Chapter 45
Forty-Five
Bennie and Nash in that hug are a sight I’ll never, ever forget. Judging by the tears in everyone’s eyes—even Sunny’s when she appears from out of nowhere—neither will anyone else.
Them in each other’s arms is proof of everything good in this world and impossible to look away from.
When they pull apart, I hoist Bennie up into a hug of our own.
“You knew.” It was evident the second she laid eyes on him. “How?”
She wipes her eyes with her arm then sniffs. “I saw the postcards in the mail then heard you arguing with Gypsy.” She looks at Nash as if unsure she should say that. “Gypsy told me.”
Of course.
I cut my eyes to my mother’s and she smiles, wiping her tears behind her turquoise frames. For better or worse, us Conway girls do secrets better and worse than anyone I know.
Bennie squeezes me. The heaviness of her in my arms is new and a reminder that we don’t have many more years of me being able to lift her up like this.
“You mad at me?” I ask, using one hand to push hair out of her face. “I lied. I shouldn’t have.” I glance at Nash. “I made a mistake. Lots of them. Parents do that sometimes.”
Bennie shakes her head. “Gypsy told me you’d figure it out.”
I laugh softly. “I’m sure she did.”
Nash blasts into his harmonica, and Bennie smiles wide. He says, “I have a lot to learn about being a dad.”
Cracked wide open, that’s what I am at the look on his face. He loves her without knowing her, the way a mother loves a baby when they’re just a cluster of cells, before a heart even beats in their belly.
Bennie beams. “I’m an expert.”
Remy’s and Sunny’s kids race by with shouts of Bennie’s name, and she wiggles her way out of my arms to take off after them.
“Bee, wait,” I call, making her stop.
“There’s someone else.” I wave to Cap. “Come meet your grandpa.”
Standing face to face, they size each other up.
Cap grunts. “You know anything about finding treasure, young lady?”
She grins. “More than my mom.”
He looks at me, grunts a sound I know to be amused, and says, “Don’t take much, she’s lousy.”
Bennie laughs at this.
“You got any tips for her?” he asks.
She taps a finger on her chin. “Probably do it backward. That always works in the movies.”
Then she’s gone, chasing after her cousins like her life didn’t just change completely and her family didn’t grow right before her eyes.
Like she didn’t go from having no dad to having one who loved her more than life itself the second he knew she existed, and a grandpa who can make anyone laugh even though he’s a grump.
Two more people to be there for her as she walks through life.
“Alright. Alright,” Reese, who manages to look expensive in a simple black dress and Jackie O sunglasses, interjects, pocketing her phone long enough for a greeting. “Enough of all this mushy bullshit.” She hugs Nash first. “You’re still as hot as I remember, asshole.”
“Good to see you too, Reese,” he teases.
“And expanding, I hear?” she prods. “You must be better at business than my sister.”
She smiles obnoxiously.
“That’s the plan,” Nash admits. “I’d love to pick your brain.”
Those words are Reese’s dream come true.
When she hugs me, she whispers, “Remy and Mom are driving me crazy. There better be so much alcohol in this place.”
“So much,” I whisper back.
Remy wiggles her way into our arms. “I knew he was still in love with you,” she says. “You’re glowing with sex.”
“Well, Nash lays pipe like you wouldn’t believe,” I admit, making them both cackle.
Over their shoulders, I watch Cap and Mom talk with arm touches and shy laughs. Bangles up her arm and his oxygen over his shoulder, it’s charming. They are. A second chance at what could have been. The way he’s looking at her makes me think she might be the thing to get him back to Fontain.
“Alright, fam,” Sunny hollers, adjusting the brim of her wide hat. “We havin’ a party or we havin’ a party?”
“Oh, I like her,” Reese says, breaking our hug.
I snort. “Just wait.”
“Everything’s out back,” Nash calls. “Make yourselves at home.”
Greetings and introductions happen while we walk, Nash and I lagging behind as we round the house, hand in hand.
“You okay?” I ask.
He nods. “You?”
I hum my yes. We’ll go over it all later, but now—I glance around the yard, covered with our people—the ones I never would’ve believed would gather like this mere weeks ago. Less than two weeks and my life is nearly unrecognizable. The pieces are the same, just rearranged.
Who knew a ridiculous treasure hunt was all I needed to help the world make sense, and it’s not even because of the treasure I came to find?
My mother, that’s who.
With less than twenty dollars to my name, I’ve never felt so rich.
“You ready for all this?” I ask him. “Sunny and Reese might be scary.”
He answers by way of a grin and a swift motion that pulls me to him before tossing me over his shoulder. My scream turns to a laugh the moment he launches us both into the pool.
Every kid follows suit.