CHAPTER 11

Barely Holding On

Gia

“GIA?” COLTON SHOUTS AT me from downstairs, and I roll my eyes at my reflection in the mirror.

“Yeah?” I call around the toothbrush hanging out of my mouth.

“Come here a sec,” he yells back, so I spit and rinse my mouth out, then drop my toothbrush into the cup with his.

Going across the bedroom to the railing of the loft, I look down at where he’s standing in the kitchen with the phone to his ear, and his eyes point up at me. “You rang?”

“Did you go to the storage locker Friday?” he asks, and I study the expression on his face, trying to read it but not getting it.

“I go every Friday to stock up for the weekend,” I remind him of something he should know. Because since I started working at the bar, I’ve been doing a pick-up every Friday to stock up for the weekend, and again on Mondays to replenish whatever needs to be replenished.

“Did you lock up before you left?”

“I always lock up,” I say, leaving the railing so I can head down the stairs. Going to the kitchen, I stop a few feet away from him and watch as he wraps his hand around the back of his neck and drops his eyes to his boots.

“She said she locked up, so she locked up. I don’t know how someone got in.” At his words, my stomach drops. “Yeah. Right. I’ll meet you there. Give me thirty.” He pulls the phone from his ear then looks at me. “Someone got into the storage unit between Friday and today. Lock was hanging open, not busted. What wasn’t taken, was completely destroyed.”

“What?” I breathe, resting my hand against the edge of the counter to hold myself up.

“I need to get over there. Dad just called the cops and they’re on their way.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, baby,” he denies, shaking his head, and I stare at him then take a step back.

“You don’t think—”

“No,” he cuts me off before I can finish my question, and his hand wraps around my hip, bringing me a step closer to him. “If you say you locked up, you locked up.”

“I locked up,” I whisper, and he nods, pressing his lips to my forehead in a soft touch.

“I gotta get over there. I’ll call you.” He lets me go with a peck to my lips, and I watch him disappear out the front door then listen to his motorcycle start up. Going to the window, I wrap my arms around my middle as he takes off down the lane.

Someone broke into the storage locker. Who and how? I know I locked up behind myself. I always make sure to double-check the lock before I leave just to be safe. With no answer, I start to head back upstairs to get ready for work but stop when I hear my cell ringing. Going to the kitchen where my phone’s charging, I pick it up and slide my finger across the screen. “Hello,” I answer after putting the phone to my ear.

“Gia, it’s Elizabeth.” She stops speaking and my eyes slide closed. I know what she’s going to say before she says it, just by the sound of regret in her voice. “I just went in to check on your grandma. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but she’s passed, honey.”

“I… How? I just saw her last night.” I whisper, as pain radiates through my chest and squeezes my lungs, making it hard to breathe.

“Sometimes it happens that way. One minute, they’re with us and they seem fine, and the next, they’re gone,” she says quietly, and the pain in my chest expands. “I’m sorry, Gia. I know this is going to be hard on you, but do you want to see her before they come to take her away?”

My lungs seize up. I don’t want to see her again knowing she’s gone, but at the same time, I need to see her one last time.

“Yes, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I wheeze out, opening my eyes and seeing nothing.

“I’ll let them know you’re on your way,” she says softly, then adds, “again, I’m sorry, Gia.”

“Thank you.” I hang up and stare at the phone in my hand while trying to pull in a breath. Dialing Colton’s number, I wait for him to answer, but he doesn’t. His phone goes to voicemail, so I hang up and head upstairs.

Fighting back the crushing pain around my heart, I take off my nightgown, put on a bra, and change into jeans and a T-shirt. Once that’s done, I head back downstairs, slip on my shoes by the door, grab my keys, and get into my Jeep. Moving on autopilot, I dial Colton’s number again on the way, listen as it rings, and then hang up, not leaving him a message when it goes to voicemail again.

