Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Eva
There’s something about the way the air smells in Honey Springs, it’s like the breeze carries memories I didn’t know I’d missed.
The long drive from Florida feels endless, my body stiff from hours on the road, but the second I see the faded wooden sign that reads Welcome to Honey Springs, something inside me unclenches.
I roll down the window, letting the crisp late January air hit my face, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could finally breathe.
My chest fills with something warm and light—I’m home.
I park in front of my parent’s house, my eyes stinging with emotion as I look at the porch where I used to sit and paint my nails while gossiping with my sister, the front yard where I helped Dad set up sprinklers, the cracked sidewalk I used to chalk up every summer.
Before getting out of the car, I pull out my phone and open my group chat with Payton and Ashton.
Me: Made it! Officially back in Honey Springs. Can’t wait to see you both!
Ashton: AHHHHHHHH!! Let’s hang ASAP!
Payton: Brb, sobbing. Coffee date tomorrow?
I smile and tuck my phone away before grabbing my luggage and walking up the steps. The door flies open before I even knock.
“Eva!” my mom shouts, her arms wrapping around me before I have the chance to set my things down.
“Hi, Mom,” I manage, my voice muffled into her shoulder.
“Oh, my baby girl is home,” she says dramatically, pulling back just enough to take a good look at me, her eyes already scanning for changes like I’d grown a second head. “You’ve lost weight. Are you eating? You look pale. James! Doesn’t she look pale?”
“Beth, let her breathe,” my dad calls from inside, but he doesn’t hesitate to come over and give me a hug of his own.
“I’m fine, Mom. Just tired from the drive. And pale is my natural skin tone,” I say with a laugh.
“Well, now that you’re home, I’m feeding you back to life.”
“I love that for me, but I should probably start looking for an apartment before I end up suffocated with love and casseroles.”
“You’ll live,” she says, waving me inside with that look only mothers have when they’re both thrilled and slightly offended.
Once I step into the house, the scent of cinnamon and lemon cleaner hits me right in the heart.
It’s like walking into a perfectly preserved memory, one that’s been dusted, vacuumed, and fluffed just for me.
The walls are freshly painted, the floors refinished, and I can tell Noah had a hand in the renovations.
Mom won’t stop talking about how he did an amazing job.
Still, despite the upgrades, it feels exactly the same.
The familiar creak in the floorboard near the hallway is still there. So is the old family gallery wall, with every awkward school picture from kindergarten to senior year still proudly on display, including my unfortunate eighth-grade braces-and-bangs era. It makes my heart squeeze.
The living room is cozy, with the same stone fireplace and the overstuffed beige couch where I used to curl up and watch Vampires Diaries reruns with Julia.
The only thing that’s changed is the flat-screen TV above the mantel, which my dad probably still doesn’t know how to use without yelling for help.
I glance over at my parents. Dad’s hair is a little grayer than I remember, and Mom’s eyes crinkle a bit more at the corners.
It’s subtle, but it’s there. The kind of change that sneaks up on you when you’re away for too long.
My chest tightens again, but in a different way this time. Gratitude. I’m really glad I’m back.
They’re both beaming at me like I’ve just returned from a year-long expedition in the jungle. And maybe I have, grad school was no joke.
“I’m so happy to be home,” I say quietly.
“We’re happier,” my dad says, pulling me in for a quick side hug. “And proud. So proud of everything you’ve done, Eva.”
My mom wipes a tear from her eye, pretending it’s just something in her lashes. “We missed you, sweetheart.”
I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“Okay, okay,” my sister Julia’s voice calls from the kitchen. “She’s been here for five minutes. Can we eat now before my children eat each other?”
That makes me laugh, and just like that, the tightness in my chest loosens. I drop my bag and head toward the sound of chaos and love coming from the kitchen, where I know a very Ross-style family dinner is waiting.
Julia meets me halfway, drying her hands on a kitchen towel before pulling me into a hug. “You’re really here,” she murmurs.
“Yeah,” I whisper back. “Finally.”
In the dining room, I spot Dane at the table, wrangling Milly and Rio with the kind of calm only a seasoned dad possesses.
Rio, now seven and full of boundless energy, gives me a gap-toothed grin.
Milly, six and as dramatic as ever, jumps up and barrels into my legs like a tiny rocket.
I bend down to hug them both as Dane stands to give me a quick one-armed squeeze.
“Good to have you back, Eva,” he says with a smile.
“You too, superhero dad.”
Then I step into the kitchen and there they are, Noah with Everly perched on his hip, Josy at his side, adjusting the baby’s bow headband like the world might end if it’s slightly crooked.
“Look at this little star,” I coo, leaning in to kiss Everly’s chubby cheek.
“She’s been stealing hearts since day one,” Josy says with a grin.
“And she knows it,” Noah adds, bouncing her gently.
“Are you guys ready to eat?” I smile at my family.
“Yes.” They all answer and after everyone gives me hugs and kisses, we sit down to eat.
