Page 52 of Love Notes & Lifelines
A sirento our right wails while confetti shoots over our car. Daisie stretches over the middle seat to hang her dopey head out of Emmy’s open window.
“What is this?” Stella asks with wide eyes while I drive at a snail’s pace because the entire town of Sailport Bay flanks my car.
Stella and Ruby are as loud as I’ve ever heard them. It figures they’d love the chaos. Cally always did too.
A pit lodges itself in my throat. This is why I haven’t come back here. Being in the one place where my family and I were a team—until we weren’t—makes it hard to remember why I walked away.
“Tabby,” I say through clenched teeth.
Stella’s hand lands on my shoulder again, and this time she squeezes, then uses the delicate finger of her free hand to point straight ahead. The warmth of her touch has me relaxing my jaw while I finally take a full, unrestricted breath.
She can’t be the one who chases away my demons.
The car rolls to a stop and I squeeze my eyes shut tight for a full twenty seconds before creeping forward again inch by inch.
We’re rolling down Main Street in our very own fucking parade. On every business and every flagpole are posters, signs, and banners welcoming us home.
Us specifically. Our names are plastered everywhere, even Stella’s.
“So much for making a quiet entrance,” I grumble.
The crowd files into the street ahead, blocking the road, so I roll to a stop in the middle of it, right in front of Coastal Comfort, the town’s general store. God forbid an ambulance needs to get through.
“Are we supposed to get out?” Stella’s voice trembles, and I immediately turn in my seat.
My cheeks puff out like a blowfish as I release a breath. “You don’t have to be afraid of these people. They’re nosy fuckers, but they care. When the summer rush dies down there’s not much here but the community they’ve built.”
A shiver works through me, and I fight hard not to let the weakness show. There was a time when I was proud to help build this community.
“That sounds…nice,” she says, but her gaze still darts from one person to the next until a knock on my window has us all jumping. Her hand on my shoulder squeezes one more time, and when she removes it, I try not to acknowledge how bereft I feel.
I drop my chin to my chest and count to ten while Tabby stands outside my window, spinning her hand like she wants me to roll down my window. I freaking told her I wanted to come back quietly. That’s why I don’t trust anyone in my family, not even my quirky cousin, Tabby.
“I should have known,” I say, then lower the window enough to hear what she has to say for herself.
Tabby is the spitting image of my aunt Imogen, right down to her jet-black hair, patchwork dress, and mismatched flip-flops. The apron tied to her today saysBake the world a better place,and it matches the lopsided grin we both inherited from that side of the family.
It’s nearly impossible to look at Tabby’s happy persona and not smile. She opens her mouth but is cut off by a voice I’ve known since I was a child. Oliver Shines announces our arrival over a loudspeaker in his silky radio announcer voice as if he’s introducing his next segment.
“Small-town magic,” he says in that buttery tone that hasn’t changed with age. “Through tragedy we find hope. Welcome home Becker, Emmy, and Ruby. And a very special Sailport Bay welcome to our newest resident sweetheart, Stella Anderson.” He drags out her name gameshow-style.
My gaze lands on Stella in the mirror and my heart twists when I take in her pale complexion. “Tabs, what did you tell everyone?”
I pop the car in park, and it’s all the invitation she needs to open my door and throw herself at me for a hug. She’s a whirlwind of activity that somehow manages to unbuckle me and drag me from the car at the same time. When my feet hit the pavement, she hugs me even tighter.
I’m not sure if she ever grew to five feet, but her personality makes her feel giant. Even if I tower over her in height, she’ll always beat me in enthusiasm.
My muscles relax when she grins up at me, and my lips almost tilt up to match her expression.
“I told them what you told me,” she says, then releases me and opens the back door. Emmy breaks into a sob while reaching for my cousin with both hands.
“Hi. I’m Tabby,” she says, reaching over Emmy and offering a shell-shocked Stella her hand. “I’m Becky Bear’s cousin.”
California can hear my groan.
“Come on out. Everyone wants to meet you.”
Stella’s eyes are not capable of opening any wider, but when Tabby removes Emmy from her booster seat, Stella scrambles into action removing Ruby, crawling out, and holding her close.
