Chapter 61
sixty-one
ROWAN
“Anyone home?” I shout out from the entrance of my mom and aunt’s home.
I don’t hear an answer, so I close the door behind me and walk through the house.
“Hello?” I shout again.
“We’re in here,” my aunt exclaims from the sunroom toward the back of the house.
I stride into the warm, sunny room where my mom and aunt are painting. My mouth curves into a smile when I notice their focus is on each other as they paint.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
My mom doesn’t look away from her canvas before saying, “We’re painting each other.”
“I can see that. Why?”
My aunt responds while looking at my mother, “We saw this thing on the socials. People paint each other and then show the person at the end.” Her eyes bounce from the canvas to my mom.
“We’re almost done,” my mom murmurs.
I look between the two of them before walking to my mom's side. I roll my lips in and close my eyes after I see what is supposed to be my aunt. I think?
“Okay, I’m done,” my mom says proudly.
“Just one more thing,” my aunt mutters and then cocks her head to the side. “Alright, I’m done.”
I lay my arms across my chest, determined to hide my smile with a hand.
“On the count of three,” Aunt Rosey says. “One, two, three.”
They both flip their canvas around and look at each other’s work. My aunt gapes at Mom’s painting and squints her eyes at the creation that was made.
“I don’t have pink hair.” Aunt Rosey has confusion written all over her face.
Mom turns her head to look at her work again and says, “I know, but I thought you looked cute with it.” Then turns back to Aunt Rosey.
“I look like Frenchie from Grease!”
“Well, I think it looks lovely,” I chime in.
“Don’t encourage her.” Aunt Rosey points to me.
“You gave me a unibrow,” Mom yells.
“Because you have one!” Aunt Rosey yells back.
My mom gasps. “I do not.”
“Then what are you plucking at every morning, hm?” Aunt Rosey retorts.
I glance up at the ceiling to avoid this conversation. They’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, and it doesn’t faze me at all, but when one of them pulls me in—which happens half the time—it gets ugly.
I clear my throat to try to stop the back and forth between them. They both look up at me while I stand there.
“As much as I would love to watch you two go back and forth on who painted who the worst, I came over to talk to you about something.” I place my hands on my hips.
“Is everything okay?” Mom asks in a tender voice.
I rock my head from side to side, not knowing how to answer that.
“Take a seat.” Aunt Rosey gestures to a chair across the room. “What’s going on?”
I place my hands on my knees as I sit down and let out a heavy breath. “It’s about Dad,” I tell them, taking my hat off and running a hand through my hair.
“Did something happen after you spoke with him?” Mom turns to me.
“No, nothing happened. Everything is fine. Ellie, she just got this idea in my head, and I don’t know if it’s a good one.”
I rest my cheek on my fist and look at them.
Aunt Rosey throws her hand toward me. “Go on.”
“Ellie suggested that I invite Dad to the food festival. She's signed up for it—technically, I signed her up—and she thought it would be fun to have him, and Amy come to town for the weekend.”
“Oh.” Mom looks at her sister, and they both have the same surprised expression. Then she turns back to me. “Are you asking us if that’s okay?”
“I guess? I think it’s more about Addie and how she would feel. She doesn’t care to meet him, and I don’t want to put her in an uncomfortable situation.”
“But…” Aunt Rosey says.
“But I would like to show Dad around town. Show him what’s changed, and I don’t know, get to know him again. I know I can do that by going to him, but I also want to be able to have him come to me. See my house, my business, my life.”
My mom reaches out for my hand. I look down at it when I wrap mine in hers. Holding my mom's hand makes me feel like a kid again. All those memories of just the two of us walking down the beach hand in hand while we collected seashells.
“I’m not going to get between you and your father. We have no issues with each other, and although he wasn’t physically around, he always took care of us, and you know that. He’s a good man.” She gives a slight shrug. “He just chose a different path in life. It’s not worth holding grudges against someone. Life is too short to do that, and I knew that he would one day be a part of your life again. As for your sister, well, that’s a conversation between the two of you. You know how stubborn she can be. She got it from this one.” She throws a thumb over her shoulder toward Aunt Rosey.
