5. Quade
Pulling onto my street I glance at Hadley.
She’s been quiet for the last hour. Our talk went a little deeper than either of us expected. I don’t blame her for retreating inside herself.
I’m grateful for the time her silence gave me to think about everything we talked about.
I hate that she’s feeling pressure from her father to work for him. I understand it, from his point of view and hers—mainly hers—and I wish I could give her more help than just a summer escape and my own story to compare.
Maybe I can be a sounding board over the coming weeks and give her a shoulder to lean on if she needs courage to make the tough decision.
We’re almost to my driveway when my phone rings through the car’s sound system. Seeing Hollis’s name on the scene has relief flowing through me. I’d expected to hear from my mother by now. She knows I’m heading up to the estate tomorrow and I won’t be surprised if she calls to check I’m still bringing a guest.
“You mind if I answer? It’s my sister.”
“No. Go ahead.”
After I hit the button on my steering wheel, my sister’s voice fills the space. “Hey, Bigs, when are you getting up here?”
“You’re already at the estate?”
“Yes. Got in about an hour ago.”
“I’m driving up tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“There’s a tropical storm sitting off the coast. It’s still a few days out and could change course but Gram still wants to batten down the hatches. She wants extra food and water brought in, the main house weather proofed, the others too.”
“You need more hands on deck.”
“It’s fine. We can manage.”
I glance at Hadley and raise an eyebrow.
She gives me a nod and mouths ‘up to you’.
“I can drive up this afternoon. I just have to finish packing and lock up my place for the summer.”
“You’re planning to stay here the whole time? I thought you’d head back home during the week.”
“No, I’m working remotely for the duration.”
“If you can get here today that would be great but don’t rush. We can manage without your help; it’ll just take us a bit longer.”
“Why don’t you send me a list of anything you want me to pick up on the way?”
“Oh, Gram already has that covered. We just need more hands to organize and check all the buildings.”
“All right. I’ll leave Charleston within a couple of hours. Should be there around dinner time.”
“Okay. See you then. Love you, Bigs.”
“Love you too, Little.” We sign off in our usual way. Hollis has always been Little, Cora Littler, and Delaney Littlest. I can’t even remember the last time I called any of them by their actual names.
“Bigs? Little? Is that a size thing?”
Hadley is grinning when I look over. Smiling in return I say, “No, it’s an age thing.”
“Let me guess. Bigs is short for big brother. Little is for little sister. But don’t you have three of them?”
“Yeah, but that’s easy enough. Little, Littler, and Littlest.”
“Wow, there’s some imagination there,” she says with a laugh.
“I know. We’ve called each other those nicknames for so long I can’t remember how they started or who started them.”
“It must be nice.”
Her words are a whisper and the sadness flooding her eyes makes me want to erase every bad thing from her life. And I don’t even know what they are. She mentioned her father only had her but she didn’t go into detail. “You don’t have siblings?”
“I do.” The smile on her mouth is bittersweet. “They died when I was sixteen.”
My gut clenches with anguish for this woman I barely know. I hate to ask, I want to change the subject and wipe the pain and heartbreak from her eyes—her heart—but I want to know, need to know, and it has nothing to do with the fact we’re faking a relationship for the summer. “They?”
Hadley nods. “They were in a car accident along with our mom. The twins were killed instantly, Mom lasted a few days in a coma before she died.”
Fuck. I want to reach over and pull her into my arms. Soothe her physically because I can’t think of any words to say. Are there any good enough in this situation? “Hadley.”
“It’s okay. There isn’t anything you can say that I haven’t heard before and no words are the right ones anyway.” She shakes her head and points to the house in front of us. “Are we going in?”
I get that she’s changing the subject, probably needs to considering we’ve just met. I might want to know everything about her but I need to earn the privilege before we dig into such a deep, painful part of her life. “Yes. Let’s get packed up. We’ll grab some food on the way out of the city.”
“Okay, should I bother unpacking to see what extra clothes I need?”
“No. If you don’t have something appropriate, I can have some things shipped in or we can take a day trip back here to shop.”
“All right. Is sounds like your family needs as many hands as they can get so what can I help you do to get us out of here faster?”
“Honestly, there isn’t much. I have a housekeeper who will continue to come by once a week to check on the place. I just need to finish packing my clothes and make sure my briefcase has the work I plan to do while we’re in Love Beach.”
“Your sister seemed surprised to hear you were staying for the summer.”
Switching off the car, I pocket my keys and pop my door. “I don’t normally stay the whole time but this is the first summer since my grandfather passed and I want to be close to Gram.”
“When did he die? When you said the family pressured you to join the business, it sounded like he’d been gone a while.”
“No. He’s been gone five months. He was sick for a few years before that though.” In spite of all of us being ready when Pop died, it hit hard. “We were prepared. So was he.”
“But it still cut deep.”
Our gazes lock and I can see the sympathy, the understanding, the hurt she feels on my behalf. Surprisingly, seeing her emotions soothes my own. “Yes. It cut deep.”
I hold her gaze for another moment before turning and pushing out of the car. Without saying a word, I close my door and walk around to her side. She’s already opened her door but I offer her my hand to help her out.
“Do you want to freshen up before we go?”
“No. I splashed water on my face in the airport bathroom and I’d rather wait until we get to Love Beach and I can unpack.”
Tugging her with me, I head toward the porch. “While I finish packing, can you get us a couple of bottles of water from the—” my words are cut off by the cherry red convertible screeching into my driveway. “Shit.”
“What? Who is it?” Hadley yanks her hand from mine.
“Not a girlfriend or ex if that’s what you’re worried about.” Retaking her hand I brace for Hadley’s first introduction to family. “It’s Littlest.”
I don’t get to explain further before Delaney bounds out of her car and for a split second stares at me and Hadley. I don’t miss the way Hadley’s hand jerks in mine either.
“Oh my God! Hads!” Delaney’s screeches are almost an identical match to her tires before she races across the lawn, arms in the air.
“Laney?” Hadley pulls free of my hand and rushes to meet my sister.
The two women embrace in a hug that speaks of their closeness and I’m left scrambling to come up with how they know each other because it’s perfectly clear that out of all the women in the United States, I picked the one my youngest sister is friends with.