17. Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Maci
I ’m blinded awake by the sun squeezing between the closed wooden blinds. The Grandmother clock opposite the foot of the bed indicates an hour before brunch. Which I’m hosting.
After a quick shower, I tie my hair up in my favorite style of braid and head into the kitchen to start cooking. Songs from dancing last night replay in my head and I hum them while I work.
The first time we met, Sutton seemed stoic. Last night, though, I’d felt like the only person in the world, important, as we danced.
Leah and Izzy arrive as I’m setting the French toast onto a tray in the oven to keep warm.
They hardly wait for me to yell, “Come in!” after knocking before I hear the door open, the handle smacking the wall.
“Good morning!” comes Izzy’s cheerful greeting, with Leah on her tail grumbling and less than sparkly. That explains the aggressive door opening.
I dropped her off at her house, leaving water and Tylenol by the bed. It was the best I could do since she strongly opposed staying with me.
Izzy sets what she’s carrying on the packed island and wraps me in an all-consuming hug. Leah grimaces behind her dark sunglasses.
“I see you’re feeling the effects of last night.” Izzy and I exchange knowing grins .
Leah grumbles, “Do you two have to be so damn loud all the time?”
Izzy gives a loving roll of her eyes. “Dining room?” She lifts up the insulated bags she brought in.
“Yep.” I plate the bacon. Leah plunks orange juice and champagne on the dining table, as Izzy pulls bowls of various berries and a tray of breakfast sausages from the carriers. My eyes catch briefly on the drinks.
“I’ve missed this.” Izzy’s voice is soft. I turn to see her folding up the insulated bags before coming back over and pulling serving trays from the cabinet naturally.
“Me too.” I lay my head on her shoulder.
“Remember when Nana taught us how to make chicken noodle soup?” Izzy’s head presses onto mine.
“Yes! We felt like real women.” We fall quiet, both remembering the summer we turned sixteen.
“I’m starving.” The champagne glasses clink against the counter as Leah pulls four down from a cabinet behind us.
Izzy and I look over our shoulders. “I’m surprised you can even think about food.”
Leah doesn’t respond, just grumbles her way back to the dining table where she plops down and fills her glass.
“Liv’s still coming?” Izzy’s voice is hopeful. She’s taken over placing the French toast on a platter, and without discussing it, we both start moving food to the table.
“Yep. Should be here any minute.”
“Fabulous,” Leah grumbles, “more noise.” Izzy rolls her eyes again. “Keep rolling your eyes like that and they’ll get stuck.”
We snicker at each other. I set a platter heavily onto the table. “I don’t know how you can see past those glasses. ”
A soft tapping on the screen door precedes footsteps approaching the kitchen. Liv rounds the corner. “Sorry I’m late.”
She holds up a container carrying a veggie tray in offering, which Izzy swipes before hugging her gingerly.
“Not at all!” My hug is tighter. “I’m glad you could come.” Our similar age didn’t equate to the same friends growing up, even though my best friends lived in the same town with my cousin. Liv was more reserved and stayed busy with math teams and other academic enhancements. Most of my friends at school were surface-level at best, but my time with Izzy and Leah was always unparalleled.
The four of us settle around the table, catching up on life as we eat. It’s incredibly comforting after the last ten days. And it’s what the house needs to feel like a home again. I recall Izzy asking me about letting this go, before pushing it from my mind.
“Liv, how's school going?” Izzy sips her mimosa.
“Oh, boy.” Liv inhales deeply. “It’s been a year. This class is giving me a run for my money.”
Izzy smiles. “I’m sure it’s because you make them feel comfortable.”
Liv blushes and changes the subject. “Well, Leah, you look like you’re feeling better. Rough night?” It always surprises me when Liv teases people, but it’s even more adorable coming from her.
“She sure did tie one on.” I can’t help but laugh at Leah's expense.
“Oh you’re one to talk, Twinkle Toes.” She raises her mimosa in challenge, her grin matching mine.
Liv’s head whips between us, realizing she’s missed something. “You both went? ”
“Leah strong-armed me.”
Izzy chews quietly, watching the exchange. We’ve had our fair share of ladies’ nights over the years, but always with a solid plan. No doubt Izzy has questions about what went down last night. The worry written on her face is similar to the frustration I felt last night having Leah mostly slung over someone’s shoulder as she was deposited to me. Never mind having to be fully carried outside. I don’t even know what she remembers.
“I didn’t see you complaining when that stud of a cowboy swept you onto the dance floor.” Leah pointedly moves the heat to me. She takes a long gulp of her mimosa in quiet celebration and raises her eyebrows as if to say so, there .
“Stud?” Izzy parrots. She shoves my chair with her shoulder. Her blue eyes sparkle at me.
“His name is Sutton, and he’s a rancher.”
Izzy’s mouth falls open.
Liv cuts in. “As in Sutton Strickland?” Her eyes are huge.
My brows pull together. “ Yes? Why are you saying his name like that? He was just here last week.”
“Not as a date.” Liv grins.
“It wasn’t a date.”
“He can dance .” Leah can’t help but stir the pot.