~**~

“Her stuff will be boxed up. You can pick it up in a few days,” Ritta, the nursing home director—a petite, older Chinese woman with kind eyes and gentle features—says from my side, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. “The funeral home will also be calling you to set up the funeral arrangements.”

“Okay,” I whisper, still looking at the rumpled sheets on the bed where my grandmother was, until two men wearing suits came in with a stretcher to carry her out of the room and take her away.

“Do you want to come to my office and call someone to come pick you up?” she asks, squeezing my hand, and my eyes go to hers. I tried to call Colton again after I got here, and again, he didn’t answer, and again, I didn’t leave a message.

“I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?” she asks, keeping hold of my hand, now doing it tightly. “I don’t think you should be driving in your state.”

“I don’t live far, maybe fifteen minutes. I’ll be okay,” I assure her, but she doesn’t look convinced. If anything, she looks even more worried than she did seconds ago.

“Every other week on Tuesday afternoons, we have a grief counselor here for people who have suffered the loss of a family member or friend. Sometimes, sharing your experience with others who have gone through something similar helps you heal.”

“I’ll think about going to one,” I lie, and she nods, finally releasing her hold on me.

“If you need anything at all, call the office and ask for me.”

“Thank you,” I say, and she nods once then leaves the room.

Looking at the bed one last time, I turn around and leave, making sure to keep my eyes to my feet as I go, so I don’t make eye contact with anyone. I’ve kept it together since Elizabeth called to tell me Grandma passed, but I don’t know how much longer that will last since I’m barely hanging on.

I call Colton again once I’m in my Jeep and close my eyes when he doesn’t answer, dropping my forehead to my steering wheel. This is the first time I’ve felt alone in a long time. I forgot how crushing the feeling of being alone is. Knowing I can’t sit here in the parking lot forever, I put my Jeep in drive and take off out of the lot to head for home, where I know Loki will at least be waiting for me.

Halfway to the house, the sound of police sirens starts to get close, so I check my rearview mirror and see a police cruiser with its lights flashing coming up fast behind me. Dropping my eyes to my speedometer, I make sure I’m not speeding. I’m not, so I slow down to let him by. He doesn’t pass. He slows down right along with me, so I pull off onto the shoulder. Once I have my Jeep in park, I look back up at my mirror and watch a large man in his late thirties open the door and get out of the cruiser, putting on a cowboy hat as he walks toward me. Hitting the button for the window, I lower it once he’s close.

“Ma’am.” He tips his hat toward me. “Got word that a vehicle matching yours in description was driving recklessly, and almost ran another car off the road,” he says, and I shake my head in confusion.

“Sir, it wasn’t me,” I tell him, wondering if I’m so out of it that I didn’t notice if I was doing what he said. I could be; I feel like I have been walking in a bubble since I got the phone call about Grandma.

“I’m going to need to ask you for your license and registration,” he states, so I reach over with a shaky hand and open my glove box. The moment I do, something black falls out and lands on the floor with a thud. I start to reach for it, but stop when I see what it is.

“Is that your weapon, ma’am?” the officer asks, and I shake my head, unable to speak as I stare at the gun lying on my floorboard. “Place your hands on the steering wheel,” he instructs, so I do immediately while my heart pounds so hard that my chest aches from the impact. “Whose weapon is it?”

“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly, and I turn to look at him then see he has his gun out of its holster and aimed at me. “I’m going to open your door. Keep your hands right where they are.”

“Okay,” I agree, squeezing my eyes closed so I don’t have to see the gun he has just inches from my face.

“Do you have any other weapons on you or in the vehicle?”

“No.” I shake my head, listening to the sound of the door as he opens it.

“I’m going to reach around you to unhook your belt. Keep your hands where they are.”

“I won’t move them,” I promise, as his arm goes around my waist so he can unlatch my seat belt.

“Now get out of the vehicle while keeping your hands where I can see them,” he orders, and my eyes open. I don’t look at him or the gun I know he has on me. I point my eyes to the ground as I hop down out of my seat, and I keep them down as he orders me to place my hands on my Jeep, calls for backup, and puts me in cuffs.

