15. Taryn #2
When I looked up, the tire swing caught my eye first. It hung beneath the broad canopy of a massive live oak, turning gently in the breeze as if still waiting for the little girl who’d once spent her summers soaring beneath those branches.
Beyond it sat a modest Craftsman bungalow with a broad front porch wrapped around sturdy stone columns and worn wooden steps, polished smooth by decades of footsteps. The faded green paint had been touched up wherever the weather had taken its toll.
Despite the patched roof, repaired screens, and rain barrels tucked neatly beside the house, it still carried the quiet dignity of a place once filled with birthday parties, scraped knees, and ordinary Tuesdays.
It wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t new. But somehow, standing beneath that old oak, it felt like hope wrapped in a warm hug.
Beck turned and grabbed my face, pulling me in for a hard kiss. “Should I carry you over the threshold?”
Lucas made a gagging noise. “Give me the fucking keys, Adrian. I can’t stand watching you two make fools of yourselves.”
Adrian ignored him, his eyes locked on Beck.
I looked between them, wondering if this was the moment everything went to shit, but Adrian seemed to shake it off, tossing the keys to Lucas and motioning for me to check out the house.
Lucas unlocked the door. "Home, fake home. Three men, one dog, and a bitch in a pear tree. Sounds like my version of hell.”
“Why don’t you try to be fucking civil?” Beck growled at him as we both entered.
“Because I don’t fucking want to,” Lucas said as he wandered deeper into the house. “I agreed to this farce, but I never said I’d make it pleasant.”
Max squeezed between Beck’s legs and barreled into the house. Just a second after, the sound of his nails sliding on the polished wood echoed as he let out three rapid barks.
“What the fuck now?” Beck muttered.
Adrian shoved me behind them. “It could be infected.”
“Please.” I rolled my eyes at the two of them treating me like I was precious. “That’s his all-clear bark.”
I pushed them aside just in time to watch Max dart from room to room as if he’d found hidden treasure. “Hier!”
My smart dog came immediately.
“Bleib.” I snapped my fingers, and Max sat beside my boot, though his tail continued thumping hopefully against the floor.
Adrian and Beck immediately began checking every window while I could hear Lucas opening and shutting doors somewhere in the back of the house.
“Three bedrooms,” he called. “I suppose y’all will share?” Lucas called out sarcastically.
I saw Beck grimace, then glance at Adrian. “I’m not there yet.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow. “Neither am I.” He stepped closer to me and whispered in my ear. “The first time I fuck you, I want your full attention.” He turned to walk away. “Then we’ll see…”
What?
I wandered toward the kitchen in a daze, trying to imagine what that would even look like.
Somebody had left behind pale blue curtains that danced gently in the breeze coming through the open window.
A chipped ceramic cookie jar still sat on the counter.
The place didn’t feel abandoned.
It felt…
Paused.
Like the family who’d once called this house home had every intention of coming back.
A sharp knock rattled the front door.
Lucas, Adrian, and Beck made their way back to the living room with me close on their heels.
Beck reached for the pistol in his belt as Lucas opened the door.
“I brought presents!” Wren stumbled inside, carrying so many things she could barely see over the pile.
“What the fuck?” Lucas growled as he was pushed out of the way, nearly falling.
“Wren! What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to smother my laughter at the look on Lucas’s face.
Max let out a joyous bark, shocking all of us.
The pile of treasures hit the floor as Wren laughed and dropped to her knees. “There you are, Wiggles.”
Max crashed into her chest hard enough to nearly knock her over.
“Oh!” she giggled, wrapping both arms around his neck. “I knew you’d remember me.” Max enthusiastically licked her nose. “I should’ve known you would come back with Robin. You two have always been inseparable.”
Beck folded his arms and scowled at her. “You’ve known him for about ten seconds, and his name is Max.”
“No.” She scratched behind my dog’s ears. “I helped Robin name him after our favorite show from our childhood.”
Max rolled onto his back; demanding belly rubs as if confirming all of the ridiculousness she’d just spouted.
“Traitor,” Beck muttered.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Apparently, this was Wren’s world, and we were all just living in it.
Once Max had been sufficiently adored, Wren seemed to remember why she’d come.
“Oh!” Wren bent to gather the things she’d dropped. “I brought you a few housewarming gifts.” She held up a stainless-steel spoon that had seen better days.
Not a set.
Just…
A spoon.
“…thank you?” I mumbled. It sounded more like a question than a statement.
“And a lamp!”
It was missing the shade… and a bulb.
“And this!” she proudly presented a bright pink pillow embroidered with a unicorn wearing sunglasses.
We all stared.
None of us knew what to do with this.
“I found it months ago,” Wren kept on as if all of this was perfectly normal. “I knew when you came back, you’d love it.”
Before I could respond and once again try to convince her I wasn’t Robin, she reached back into the pile.
“A chicken!” Wren produced a ceramic chicken missing one wing, then looked at him intently. “I liked his face.”
The poor bird looked perpetually offended, so it fit with what she was probably used to seeing on everyone’s faces she met.
Without another word, she walked over and set it proudly on the fireplace mantel. “There.” She stepped back to admire her work. “Now it feels like home.”
Beck leaned toward me. “…I’m afraid to see what else is in the pile.”
“As you should be,” Adrian murmured.
“I also brought an oven mitt.” She held it up triumphantly. “You can never be too safe these days.”
Lucas, asshole Lucas, whose face had worn a bitter look for months, threw back his head and laughed.
Actually laughed.
Wren beamed and clapped her hands. “I knew you’d love my housewarming gifts!”
“This woman is coo coo for Coco Puffs,” Beck mumbled under his breath.
I elbowed him as she disappeared down the hallway. “That’s my sister, asshole.”
“Funny,” he smirked, pulling me in for a hug. “Maybe I’ll ask her if she wants to move in.”
“She can’t be any worse than the woman we’re already living with.” Lucas snarked as he walked by.
“Keep on, and you’ll be living in the backyard.” I narrowed my eyes, tired of his shit.
We found Wren a minute later standing in the smallest bedroom, her fingers trailing across the windowsill. “This one is perfect for my sister.” Her voice had gone quiet. “Robin always liked the cozy rooms.”
The smile slipped from my face at the look on hers.
I had no idea what this woman had been through, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
We heard the front door slam open, hard enough to make all of us jump.
“What the fuck is going on? Did Gideon put us in this town’s version of Grand Central Station?” Lucas asked, striding down the hall toward the living room, all of us close on his heels.
“Lila?” I questioned, shocked to see her so soon.
She stood just inside the doorway, tears streaming down her face, her shoulders shaking as she tried to catch her breath. “I…” she whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”
“What’s going on?” Adrian took charge of the situation.
“Gideon visited and told me that Mace had requested that I join his family group.” She wiped her face with her sleeve. “I have no clue what to do.”
Behind me, Wren stepped into the living room. She looked from Lila to me. For the first time since she’d barged through the door, the scattered look on her face faded, and she fell strangely quiet.
Thoughtful even.
Then, almost like she was talking to herself, she said, “I’ll fix it.”
Before I could ask what she meant, she turned and wandered back toward the front door, humming softly under her breath.
As the screen door creaked shut behind her, Lucas turned to us. “Was she humming ‘It’s Tricky’ by Run-D.M.C.?”