Page 29 of An Unfinished Memory

“Fine.” I’d argue that he could buy one in town, but he’d bicker for the fun of it, and I didn’t have the energy.

My house came into view. I leaned closer to the steering wheel of my pickup. Dusty trucks lined my sidewalk like a country house party. “What the hell is this?”

Eliot was grinning his gotcha grin that looked more like Austen’s. “Surprise.”

I switched my glare from him to the house. The burn in my chest eased. A birthday party? I’d planned to either fish all day or hoped I’d get called out. This was a nicer option than either.

My porch was full of kids. A dormant part of my heart clenched. I liked the sight a lot. The house was big, and I didn’t need more than a bedroom. The days when Sutton had Cody’s kids over for sleepovers hadn’t been that long ago.

Now, they were racing down the steps. Ansen had a baby to his chest and was talking to Cody. Aggie was on the porch swing I’d nearly smashed to pieces a few nights after Sutton walked out.

She’d bought it after the place was built, saying,It’s like that Tim McGraw song. We can face it west and enjoy the sunsets. Not only had the porch not seen this level of family on its floorboards, but that swing had been empty for far longer than my marriage.

I scanned the small crowd. No Sutton. Not a surprise. She wouldn’t return to Buffalo Gully and ignite stares and speculation. She also wouldn’t want to cross the lines we’d set. Once a week. No sappy talk. A little bit of small talk and then nothing but getting each other off.

Austen wasn’t there either, but everyone else was. Cody and Tova and the kids had made the trip, and so had Aggie and Ansen with Ro. They’d traveled with a baby for my goddamn birthday. And Eliot, the fucker. He’d made some bullshit excuse to run to town after I turned down his offer to take me out to eat. I knew he had a shit ton of ten-millimeter sockets.

I either had a raging case of acidreflux, or I wasn’t used to this level of attention from my family. “You planned a birthday party?”

“Aggie did,” Eliot said with a grin. “I was a helpless bystander, doing what she told me to do.”

My throat was growing thick. When Sutton gave me the divorce papers, I had blamed Aggie. And my sister, having been raised a Knight, had pushed right back, insisting I was the idiot who’d let my wife slip away. Sutton had been telling me she wasn’t happy, and she wanted a change, yet I’d continued trucking along with life as usual.

Aggie was here. Throwing me a birthday party that was a poor disguise for a siblings’ pity party. None of them wanted me to be alone for a milestone birthday so soon after the divorce was final.

Goddammit, I was grateful as hell not to be alone.

I parked in the garage. One of my siblings would give Eliot a ride home. My work car was in its normal spot.

When I got out, my nephew, Grayson, ran up to me. “Happy Birthday, Uncle Wilder.” He threw his arms around me so hard I nearly staggered back. He’d gotten taller since I’d last seen him, and his hair was a little longer. Why did Grayson and Ivy seem like two people I had to get to know all over again each time I saw them?

“Thanks, big guy.” I patted his back. “How’s dance and football going?”

“You have to come to one of my games.” He grinned. “I’ll start dance in the winter again. Tova said she can still teach me with a baby.”

If Cody had stayed in Buffalo Gully, Grayson would’ve been the most sullen football player in Buffalo Gully. As soon as the kid had found dance, he’d tapped into a well of athleticism that had surprised all of us.

Ivy skipped toward me. “Happy Birthday,” she said in a singsong voice.

I squatted in front of her. “Dang, girl. You’re going to be taller than me soon.”

“I don’t want to be that tall.” She giggled and dipped into a curtsy, fluffing up the skirt of her swirly dress.

“Why not? You can reach the top of the cupboards.” Sutton used to curse me for putting dishes we used regularly on the top shelf.

Ivy leaned in close, a conspiratorial glint in her eyes. “Then I’ll have to clean them.”

I barked out a laugh and ruffled her hair. “Always stay one step ahead of them.”

She grinned, sporting a missing tooth she’d had when I last saw her, and skipped off.

When I rounded out of the garage, I spotted a platter of food and what looked like a cake tray by Ansen’s feet. Aggie came down the stairs and gave me a rare hug. We weren’t a touchy-feely family. Cody’s kids were different, and their enthusiastic hugs were a breath of fresh air.

“Happy fortieth, Wilder,” she said.

“You didn’t have to do this.”

“I know.”

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