~**~

“Gia Caro?” I hear a woman call, and I lift my head from my hands and watch a plump woman in a very unflattering skintight uniform come toward me.

“That’s me,” I respond, and she opens the heavy metal door of the room I’m in, then motions for me to get up.

“You’re free.”

My eyes close in relief and I thank my lucky stars that Nat was able to get me out of this mess from hundreds of miles away. I didn’t use my one phone call to call Colton. I used it to call Nat, knowing she’d answer. When I told her I’d been arrested, she assured me that she’d get me out, even knowing I was arrested for the gun, which I learned an hour after I was booked, was stolen property.

“Follow me. You need to fill out some paperwork to get your things,” the woman says, bringing me out of my head, and I follow her toward a large set of doors then stop behind her when she pauses at a small window cut out of the concrete cinderblocks. “This is Gia Caro,” she states to the woman on the other side of the window, who’s sitting behind a desk that’s covered in stacks of paper.

“Here are your things.” The woman hands me a large brown paper bag. “Open that up, make sure all your stuff is there, and then sign the bottom of this.” She rests a clipboard on the edge of the window as I open the bag, finding my shoes, phone, and earrings. Knowing that’s everything they took from me when I got here, I sign the papers and hand them back to her. “You’re all set,” she murmurs, hitting something on the wall, and a loud click sounds behind me. “Just head out that way and follow that hall to the end. Make a right, and the door there will lead you out of the building.”

“Thank you,” I say to the female officer when she opens the door for me to leave, and she lifts her chin in response.

Following the hall all the way, I make a right then stop dead when I see Colton sitting on a bench near the exit, with his head down, elbows to his thighs and his hands wrapped around the back of his neck. Seeing him, everything I’ve been holding in all day, rushes to the surface.

I try to keep it at bay, but a pain filled sound escapes my throat before I can stop it, and the second it leaves my mouth, his head shoots up and his eyes meet mine. Covering my mouth with my hand, I choke on a sob.

“Fuck.” He rushes toward me, gathering me in his arms against his warm chest. “Fuck me, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he whispers, as I try to burrow my way inside of him. “I’m so fucking sorry. So fucking sorry, baby,” he murmurs, picking me up. Tucking my face tightly against his neck, I hold onto him with everything I have as he carries me outside. “I gotta get you home. Swear to God, once we get there, you won’t lose me again.” I shake my head when he tries to get me to release him. “Please, Gia,” he pleads, sounding torn, so I loosen my hold and let him settle me in the passenger seat and buckle me in.

Kissing my hair, he slams the door then jogs around the hood and gets in behind the wheel. Once he has his seat belt on, he picks up my hand and holds it tight. The drive home seems to take forever, and when we pull up in front of the house, I tense when I realize his mom’s car is parked out front. I haven’t even thought about what he or his parents will think about me being arrested for having a stolen gun in my possession.

“Mom and Dad just want to make sure you’re good. Once they see you are, they’ll leave and it will just be us.”

“I—”

“Promise. It’s going to be okay,” he says, so I nod.

Opening my door, I hop down out of the cab of his Suburban. The second my feet hit the dirt, Loki comes up to me, pressing his face into my stomach, and whines. I rub the top of his head then look up and see Rose and Kirk heading straight for me.

“You okay, honey?” Rose asks, pulling me into a hug that makes my nose sting and my eyes burn.

“Yeah.”

“We were so worried when you didn’t show up at work. No one knew what happened until your friend called.” I close my eyes. I should have guessed that Nat would find a way to get a hold of them. “You sure you’re okay?” she asks.

No, I’m not, but I don’t say that. Instead, I nod.

“I’m sure you want to rest after today. We’ll be back in the morning to check on you after we pick up your Jeep,” she tells me, and my chin wobbles. “Rest honey,” she whispers, hugging me again before she lets me go so Kirk can give me a hug as well. Once he releases me, Colton wraps his arm around my shoulders and turns us toward the house.

