Page 29 of Opposites (Never) Attract
A stranger to my mom.
It wasn’t intentional, I knew that. And I never said anything, because Mom and her sensitive soul would be devastated if she thought she’d done anything wrong. What would be the point in that? I blamed it on my brain and my mathematical ability, which meant I bent more toward logic than emotion. That just wasn’t my parents.
But, standing here, looking at my mom and sisters, who I thought always looked like a coven of witches, I could admit, it hurt.
My childhood had hurt.
It was my dad who had been there when I needed to feel loved and accepted and appreciated, despite being different.
We had inside jokes and loved listening to the Padres’ games in the garage. I had no ideawhat that team meant to him, but that was his team. He visited me at school once. Showing up at Columbia in an old suit, like he was there to impress. Thinking about it gave me a painful twist in my chest.
Three of the McGraw brothers came out to stand beside my sisters. Carter, the oldest, a widower, I knew, with three kids. Ethan, handsome enough if you liked really successful surgeons who gave it all up for love, which I suppose had its appeal. And, Mac, the youngest of those assembled, the tragic Romeo to my sister’s Juliet.
Missing was Seth, who was my age. Harmony had told me he was off somewhere recovering from a minor rodeo injury, but would soon be back on the circuit. Which, wasn’t every cowboy always recovering from some injury or another?
And, of course, Eli, who was our brother Boone’s age, wasn’t there. He and Boone had actually joined the military together, and they were both stationed somewhere overseas with their units. It was always tough getting the story from Boone where he was, I wondered if the McGraws had the same issue with Eli.
Regardless, this was some hell of a welcoming committee.
“This is some greeting,” I whispered, unsettled by all the attention.
“You’ve been gone a long time, Sunshine. Nothing wrong with welcoming home the prodigal child,” Tag said.
“Why are they just standing there looking at me?” I asked.
“Why are you?” Tag shot back.
Fair.
I lifted my hand in a wave, and like I’d shot off a starting gun, Harmony sprinted off the porch and wrapped me in her arms. It was like being slammed back into my own body. My own life. This. Here. In her arms. My nose in her hair. This was home. It had been so long.
“Thank you for coming,” she whispered into my neck. “You’re going to save all of us.”
“No pressure,” I said, pulling away, but I was still smiling. It was hard not to smile around Harmony. “I want to see this will.”
“Right. Of course. But first, we have to tell you something.” Harmony’s face fell, like what she had to tell me might be the end of the world.
“It can’t be that bad,” I said, with a laugh.
“It’s not…great.”
“I’ll do it,” Mom said, slowly descending the front steps. “It should be me.”
She had the look of a woman headed to the gallows. Which was not a look Mom wore that often. A cold chill spilled down my spine.
What the hell had I come home to?
I felt a tug on the back of my linen dress and Tag pulled me back toward him and dropped his head toward my ear. “You need me, I’ll be waiting.”
I looked at him over my shoulder. “You going to protect me from my mother?”
His face was grim too, and I realized that they hadn’t just brought me home to save the Swinging D.
They had also brought me home forthis.
Whatever news they were about to drop on my head. News so bad, even Tag was worried about me.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I pressed Tag. “What didn’t you tell me in New York?”
