57. Kendra
Kendra
Jess, Lainey, Sutton, Hannah, and I are all gathered in Eli’s living room sipping wine and enjoying a girls’ night. It’s the first one since before the wedding. I am finally getting back into old routines, including making pottery, and it feels really good.
And by making pottery I mean actually making it, not having sexy, hot, hookups with my . . . boyfriend? It feels weird calling Eli that. We technically haven’t put a label on it, but I know we are together and that’s all that matters to me.
After Eli tricked me into going back into the garage studio, I’ve had no more issues.
Now I want to be there, working, creating—just like he knew I would.
So far I have made a few large batches of mugs to get my supply back up for my stock, which was dangerously low, that I pull from to bring to Sutton.
She also asked if I could make some Christmas-themed ones to display over the next couple of weeks.
I wish I would have been able to have all that done sooner, more planned and organized like I normally do, but it was out of my control.
Sutton said it would be fine and we can just market it as an exclusive, limited-edition, holiday collection for this year, which will make it more high demand and sure to sell out in a blink.
I also just started to work on the replacement pieces for all of Rem and Lainey’s wedding dishes.
Rem knows the full story of what happened, but Lainey just thinks that Bennett came in and smashed some of my inventory, not how directly personal the attack was.
I want to shield her from any more hurt and pain.
She doesn’t need to take on this too on my behalf.
I have Eli to lean on now, and he agrees that we don’t need to tell her the whole truth.
“How many more weeks of physical therapy do you have to go through?” Jess asks, plucking some grapes from the elaborate charcuterie board Sutton brought over; she’s becoming sort of an expert at them.
“Ugh, I probably have to keep going until late January. We just have to wait and see how things go.” I flex my hand and roll my wrist.
“Has it been bothering you at all with going back to work and doing your pottery?” Lainey asks, concerned.
“Not really, I haven’t been working as much as I normally would since it just gets fatigued faster, especially when I’m in the garage.
The PT said that it will take time to get my muscle strength back up to where it was after my injury and having been casted for so long.
But there is no pain. Also, Antonio refused to let me work more than a couple clients a shift.
He is very protective, like the brother I never had. ” I smile thinking about him.
“Well he has a lot of practice in the sibling department, so he just naturally wrapped you into his fold,” Hannah observes, and I nod.
All at once Lainey’s, mine, and Jess’s phones ping with text messages.
“What’s going on?” I ask as we pick them up from their various locations.
My stomach swoops at an unknown number group chat filled with text updates from all the fire wives and significant others of the Fox Grove Fire Department crew. They just got called out to a major structural fire as backup support in the next town.
“How did I get added to this group?” I look between Lainey and Jess, who both grin at me.
“Well, a little birdie told us that you are officially official with Eli now, so you needed to be in the chat,” Jess proclaims simply. “I added you.”
“Doesn’t that need to be like put up to a vote, or happen after family dinner like when Lainey went or something?” I can feel myself starting to sweat.
“Kendra,” Lainey says, “everyone already knows you. You help with all the fundraising events at the station, you do almost all the girls’ hair when they see you at Dip and Dye, you’ve hung out with them at parties, you nicely bossed them around organizing my parties.
We are all happy for you and Eli. You were already family, now you are just woven into it in another layer. ”
My eyes sting with tears and Hannah takes my hand. “I’m really glad you two are dating.”
“Are you sure?” I worry my lip.
“Of course I am! I saw the way you mooned over him when we were growing up. You thought it was sneaky, but it wasn’t.
And we were too young for him to notice back then, but now things are different and we are all adults.
He’s finally opened his eyes and I’m glad.
” She gives me a big hug, and I glance at Lainey over Hannah’s shoulder giving my bestie a wide-eyed look.
Hannah obviously doesn’t know about the infamous summer.
“Han.” I pull back. “It means so much to me that you are okay with this. But I need to tell you something, just so that all the cards are out there. The summer you were gone, working that summer camp?”
“Yeah?” Hannah nods, encouraging me to keep going.
“Eli and I got together that summer. A lot happened and it makes our history a lot more complicated, but the reality is that things with Eli didn’t just start. Honestly, I never really got over him.” The admission still makes my heart twist.
“Is that why you didn’t really come back? Why things were so different after that year?” Hannah wipes a tear of her own.
“Yes, it was a huge part of it. Being here was too hard. And I had a lot of personal things going on. Staying away from Fox Grove was what I thought was the best thing for me, until it wasn’t.
When my nana died and gave me the cabin, I realized this is where I needed to be to let myself heal even if Eli was in the same town. ”
“I thought you were mad at me. I’m sorry we’re not as close as we could be,” Hannah admits.
“Well all that changes now. It was never your fault, and I wasn’t mad at you.
I promise to not keep you at arm’s length anymore.
I thought that I was protecting myself, trying to keep my bubble Eli-free.
Then this one”—I point at Lainey—“had to go and fall in love and marry his best friend. Kind of hard to stay away from him after that.” All the girls laugh and fall on me in a big group hug.
“We are not going to let you close yourself off anymore,” Lainey says. “You wouldn’t let any of us do it.”
“That’s true,” I admit.
“We love you,” Sutton says, dabbing her eyes.
“I love all of you too, and I’m so fucking happy you didn’t quit on me or let me hide any more. I needed tonight.”
“We all needed tonight. Next time we will be doing a girls’ night in your newly finished cozy cabin,” Lainey cheers, picking up her wineglass for a toast.
Clicking our glasses together I plaster a smile on my face but feel a sinking dread at the idea of going back to that place alone and not being here with Eli and Wren every day.