“What you call stubborn, I call headstrong.” Aunt Rosey waves her off.
My mom's expression is unamused by the annoyance of her sister. I laugh and nod my head.
“Why don’t you go and talk to her right now?” Mom asks.
“Because I don’t want to upset her. I don’t want her to feel like I’m choosing Dad over her feelings.”
“I know you love her, but you need to do what’s best for you. And if that means having your dad come to visit you, then she’s going to need to find a way to go along with it.” Aunt Rosey says.
“I guess.” I sigh.
“How’s everything else going? How’s Ellie? I hear she’s staying in town now,” Mom says.
“No surprise there,” Aunt Rosey mumbles.
I arch a brow at her.
“Oh, please.” She waves me off. “That girl was going to stay. I knew the moment she came running home. Why would someone decide to stay home for the entire summer and not just a week? I’ve known that girl since she was in her mother's belly. I should have had a bet going on in town if she were to stay or not. I would have made a killing.
“Everyone in town was talking to each other, saying that she was going to stay because people always come here when they need to escape from something. I like to think the town has some magic to it, to help people.”
“I may be part of the reason for her staying,” I gloat, knowing that I am.
“Are you two finally together again?” Aunt Rosey drawls.
I splay my hands out. “Give me a break.”
“Only took you a million years to get her back.” She raises her brows with a smile.
“Do you hear how she talks to me?” I ask my mom and point at my aunt.
My mom places her hand on my cheek and gives me the warmest smile. “It’s out of love.”
* * *
I use my spare key when I get to Addie’s place and let myself in. Which I know I shouldn’t do. But I’m her big brother, so technically, I’m allowed. When I step into her apartment, I see her on the couch reading one of her romance books.
She quickly closes it when I come into view. “Rowan,” she says in a small, panicky voice.
I look around her living room, noticing she’s by herself. “Sorry, did I interrupt something?”
She shakes her head. “No, not at all.” She puts on a controlled smile, and I swear her cheeks turn red.
Whatever it was that she was reading just now...I don’t want to know.
I close the door behind me and say, “Can we talk really quick? It won’t take long.”
She studies me and pinches her brows together, placing her book on the coffee table in front of her. “Is everything good?”
I sit down on the other end of the couch and rub my hands on my jeans. “I wanted to talk to you about Dad.” I look at her.
“Oh.” She turns her body toward me with a neutral expression.
“I was thinking about inviting Dad to town for a weekend during the festival. Just him and Amy.” I clear my throat, trying to shake out the nerves. “But I won’t do that if you’re not comfortable with it. You’re my baby sister, and you come first.”
Addie gives me the smallest nod that you wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t staring. She moves her eyes to the other side of the living room and purses her lips. “Hm.”
“I really don’t need to invite him. I can go to him. Forget what I asked.” I start to stand up, but she puts her hand out to stop me.
“Wait,” she tells me without looking at me. “Sit down.” She runs her fingers through her thick, wavy hair and keeps it there. Still looking anywhere but at me. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Go ahead. Tell him to come for a weekend.” She finally looks at me.
“Are you sure?”
“No. But I want you to be happy, and I don’t want to get in the way of that. I know I can be stubborn sometimes, but this is something I know I can’t be stubborn about. I’m not going to talk to him. I still feel the same way toward him.”
“What if you run into him?”
She shrugs. “I’ll handle it when that time comes.”
My shoulders sag in relief. “Thank you.”
“Rowan, I love you. You’re my brother. I’ll put my bullshit aside and deal with it.”
“I really appreciate that.” I stand up and hold out my arms.
She gets up and wraps her arms around me for a quick hug. When we pull back, she folds her arms across her chest and looks at me.
“How is everything going with Ellie? I’ve been so busy with things; I haven’t really had time to catch up with her.”
I beam at the sound of her name. “Everything is going great. She still hears from Charlie from time to time, but hopefully that will stop soon.”
Addie winces. “I hope so. What if he keeps bothering her?”
“Then I’ll take matters into my own hands.”
“Rowan, you don’t fight.”
“But for her, I would.”