“Call,” Kirk says to our backs, and I don’t hear or see Colton’s reply, but knowing him, he probably lifted his chin to his dad. With my head down, I listen to their car doors slam behind us as Colton leads me up the steps and into the house. Once we are inside he closes and locks the door behind us before he settles us on the couch. Once he has us situated, I listen to him pull in a deep breath then let it out slowly.

Hearing that and feeling his muscles tense, I try to prepare myself for what he’s going to say, but nothing can prepare me for what comes out of his mouth.

“Cops arrested Lisa, and from what I understand, she won’t be getting out of jail for a while,” he tells me, and my head flies around so I can look at him. I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it.

“What?”

“It was my gun in the glove box of your Jeep,” he says, and I feel my eyes widen and my stomach knot.

“What?”

“After the cops left my parents’ place this morning, we went to the bar and Mom ran back the tapes from the weekend, just to see if there was anything out of the ordinary that would lead us to who broke into the storage unit. That’s when we saw Lisa break into your Jeep early Sunday morning. The cameras were far away, so there wasn’t a clear image. We didn’t know what she was doing in your Jeep, but we knew she did something. Seeing that, we called the cops to let them know what happened. That’s when I found out from the detective who was handling my case that an arrest had been made. When he told me who was arrested, I knew exactly why Lisa broke into your Jeep.”

“She set me up?” I ask in disbelief, watching his body get tight and his jaw tic.

“I hate myself for having brought this shit into your life. For not protecting you from her.”

“She set me up?” I repeat. “I had a gun pointed in my face and was arrested not even an hour after I watched two men carry my dead grandmother out of her room,” I grit out, not noticing his body go still or his scary energy fill the room. “Why? Why would she do that?”

“Your grandmother?” he chokes, and I focus on him. Seeing the look in his eyes, mine close. He didn’t know. Then again, how could he? I didn’t even tell Nat. I was so freaked out about being arrested that I didn’t want to think about Grandma until I had time to process her loss.

“You didn’t know.”

“No.” His voice sounds rough as he gathers me closer against him. “Tell me.”

“Right after you left, Elizabeth called to tell me,” I say, and his arms tighten. “I tried to call you.”

“Fuck, baby, I should have fucking been here.”

“She’s gone,” I whisper, and the tears I have been holding back spill over. “Just like that, she’s gone.”

He pulls me up his body then rolls us so my back is to the back of the couch and his leg and arm are over me, cocooning me and making me feel safe and protected. It’s like the world will never be able to touch me, because he will always be right there, waiting to take on any threat.

“Let it out.” His fingers sift through my hair as I cry and let it all out with my face against his chest.

Holding onto him, I let go of everything until there is nothing left. When my tears have finally dried up, I pull my face out of his chest to look up at him, and he dips his head while his eyes meet mine.

“I wish I could take this all away.” I know he does. “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”

Closing my eyes, I press my forehead into his chest. “You’re here now,” I say, and his lips rest against the top of my head and his chest expands. Keeping my eyes closed, I eventually pass out from exhaustion.

“I don’t give a fuck,” I hear Colton say, and I blink my eyes open to find myself alone on the couch with the TV on and the volume low. I pull my hair out of my face and sit up. Looking over the back of the couch, I see Colton is in the kitchen shirtless with his back to me and his phone to his ear. “Yeah, Dad, I get that, but when the woman I love needed me, I wasn’t fucking there for her, she couldn’t even get a hold of me since I left my fucking phone here in a hurry to get to you. Top that shit off with the bullshit Lisa pulled, and you can see why that’s fucking with my head right now.”

Love? He loves me? My heart starts to thunder against my rib cage and my stomach feels funny, like it’s too full.

