“You were never going to come over here unless I made you,” Kimber said.
She mashed the old, smashed-in doorbell, and I could hear it hollering through the house, announcing our presence.
“Don’t act like you know me.”
Kimber snorted. “Okay. Done,” she said with a sarcastic bite.
The door popped open, and my mother’s face appeared in the doorway. She was gorgeous. Even at her age, she was still a knockout. It was a bit unfair to think that Kimber had gotten all of my mother’s beauty-queen looks, and I had only gotten her snarky wit and unbearable attitude.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” she said.
“Funny, Mom. I’ve never heard that one before,” I said with a grin.
“You’re not too old to have your ass paddled, young lady.”
Kimber nudged me forward, and I laughed. My mother had never paddled me in my life. Believe it or not, Kimber was the troublemaker.
The three of us wandered into the living room, and my mother closed the door behind us. Everything was exactly how it had always been—same brown fabric furniture with our initials scrawled into the wooden paneling on the side, my great-grandmother’s china cabinet full to the brim with my mother’s Precious Moments collection, and a sea of pictures on the mantel. At least some of those were new, the pictures with Noah and Lilyanne as additions.
But not a trace of my father. He had been swept clean out of the house since he walked out on my mom when I was a kid. Only a forgotten old military medal and a box of photographs in the attic crawl space remained.
We all took seats around the living room, suffocating from our past.
“If I’m not too old for a paddling, that means you’re not too old either, Mom,” I told her, searching for levity.
“Oh, I know, honey.” Then, she winked at me. “You know, I’ve been talking to Harry Stevenson across the way, and he used to be a police officer.”
“Oh God, Mom!” I said, covering my ears.
My mother cackled with glee at my embarrassment. “Now, where is my granddaughter? You can’t make me feel old by popping out babies, Kimber Leigh,” she said, patting my sister’s very pregnant belly, “and then not bring them around when you come visit.”
“Lilyanne is with Noah. We’re going to meet up with them at the church.”
“I suppose that will be fine,” Autumn said with a sigh of dejection. “How am I supposed to spoil her rotten?”
“You’re doing just fine at that,” Kimber said.
My mother’s eyes returned to me, assessing me in that uncanny way only she could do, and then she smiled softly. Light wrinkles crinkled around her eyes. Happy wrinkles. The ones I adored.
“I’ve missed you, Emery,” my mother said. “But, girl, what have you been eating in Austin? Is anyone feeding you? You’re skin and bones.”
I glanced over at Kimber, whose eyes were wide with amusement.
Out of Kimber’s closet, I’d chosen a plain black dress for church this morning. She couldn’t wear it and had insisted that I should since we all knew I didn’t have church-appropriate attire in the bags I’d brought from Austin.
“I’m eating fine. And…I left Austin,” I blurted out. “I dropped out of the program.”
“Oh. I was really looking forward to having another doctor in the family,” Autumn said with a mischievous grin.
“Ah, if only I had been guaranteed Noah’s salary.”
“If only we all were,” Kimber agreed.
“Are you sad about it? You don’t seem sad,” my mother asked.
Strangely, I wasn’t. I thought I should have been. But, even though I’d dedicated three years to this endeavor, sad was not the word. I was relieved.
“Nope. I think it’s the right choice. Just have to get a job and clean out my apartment. I know someone who will sublet it for next semester. At least that’s covered.”
“Maybe you’ll change your mind,” my mother said with a nonchalant shrug. “Let me put on my Sunday best, and then we can go.”
As soon as my mom exited the room, I breathed out heavily.
Kimber swatted at my knee. “It was not that bad,” she whispered.
“You’re right. It wasn’t. Probably because you’re here.”
“You’re so dramatic. She’s happy you’re home.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking around the room again. “Maybe so.”
“Okay, all ready to go,” Autumn said, strolling back into the room. She was in a red dress with a black shawl, and she was wearing her signature red lipstick. “Think Harry Stevenson will be able to resist me?”
I groaned as I stood. “If we talk about your sex life one more time, I will vomit on your floor.”
“We could talk about yours,” my mother said.
“Let’s not,” I said with a sigh.
She followed Kimber out to her enormous SUV and took the front seat. Kimber pulled out of the driveway and headed toward the church down the street.
“I heard that you saw the Wright family yesterday,” Autumn said.