I convinced Mom to keep dinner simple tonight, which for Beth Ross meant no tablecloths or fine China, but still enough food to feed the entire zip code.
The dining room smells like roasted chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, and her famous cornbread muffins—the kind she only makes when she’s really happy.
Apparently, having me home is a cause for celebration.
Dad, of course, can’t stop smiling. James Ross has always been the quiet one between my parents, but tonight he’s grinning like he just won the lottery.
“We’re just so proud of you, baby girl,” he says for the third time, raising his glass of sweet tea. “Graduated with honors, finished your master’s, and now you’re back home.”
Julia nods dramatically from across the table. “I told you she was gonna kill it. Didn’t I say that, Dane?”
Her husband smiles while trying to keep their son, from launching a carrot across the table. “You did, babe. Repeatedly.”
Milly is currently trying to play with Everly, who’s sitting in Josy’s lap, chewing on a baby spoon like it’s the greatest toy ever invented.
Noah is sitting beside Josy and watching their daughter like she’s the only thing that matters in the world.
The sight of them makes something warm settle low in my chest. My big brother, the man who used to blast rock through the walls and prank me with fake spiders, is now a full-on family man. It’s weird. And kind of adorable.
“So…” Julia leans in, her voice casual but her eyes all mischief. “Where’s Brandon?”
I sigh and take a long sip of water. Here we go.
“We broke up,” I say, keeping my tone light. “It was mutual. We just… wanted different things.”
Everyone gets quiet for half a second before Mom does the very Mom thing and reaches across the table to pat my hand.
“His loss,” she says with a firm nod. “Now you can focus on your dreams.”
“Exactly,” I say, grateful for the change in direction. “I want to focus on growing my platform, launching my website… eventually creating my own skincare line. I’ve been working on formulas for a while, and now I finally have the time to go all in.”
Josy’s eyes light up. “You know the guest house beside our place has been empty since Violet and Adrian moved out. Why don’t you stay there? It’s got its own entrance, and you’d have some space. Plus, we’d be close if you need anything.”
“Yes, please,” I say without hesitation, shooting a look at Mom, who’s probably already planning to redecorate my childhood bedroom. “I love you, but you’re a little much sometimes.”
She gasps, hand to her chest like I wounded her. “Me? I’m the perfect amount of much.”
Everyone laughs, even Dad.
After dinner, the house starts to settle into that familiar post-meal lull.
The kids are in the living room with Dad, completely absorbed in some noisy cartoon.
Josy and Noah are cleaning up Everly while Mom insists on fixing everyone another plate “just in case they’re still hungry.
” I escape into the kitchen with Julia, both of us automatically falling into our old rhythm—her rinsing, me drying.
We don’t talk at first. The clink of plates and the low hum of the dishwasher fill the silence. But eventually Julia glances over her shoulder at me with that big-sister expression I know too well.
“Are you really okay?” she asks.
I pause with a dish towel in hand, staring at the wet plate in front of me.
“I mean…” she presses, “you were supposed to move here with Brandon. Why didn’t you call me when all this happened? Or better yet, when was this break-up?”
I sigh. Loudly.
Julia raises an eyebrow, waiting.
“It happened right before I left two days ago,” I finally say, placing the plate on the drying rack. “He told me he wasn’t coming with me. Said he thought I’d change my mind about moving. That I’d stay in Florida and, I don’t know, play house while he worked.”
Julia blinks. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah. Apparently, he pictured me in a cute apron, filming skincare videos from his kitchen, waiting for him to come home so I could rub his shoulders and hand him a beer.” I shake my head. “I realized he didn’t really see me. Not the real me.”
Julia lets out a soft laugh, but it’s full of disbelief. “Seriously? What a jackass.”
I huff out a dry laugh of my own. “Yep. He wanted a trophy wife. I’m not that girl.”
Then I glance at her. “No offense.”
Julia smirks as she grabs another plate. “None taken. I always wanted this, Dane, the house, the kids, the whole nine yards. I never needed anything else.”
“I know. And you’re good at it,” I say, meaning every word.
“You’re an amazing mom. But I’ve worked too hard to become someone’s accessory.
I want to build something. My own business, my brand…
something that’s mine. And yeah, maybe someday the right guy will come along, and I’ll get all the other stuff too.
But I’m not going to shrink myself to fit into someone else’s story. ”
Julia hands me a rinsed fork, and for a moment, she just looks at me. “Good. Because I’d have dragged your ass out of Florida myself if you did.”
I laugh, and just like that, the heaviness I’ve been carrying in my chest feels lighter.
“Thanks, Jules.”
She smiles. “Thank the Lord that you are not sleeping in our old room tonight.”
I shoot her a look. “You mean the shrine to the Jonas Brothers?”
She shrugs, way too proud. “Hey, those posters are vintage now.”
“Pretty sure they’re haunted.”
I roll my eyes. “Thank God for Josy and Noah and their big house.”