“We won’t be in tomorrow, and she probably won’t be in for a while unless it’s just to hang out. I want her to look for somewhere else to work.” What? “Yeah, tell Mom I love her too. See you guys tomorrow, and tell her I said thanks for calling Ned and Nina to let them know about Genevria. Yeah, later.” He hangs up and I see his back muscles expand as he takes a deep breath, then his arm muscles flex as he runs a hand through his hair.

“Did you just tell your dad that I won’t be working at the bar anymore?” I ask, instead of asking if he’s in love with me, and he turns around, his worried eyes meeting mine.

“You need to find a job doing what you love.”

“I like working at the bar,” I respond truthfully, and he shakes his head.

“You might like it, but you don’t love it. It’s not what’s going to keep you happy long term,” he states, and I blink at him. “I want you to start a life here with me, in this town, and in order for you to do that, you need to find a job working with kids.”

“You want me to live here with you for good?” I ask stupidly, and his head tips to the side.

“Yeah,”

“I—”

“Either that or I’m moving to Chicago with you,” he inserts, holding my gaze, and that feeling in my stomach expands throughout my entire body.

“What?”

“I’m not going to live my life without you, so you move here, or I move there. Either way, we’ll be together.”

“You’d do that, move to Chicago just to be with me?” I whisper, and he frowns.

“I’m in love with you, and I know that isn’t going to change. I don’t want to be without you, so if you said you wanted to live in Chicago… fuck, if you said you wanted to live in Hell, I’d follow you there and do it happily.”

“You’re in love with me,” I repeat. Yes, I heard him tell his dad he was, but hearing him say it while looking me in the eyes is different. It makes it seem completely impossible.

“With everything I am, baby.” He rests his hand over his heart and my eyes fill with tears.

Shaking my head, I close my eyes briefly. “I don’t want to move to Chicago. I like living on the lake with you and Loki.”

“Then we’ll stay here.”

“Also, I love you, too,” I whisper, and his face softens as he leaves the kitchen and comes toward me.

Bending over the back of the couch, his hand wraps around the back of my skull. “Do you think you can be happy here?” he asks, dropping his face close to mine.

I pull in a breath then answer honestly, “As long as I have you, yes, I know I can be.”

“I love you, Gia. Had no idea what love was until you, but I know now, and I know I’ll always cherish everything you’ve given to me.”

“You’re going to make me cry.”

“Please don’t. I’ve seen enough of your tears today to last me a lifetime,” he says, and my eyes close.

Dropping my forehead forward, I rest it against his abs. “How is one of the worst days of my life also one of the best?” I ask him, and his hand on the back of my head tightens. Then he pulls my head back and touches his mouth to mine. When he pulls away with one final touch of his lips, I look into his eyes and know without a doubt that as long as I have him, I’ll have everything.

~**~

Standing at baggage claim at the bottom of the escalators waiting for Nat, I tighten my hold on Colton’s hand. It’s been four days since Grandma passed away, and in that time, I’ve made funeral arrangements and plans for Grandma to be buried next to Grandpa. I’ve talked to what feels like everyone in town, and grieved the loss of a woman I loved and cared about for the second time in my life. I wouldn’t say it’s any easier to let her go this time around, but it’s different. Long before she was gone, she had faded away with her disease and become someone I didn’t recognize anymore. What has made a world of difference this time is having people to lean on, people who care about me, like Nat, Ned, and Nina, plus Colton and his family. They have all let me cry on their shoulders and lean on them for help when I’ve needed it. I don’t know what I would do without them, and thankfully, I doubt I ever will.

“There she is,” I say when I finally see Nat as she steps onto the escalator. She’s wearing sneakers, jeans, and a sweatshirt with “Kinda Classy, Kinda Hood” on the front of it in bold white lettering. The moment she spots us, her whole face lights up.

Letting Colton’s hand go, I tip my head back, smile up at him, catching his returned smile before I rush toward my friend, who is rushing down the escalator toward me with her arms out. The second Nat and I connect, our arms go around each other and we rock from side-to-side.