“Yes he can.” My eyes rest on the uneaten food centered on the round table. “It wasn’t what I was expecting for the night, that’s for sure.”
Leah refills her plate while Izzy and Liv continue to stare at me. Neither of them dares to ask anything.
“I met Sutton after Nana passed. He came with his mom when she brought over some food. She’s very sweet.” My mouth tips at her warm nature. Everyone should be so lucky to have a mom like her. “He happened to be at the bar last night. ”
“Well he scared Colt off, anyway.” Leah speaks through her French toast.
“Colt?” Izzy is looking between us again. She and Liv shrug at each other.
“The biker?” I offer this information as if it will give them an inkling as to who he is. “Oh, really? Everyone knows Sutton, but no one knows Colt?”
The town is small, but I can’t assume that between the four of us we’ll know everyone. Although it’s starting to feel that way with each person I meet. Stupid small town.
I take a bite of the crispy bacon on my plate. “What about Pete?”
A thud echoes under the table and I snicker at Leah trying to kick me.
Liv grins widely as Leah and I stare each other down playfully.
No one bites on the Pete comment, so I give in and keep going. “It’s moot anyway. Sutton didn’t talk to him. Colt was angry with me.”
“You pissed off a biker?” Izzy’s mouth tightens.
“It’s not like that…” Maybe it is like that. “Whatever. He can fuck right off.”
Liv’s eyebrows raise and she suppresses a laugh. My eyes fly to her. “I love when you’re yourself,” she promises and pats my hand on the table. She spears a strawberry half with her fork and pops it in her mouth. “Are you going to see him again? Sutton?”
Leah’s sunglasses sit loosely atop her head, day old makeup visible around her eyes. “That man was watching Ms. Maci like she was the only woman in the world.”
We can always count on Leah for the drama. I roll my eyes. “He was a little intense, but I wouldn’t go that far.” I can’t hide my smile. “I gave him my number.”
Liv grins excitedly.
“Intense?” Izzy’s questioning this time is playful .
“He—" I halt, rolling my lips in and trying to determine how best to explain Sutton’s interactions.
Leah snorts at the same time. “It was some love at first sight shit.”
“Oh God, Leah, that’s a bit dramatic.” Laughter spills out of me.
Leah shrugs. “I just call ‘em like I see ‘em.”
“I don’t know how you saw anything, quite frankly. Between pool, flirting with your own biker, and drinking.”
“And there it is,” Izzy says with a shake of her head. “You two can’t be trusted anywhere.”
Full to the brim, sore from laughing, and a little tear-streaked from stories about Nana, brunch finally comes to an end. Izzy and Leah head out together. Liv fakes looking busy until we’re alone. We cleaned up before the others left, so there’s nothing for her to do.
“What are you going to do about this place?” Liv’s eyes trail around the kitchen.
I look around the space until I realize what she means. I’m surprised this is coming from her, too.
“It’s not up to me.” My shrug is a little more defeated and a little less careless. I try to turn her question around. “What is your mom going to do with this place?”
Liv pins me with a look.
“You look just like Nana right now.” My smile stretches so wide it hurts, and my eyes blur.
She hugs me tightly. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
Tears flow down my cheeks and I squeeze her tighter instead of responding.
She talks softly into my ear. “Your heart is in this house. More than any of the rest of us. And that’s okay. Yes, our moms grew up here, but it’s been years since they spent any solid time here. They built their own lives. Just like we are.”
She pulls back, but doesn’t give me long to digest before continuing. “For what it’s worth, I loved Nana and she will always be special to me. But she was your grandmother. You know?”
“She was your grandmother, too,” I argue quickly, looking into her hazel eyes.
“I know. I mean that your bond with her was different. I know Nana loved me, too. That’s never been a question. I’m not worried about favorites. Y’all’s relationship was different.”
“Yeah.” I don’t need to add how desperately I wish to talk to her or hug her one more time, or how deeply the loss has impacted me. Maybe this is what most people feel like losing a mother they’re close to. My reaction to losing Stephanie will never compare to this and I can’t bring myself to feel guilty about that. “What does all of that mean?”
“It means, I think you should consider if you want to keep the house.” Liv shrugs like the answer is plain as day. She pulls away softly and turns to close up the dishwasher.
My eyes widen at her back. “What would I do with it? My business is established. I have my own place.” An apartment with a lease I need to renew. I never signed the form this week.
“Don’t be silly, Maci.” She takes too long to dry her hands on a hand towel. “You can move your business. ”
Her hand comes up to stop my anticipated protest. “Yes, you would need to transition. Maybe you could travel between here and Austin until you’ve built a large base. You don’t work a nine to five.” Her eyes are piercing again in that honest way Nana used to do. “And an apartment hardly ties you to any one place for the rest of your life.” She leans against the counter and crosses her arms.
“Ok, you’re right about that.” My eyes drift and I trace the grain of the butcher block counter with my fingers. “I’ll think about it.”
Liv gives a sharp nod of approval. “Good. Now take the trash out.” We laugh, but I wrap her in another tight hug before following orders.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”