Chapter 16 #2
Selfishly, this will also mean I never have to cover a huge section by myself again, unless our water really is contaminated and all our servers go down at once. Wilder even pointed out that with another server, we might be able to turn tables over quicker and get more covers in.
But more importantly than all of that, it means Amelia and her mom are reunited, after far too much tragedy kept them apart all these years.
The smiles on their faces are so bright, the rest of us have no choice but to take notice.
Raucous laughter spills over the jewel green grass of my sister’s backyard, still vibrant even in the low light of sunset, now that summer is in full bloom in the Smokies.
Wyatt hung string lights around the perimeter of the area we usually host family dinners, even adding a second picnic table to have plenty of room for all of us now that both the Grady boys’ mother and Amelia’s mother are going to be here every Sunday night.
My eyes can’t help but dart to the two women who are newest to the Heights, staying close throughout the night at the first family dinner since Amelia’s mom got to town, and Amelia got her new job working for her idol, Jynx.
It’s a celebration tonight.
New beginnings, Amelia toasted to.
For Rory and I, it’s bittersweet.
It’s a fresh start for Amelia and her mother, but Rory and I will never see ours again.
Two and a half years and it still pits my stomach every time it hits me, when those fresh realizations land a strike.
They say time heals everything, and you’d think grief would get easier as the years tick by, but I haven’t found that to be so true.
The picture Rory had blown up and hung over her desk, one of the very last we got of our mom, I don’t know how she gets anything done under it.
Not sure she’s even realized that’s why I don’t set foot in her office unless I can’t help it. Seeing my mother’s face shining down, six feet tall, I don’t find it comforting or inspiring, the way she apparently does.
It hollows out my insides, the grief clawing a path out that turns into vitriol so it doesn’t liquify into tears.
The love of her life must notice my thoughts wandering, because I feel his rough hand come down on my shoulder and it shakes me out of my funk before anyone else catches on.
“Thinking about her?” Duke asks.
“When am I not?”
“Touché,” he whispers.
His hand falls, and I have to wiggle my nose for a second to regain control of my tear ducts, but crisis averted.
“She’d’ve loved Amelia,” he says, husky voice lower than usual, watching fondly from the edge of the garden where I perched myself.
“She loves her,” I correct him, and he just nods.
If her memory dies, too, what do we even have left of her?
“Rory told me what you two are planning for her birthday.” Silence fills the space between us, because my voice will crack if I try to respond. “I think it’s beautiful.”
“It’s time,” I whisper, eyes on my niece, balanced on her dad’s shoulders, giggling as her uncle tickles her way up in the sky.
“If you want me to come, I will,” he offers. He’s the only one of us who’s been to visit her since the day she was interred.
All I can do is nod again, and I take off before he breaks me in front of all these people we call family.
The sound of baby giggles draws a much needed smile to my face, and I scoop her off of Wyatt’s shoulders and pretend she’s a plane, flying her around the yard until we make it to Amelia and her mother Billie, standing with Rory by the edge of the far table.
“Mama,” Rory’s daughter calls, reaching for her.
“You don’t want to hang out with Auntie Lexi?” I ask her, curving my neck so I can put my face up to her tiny one.
“She has impeccable taste,” Rory says, cooing at her, taking her from my arms.
I might squeeze my niece just a moment longer before I give her over.
“So, is Amelia giving you the grand tour of the Heights? You settling in okay? I’m sure you two have a lot of lost time to make up for,” Rory asks Billie, voice warm the way it rarely is with me.
Billie looks over at her daughter next to her, the way she seems to do every few seconds, like she can’t get enough of the sight, the color in Amelia’s cheeks, the genuine happiness that she wears like a second skin.
“I’d be happy if we sat in a parking lot together, but, yes, I’ve gotten to see so much of it already. Looking forward to getting into a normal routine here and just setting up my new life.”
“You’ll let me know if you have any issues with where you’re staying?” Rory asks, a hand resting on Billie’s wrist.
“It’s wonderful, please. Thank you for everything.”
“We’re basically family now.” Rory smiles at her.
Weston swoops in, an arm curling around Amelia that doesn’t pull her away from her mother, just offers his presence, a physical extension of his love for her.
My lips fold in over my teeth and I bite down on them, not letting the jealousy win today.
“So, I’ve met your mother, Weston. Is yours here, Rory?”
If I weren’t physically holding my mouth in place, a scream might’ve broken loose.
Amelia’s eyes round out like an anime character, and she tugs on her mom’s arm gently. “No, Mom,” she whispers, trying to keep it from getting awkward about ten seconds too fucking late.
“Our mother passed a couple years ago,” Rory says softly, like it doesn’t break her to speak aloud.
“I’m so sorry,” Billie says, eyes traveling to mine, with more meaning behind them than I’m used to seeing.
I realize she’s also experienced immense loss, and there are some things worse than getting a lifetime with someone you love before saying bye to them.
“We’re glad to see you two getting to be together again,” Rory tells the women.
“Enjoy every minute you get together,” I manage to say, a sad smile on my face.
Amelia looks up at her mom, and her mom presses her forehead against her daughter’s.
“Definitely plan on it,” Amelia says, smiling back at us.
Rory links her arm that isn’t holding a baby through mine and she pulls me to the bucket of drinks on ice, and I grab one without noticing what it is and down it.
Gross.
It isn’t a Diet Coke.
“You okay?” Rory asks, eyes just like mine, just like Mom’s, boring into me.
“Are you?” I retort, tossing my head to get my curls off my neck.
“Getting there,” she says, head tilting to one side.
“Must be nice to be you,” I spit out.
“Is it seeing her with her mom?” she presses.
“You know we still have a parent who’s alive. Just because we lost Mom doesn’t mean we’re orphans.”
Rory’s face darkens, and her hold on her child tightens.
“Don’t, Alexis.”
“You’re really good at forgetting people exist, I know. You forgot about me and Mom for all those years.”
Rory’s eyes flinch, and her face pinches. “Stop that.”
“You going to keep pretending like we don’t have a father until he’s six feet under too?”
“He is dead to me, Alexis, you know that.” She starts rocking the baby in her arms, almost a frantic pace. “Where is this coming from?”
“No, Mom is dead. Dad’s still alive. I just think it’s really fucking rich that every single person in town forgave you for what you did, even Mom. Even Wyatt. But you can’t forgive Dad? Can’t even try to talk to him or consider a relationship with him.”
“Fuck you,” she seethes.
“No, fuck you, Aurora.” I spit out the name she went by in New York like it’s an insult.
The identity she chose that had nothing to do with the Heights.
“It’s always what you want, that’s all that matters. You didn’t want to be here, so you left. You wanted to come back, so you did. The rest of us are just pawns in your world.”
“He cheated on Mom!” The words are almost a holler, one hand against the baby’s ear so she doesn’t shout into it, but Wyatt comes out of nowhere and scoops her out of Rory’s arms, leaving us alone.
“You broke more hearts than he did!”
Her jaw drops, face shattering at the accusation.
“He only fucked one person. You fucked all of us when you left.”
I can’t watch her eyes fill with water, like she’s the one who’s being wronged. I focus on the flowers blooming along the line of the forest, the ones that continue along the path leading back to the land that Amelia and Weston are in the early stages of building a home on.
“Stop,” Rory whispers.
“Because that’s what you want. What about the rest of us? If I make a mistake, are you going to cut me out of your life again too?”
“Lex.” Her lower lip quivers, but I don’t want to hear it.
Spinning in the grass, I stomp my way through her yard until I make it back to the smallest car on their parking pad, my Nissan, and peel out, not sure where I’m going, I just need to get away from her.