“Girl, you did not lie. He is H-O-T with all capital letters,” Nat hisses against my ear while hugging me so tightly that it’s almost painful to breathe. “Now I know why you didn’t want to send me a picture of him. I’d want to keep him all to myself too if he were mine,” she continues, and I laugh, holding her tighter. I missed my best friend. I knew I missed her, but seeing her again, I know I really missed her.

“You’re here,” I say, leaning back to look at her, and she rolls her eyes, pointing at my face.

“Do not start to cry. You know that when you cry, I end up crying, and I don’t have waterproof mascara on right now.”

“I’m not going to cry,” I deny, pulling in a breath through my nose so I don’t make a liar out of myself.

“Good.” She smiles then her eyes go over my shoulder. Looking behind me, I hold my hand out toward Colton.

“Colton, my best friend in the whole world, Nat. Nat, Colton,” I introduce, watching them hug then seeing them share a look. Over the last few days, they have spoken quite a bit over the phone about me and about the case against Lisa. They have also spoken quite a few times to the arson investigator, wanting to make sure he added Lisa to his list of suspects to investigate. Especially after what she did to me, trying to frame me for having a stolen weapon, and also breaking into Colton’s parents’ storage. Yes, she broke into their storage unit assuming they would think I had done it and kick me to the curb, which would give her a chance to weasel her way back in with his family.

Only, she wasn’t smart enough to check for cameras when she broke into my Jeep or got rid of the evidence of her crime. She had—like a complete idiot, I might add—taken all the alcohol to her place and hidden it there. And there was a lot of alcohol. I imagine she had help with that, only I don’t know if she will ever admit it.

“I’m starved,” Nat says, bringing me out of my thoughts while dragging me with her by my hand, which in turn forces Colton to be dragged along with us toward one of the luggage claim belts. “I want to eat BBQ at that place you told me about,” she continues, then lets my hand go and rushes off to get her bag that she spots before I can reply.

“Is she always like this?” Colton asks.

I tip my head back to look up at him and smile as I answer, “Yeah.”

“This should be interesting,” he mutters, and I smile bigger while I wrap my arms around his waist and press the side of my head into his chest. When I do this, his arms around me tighten.

“You’ll deal,” I tell him, tipping my head back, and when I do, he captures my chin between his fingers and kisses me.

“I’d do anything for you, even put up with your friend for a few days in our house where we don’t have a bedroom door,” he says, and I bite my lip. I didn’t even think about us being in the loft and not having a door.

Crap

“Am I going to have to deal with watching you two like this for the next few days?” Nat asks, and I release my bottom lip while Colton lets me go to take her bag from her. “I’m thinking that’s a yes,” she answers herself, trying to sound put out. But I can see she is happy for me, happy I found this, even if it means I won’t be going back to Chicago with her.

“Jealous?” I ask her, bumping my shoulder with hers, and her eyes go to Colton, who is heading toward the exit with her bag. I don’t know what she sees, but I know what I do, and all of it is good.

“Have you not seen your man?”

“I have.” I grin, and she wraps her arm around my shoulders and pouts.

“You always did have all the luck.”

“Whatever.”

“Are you two ready, or did you want to hang around the airport a while longer?” Colton rumbles, breaking into our squabble, and we both look at him then roll our eyes at each other before laughing and following behind him out the exit to his Suburban.

~**~

“Are you ready?” Nat asks, and my eyes meet hers. She looks as nervous as I feel, which is really fricking nervous. Yesterday after she landed, we dropped her stuff off at home then took her to eat BBQ, which she loved. I just loved having my two favorite people in the world with me and was more than a little happy to see them getting along. This morning, after Colton left to go into work to take care of some stuff for his mom, I told Nat about the letters that Grandma had written me. And then I told her about an idea I had. Nat, being Nat, jumped on my idea, making it a reality. Which brings us to now.

