I followed Mom into the large kitchen off to the right. It was huge and open planned, with gleaming, granite countertops, and stark white cabinets. I glanced over at the fridge with photos and menus stuck to the front with magnets I had made in craft class when I was twelve. A strange, tingling sensation curled around the base of my spine and began its ascent up my back. Life had changed when I was twelve.
Ronnie pulled a bottle of wine from the rack beside the refrigerator and poured three glasses. She handed me one. “Here, you look like you could use it.”
I accepted it gratefully. Wine was a good idea. Lots of it.
“The airline rang,” I said to my mom. “They found my bag. It will be here Tuesday.”
“In time for the funeral,” she said. “If it doesn’t get here by then, we can go into Humphrey to get you something.”
The knock at the front door made me almost jump out of my skin. We turned all our heads and watched a fiery redhead walk in. Immediately, the energy in the room lit up like a night sky on the Fourth of July.
“Grandma Calley,” I whispered in disbelief.
“Yeah, she’s still alive,” Ronnie muttered beside me.
Sybil Calley shot her daughter-in-law a warning look as she approached. But her face softened when she reached me, and her wise old eyes twinkled as she pressed her palms to either side of my face.
“Beautiful Indigo Blue,” she said, using my first and second name. “It is good to see you, my girl.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Grandma Sybil.”
She kissed me on both sides of my cheek. Growing up, I always thought she was the most interesting person in the world.
“I’m sorry about your daddy,” she said with a sharp nod.
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“I don’t expect this visit to pass without you and I getting together for a one-on-one catch-up, you hear?”
“Of course.”
She patted my cheek. “Such a beautiful girl.”
Her eyes shifted to my mom and then back to me. They were wise and knowing, and they glittered as if she was aware of things I couldn’t possibly fathom. I smiled uncertainly. Sometimes I had the feeling that Sybil Calley knew about things before they happened.
She took my hand. “Come on, let’s get dinner started. I’m famished.”
Cade, Isaac, and Caleb were going to be late. Apparently, Caveman being ping-ponged off the road initiated some kind of urgent meeting at the clubhouse. So Ronnie, Sybil, Mom, and I caught up over wine, homemade lasagna, and salad. They told me about Chastity, the youngest of the Calley children, who was away at college in California, and Ronnie showed me a photo of her on her phone.
Being a Calley, she was strikingly beautiful, with raven black hair and bright blue eyes. I didn’t doubt she was probably enjoying the freedom of being away from the over-protective eye of the club and her older brothers.
I remembered how smothering it had felt being an MC kid. Always watched. Always protected. Every move scrutinized by someone. Apparently, Chastity was dating someone but refused to bring him home to meet the family because she knew how her older brothers would be, and she wasn’t sure if it was serious enough to subject anyone to that.
“Do Cade and Caleb still live at home?” I asked before I could stop myself. I glared at the almost-empty glass of wine in my hand, blaming it for making me ask the question. I didn’t need to know anything about Cade and what he did.
“They both split their time between the clubhouse and home,” Ronnie replied. She leaned over and refilled my wine glass, then settled back in her chair. “Home is for family. Clubhouse is for other interests.”
Meaning, Ronnie didn’t allow the boys to bring their hook-ups home.
“They’ve expanded the clubhouse now, so most members have a room there,” Mom explained.
I hated the clubhouse. A few weeks before the West Destiny High School shooting, Garrett Calley had asked me to meet him there, under the guise of discussing his graduation present to Cade. Naïvely, I had gone to meet him.
My relationship with Garrett Calley had deteriorated the moment Cade told him he was following me to college. Garrett didn’t like it. Not one little bit. He didn’t want his son moving away. He wanted him to stay in Destiny and join him in the MC. He’d already lost one son, Chance, to the Navy SEALs, and wasn’t about to let his second-born son leave.
When I arrived at the clubhouse I had knocked on the door to his office and walked in, not thinking. Garrett was at his desk, his head dropped back against the leather headrest of his chair, while his hands were tangled in the blonde hair of the MC groupie giving him a blowjob.