day, while Ryker said he wanted to finish the final piece and would head inside in a bit.
Leaving the man be, I rounded the cabin to find Dan and Clay to let them know dinner would be here soon. They were clueless about woodworking, so they’d run off to enjoy the hot tub instead.
I wasn’t trying to snoop, I really wasn’t. It wasn’t my fault my tread was silent, and they didn’t hear me coming. Which was why it really wasn’t my fault when I rounded the corner to find Dan snuggled up into Clay’s side. Their backs were to me, so they were completely oblivious to the fact that I was watching when Dan angled his head up for a kiss.
The way Clay leaned in to accept it wastoofamiliar, like they’d done it thousands of times before. And when the kiss ended, even with only seeing his side profile, I could see that the way Clay continued to look at the person in his arms was far from brotherly.
I quickly backtracked and hid with my back againstmy cabin wall and heart hammering in my chest. Holy hell. What had I just witnessed?
Were Dan and Clay together? Liketogether-together? And if they were, why didn’t they tell us?
It was really fucking weird to think about them like that after only knowing them as stepbrothers, but if they were in love and wanted to be together, surely they must know that Ryker and I would fully accept them. They didn’t have to always keep up this charade of bickering siblings.
My heart was still pounding when I heard the rumble of a car. Fuck! Ryan was already here, and the two idiots were still having their intimate moment without a care in the world.
I had more questions than answers at this point, but I knew whatever was happening between them, they’d been trying to keep it from everyone else.