“I’m ready.” I let out a breath then look at the tattoo artist, giving him a nod and watching him smile, a bright white smile. Hearing the buzz from the tattoo gun, I tense as he starts to apply the tattoo onto my forearm. A tattoo of a butterfly that he drew up to match one of the butterflies etched into the wooden box full of letters. I wanted to have something to remind me of the woman I knew when I was a little girl. The woman who called me butterfly, who taught me how to knit and bake chocolate chip cookies, and who was a wonderful mother to my mom, and loved her family. That’s the woman I want to remember.

“Does Colton know we’re doing this?” Nat questions, and I focus on her and shake my head.

“I told him that we were going to be out today, but I didn’t tell him what we were going to be doing. We can stop by the bar when we’re done here and I can show him.”

“Perfect, I’m going to need a drink after this,” she says, like she’s the one getting the tattoo, and I smile then look down at my arm once more to watch as the tattoo artist works.

“So when are you and Colton planning on coming up to get all your stuff?”

At her question, I look up at her and feel my throat close up when I see sadness written all over her pretty face. “I can come visit, and you can come visit me,” I tell her gently, and her eyes soften as she reaches out, touching my cheek.

“It’s going to suck for me not having you around all the time, but I’m really happy for you. I’m happy you found Colton, and thrilled to see you so happy. You deserve this.”

“I love him,” I tell her honestly.

“I know you do.”

“He told me he’d move to Chicago with me if I wanted to go back.”

“That does not surprise me. I think he’d follow you anywhere.” She smiles. “That said, a man like him would not fit in in Chicago.”

She’s right. He wouldn’t fit in there, but he does fit in here, and so do I. “I love it here. I love living on the lake and having Colton’s family around. It feels good being here. Things feel right here.”

“I know you do, and your place is awesome. I’d move here just to wake up to a view of that lake every day,” she says, and I perk up.

“Really?”

“I don’t know if I’d fit in here. I’m used to the city and the hustle and bustle of life there.”

“You could try it out.”

“You know I never say never, but I’m going to say I probably won’t be moving down here any time soon.”

“I’m happy here. You could be too.”

She shrugs, then continues, “Let’s work on getting you settled first. What’s your plan now that Colton fired you from the bar?”

Rolling my eyes at that, even if it is true, I answer, “After the funeral tomorrow, I’m going to start looking for another job. And I’ll talk to Colton tonight about us driving up to get my stuff.”

“Good,” she states, and then her eyes go unfocused. “Did I tell you I heard from a friend of mine who knows Colleen? She told me your stepmom is getting married next year.”

“What? Who’s the unlucky guy?”

“No clue.” She shrugs.

“I haven’t spoken to her since I moved to Tennessee. I also haven’t even thought about her, unless it’s to think about what a bitch she was for lying to me.”

“Why would you think about her? She might have been your stepmom, but she was never there when you needed her. She was just someone you lived with while you were in high school.”

“I guess you’re right,” I murmur, wishing it wasn’t like that though. We might not have gotten along, but she was my dad’s wife, the last connection I have to him, and it would be nice to be able to talk to her, even if it is just about him.

“I see you need a drink now too,” Nat says, and I laugh. The tattoo artist grunts, making me laugh harder.

“Done.”

I look down at my arm as the last remnants of ink are wiped away and I blink. It’s more beautiful than I thought it would be, and now I will always have a piece of my grandma with me, no matter where I go or what I do.

“Thank you,” I whisper, keeping my eyes on my arm as he spreads on some cream and covers it with a bandage.

“Anytime.” He rolls his chair back and stands. “Come out when you’re ready.”

“Girl, you better not start crying,” Nat warns, and my eyes go to hers.

Blinking away the tears, I pull in a breath then let it out. “I’m not going to cry.”

“Good.” She grabs my hand and pulls me to stand. “Let’s go. We need a drink.”

So that’s what we do. When we get to the bar, I show Colton my tattoo. The second I tell him why I got it, he gathers me in his arms and kisses me long and hard in front of his brother, his parents, and Nat, and for the first time ever, I don’t stop him from kissing me. I kiss him right back.