Page 110 of The Last One You Loved
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Mila and I had just hung up from a video call with McKenna a few days before Christmas when she got sad and droopy. My chest twisted. I kept waiting for the storm to break, for her to have a meltdown because of what had happened, so my voice was slow and tentative when I asked, “What’s up, Bug-a-Boo?”
“McKenna is going to be all alone on Christmas.”
It made my gut twist and turn, too. I hated the thought of her being alone. McKenna’s friend Sally had gone back to Davis only long enough to pack up her stuff and move in with her father on the Central Coast. Since then, McKenna had been putting in what felt like a thousand hours a week at the hospital. The work hadn’t been easy, especially because a handful of the staff still believed Roy Gregory.
“She doesn’t have anyone, Daddy,” Mila continued. “We have everyone. Nana, Papa, Uncle Ryder, Auntie Gemma, Auntie Sadie, Rianne, Tillie, and Bruce, and?”
“I get it, sweetheart. We have the entire town of Willow Creek.”
“She doesn’t have any family.”
My chest ached. McKenna and I hadn’t talked again about when to tell Mila the truth, but it felt wrong to say McK didn’t have family, especially when her sister was sitting in front of my eyes.
I pulled Mila to me and then took the leap. “We’ve talked before about how I found you when Sybil didn’t know how to take care of you.”
Mila nodded, brows creased as she said, “You and I were both sad and lonely, right? You said when you picked me up, it was like we both found our home.”
Those had been my words. Words I’d keep telling her until she was old enough to finally understand what they really meant.
“Well, when I first saw you, I didn’t know for sure who’d given birth to you, and yet, I still knew who you were.”
Her frown grew. “I don’t understand, Daddy.”
“I knew who you were because I could see your sister in you.”
She inhaled sharply. “I have a sister?! Where? Why don’t I know her? Where are you keeping her?”
I smiled. “Breathe, Bug-a-Boo, and just think for a minute. Use that enormous heart of yours, and you tell me who you think your sister is. Someone you look like. Someone you already love and who loves you back.”
Mila’s eyes grew wide. “McKenna!McKennais mysister?!” She jumped off of me, hopping from foot to foot, twirling around. She grabbed Chester off the couch and screamed in his face, “Chester! I have asister!”
She came to a stop in front of me. “Daddy, you know what this means, right?”
My smile met hers, growing wide as I said, “We need McKenna to spend Christmas with her family.”
“Yes!” She made the little victory move I hadn’t seen her do in days and took off running toward the hallway. “Come on, Daddy. We have to pack right away.” She stopped. “Nana and Papa are going to be sad because they say I am the joy of Christmas. But they have Uncle Ryder and Auntie Sadie and Auntie Gemma, and they will just have to be their joy this year.”
I laughed, pulled up my phone, and searched for airline tickets as happiness and excitement filled me. I’d let McK go once and not gone after her, and even though I knew she was coming back, that this time things were different, it still felt right to go after her now. To make sure she never spent another damn holiday alone.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
MCKENNA
DETOUR
“And as long as I still get to be yours
I don’t mind a detour.”
Performed by Maren Morris
Written by Kurstin / Veltz / Morris / Aarons
I sealedthe last box with satisfaction and looked around my bedroom with a tired sigh. It was almost as empty as the rest of the apartment. The entire place felt cold and bare, like it had from the moment Sally had left for good, taking most of the furnishings with her. When I’d moved in, I’d only had my bedroom set, television, and a few odds and ends in the kitchen because almost everything at Kerry’s place had been his, and he’d taken it all with him to Boston. It was a little sad to think I’d spent so many years in California and had so little to show for it. But in some ways, I was glad. It meant I could easily leave it behind to return to the people I loved.
During the last few video calls with Maddox and Mila, I’d had to get creative so they didn’t see the state of the apartment and blow my secret before I was ready. I wasn’t very good at keeping secrets anymore, especially not from Maddox, but the thought of surprising them on Christmas Eve had me giving it my best effort.
