Page 134 of Alive At Night

Juniper.

DAISY: I already blocked him, Julian.

She followed that text up with a kissing emoji, and a rueful smile sprang to my lips.

A shuffling of feet on the opposite side of the room forced me to put my phone down, which was likely for the best, considering I wanted to throw it across the room at the thought of Greg Kennedy getting anywhere even close to Juniper.

A second later, my dad stood next to me, drinking out of a mug. I knew it was bold, black coffee even though it was early evening.

“Something on your mind?” I asked when he didn’t say anything.

He chuckled. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

I shook my head, not able to divulge that information. My dad and I were close, but not close enough to share dirty secrets or murder plans.

“Something got you down?” he asked.

It was hard to say yes or no to that. I wasn’t down, not really. I was with my family in one of my favorite places in the world. I had the career I’d always wanted. I had a date lined up with Juniper St. James. How could I be down about any of that? I was living the life that I’d spent years dreaming about. Some of it, I hadn’t evendaredto dream about.

“Not down, no,” I said. “Just…off.”

My dad nodded. “It’s a weird feeling,” he commented.

He was being really fucking vague, and yet itwasa weird feeling, whatever I was going through.

“What is?”

Maybe he could clarify it for me.

“When that feeling of home transitions from a place to a person, and then they aren’t there.”

I reeled back, absorbing his words. And holy shit, they were true.

“I don’t even know how this happened,” I groaned. “It’s ridiculous, Dad. I used to love coming here because shewasn’there and I could finally breathe. And now…”

Juni told me about her encounter with my dad at the Christmas party, so I knew he knew. But we hadn’t actually talked about it. I’d hardly admitted any of this aloud to anyone. After all, I’d kept all my feelings about Juniper hidden for so long that I’d convinced myself they weren’t real. But now, the truth was impossible to ignore, and I found it incredibly hard to keep to myself.

“It’s not ridiculous.” My dad shrugged, unfazed by my admittance. “I’m not sure why you’re still here, to be honest.”

“What?” I jerked my head back, looking up at him in confusion.

“Did you think your mom and I expected that all of you kids would be making these trips with us forever?” He grinned—well, it was a grin for him. It probably wouldn’t seem like a smile to most people, but I knew better. “You’ve done a lot for this family, Julian. But your mom and I also want you to have your own, and you can’t make that happen sitting around here with us. It’s okay to live your life, too.”

Speechless, I stared at my dad. And when I couldn’t find any words, he sighed.

“I should have told you that sooner, years ago, and I’m sorry. But I worried you’d settle down with the wrong person if I said it at the wrong time. I needed to wait until you got your head out of your ass about Juniper.” He stuck his hand into his pocket and produced a set of keys, which he held out to me. “Here, take the truck. The rest of us will fit in Mom’s van, and we can swing by Boston to get the truck on our way home.”

“You want me to…” I took the keys for him, unsure if I truly understood correctly.

“Go to Boston,” my dad filled in, exasperated.

“Right now?”

“Yes, right now. Christ, Julian.” My dad rolled his eyes. “Do you miss her or not?”

Yes. Yes, I missed her. I missed the hell out of Juniper, and the thought of getting her in my arms tonight was suddenly all-consuming. I jumped to my feet like there was fire under my ass, and my dad looked satisfied at my sudden action.

“I’ll tell the others something came up at work,” he said as I put on my coat.

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