48. Hunter
Chapter forty-eight
Hunter
Ilook around the table, at my parents as they lean against each other, united as always.
Grandma DeeDee gives me a wink, as if all of this were her doing.
Asher raises his glass of sweet tea at me, his hair starting to cover up the signs of his surgery.
Wyatt and Georgia are huddled on one end of the table, whispering to one another.
And Rosie’s at the other end of the table carrying on as if she’s the host of this show.
I glance up and see my Cypress City cousins—Beckett and his wife, Sadie, and Raquel with her boyfriend, Henry—coming through the door.
It’s never a small crowd with the Dawson clan.
My eyes fall to Ellie, tucked up under my shoulder, rocking Audrey in her car seat beside the table. It’s hard to imagine a world where they’re not my beginning, middle, and end.
Ellie nudges me, a soft look in her brown eyes. She points to Audrey, who’s fallen asleep and is making funny faces as she dreams. I pull Ellie closer, grateful we’re on a bench and not separated in chairs. I press my lips against her temple and whisper, “I love you, Ellie Dawson.”
She turns to face me, so much love evident in her gaze, and whispers back, “I love you too, Hunter Dawson.”
Her lips meet mine for a brief moment—a promise of things to come.
I don’t know where this life will take us, but I know that if I have Ellie and Audrey by my side, it’ll be just fine.