Page 129 of Wright Together

I groaned and Harley just cackled. I’d forgotten they were only two years apart. As my sister dragged Bailey away, I hoped that a friendship would bloom. Bailey needed the support, and Harley was as strong as they came.

“So…what happened with Dad?” Jordan asked once they were gone and we moved to unload.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been texting us nonstop,” Julian said as he hopped into the bed of the truck.

“Has he?”

“Hasn’t he been messaging you?” West asked.

I blinked. The conversation with Dad had completely slipped my mind. This morning felt like a lifetime ago. “I blocked his number.”

They all gaped at me, Eve included.

“Since when?” Jordan demanded.

“Since this morning, when he showed up, uninvited, to my house, and I told him I wasn’t interested in seeing him again. That he only wanted to be a part of our lives to assuage his own guilt.”

Jaws dropped. West’s eyes rounded. Jordan and Julian shot each other looks. But Eve clapped.

“That’s amazing!”

“It felt good,” I admitted.

“And then you blocked his number,” Julian said, as if in awe. “Why didn’t we think of that?”

Jordan sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“Well, I decided that it wasn’t. He doesn’t deserve the relationships he wants from us now. I like the relationship I have here with all of y’all. The one we built rather than the one he demands.”

They were all silent for a moment, surprised by my change of heart. The one that Eve and Bailey and Colton had solidified in me over the past couple of months. Family was what you made of it. And I was building a new one here.

“Well, good,” West said at last. “Harley will be happy.”

“I bet she will,” I said with a laugh.

And then we all went back to unloading. Dad was forgotten in the physical exertion. It wasn’t until Bailey’s stuff was deposited into her room and my siblings left that Eve left Bailey to unpack and drew me into my bedroom.

“So, that’s some big news about your dad. How do you feel about it?”

“How do you feel, having Bailey in Lubbock with you?”

“Amazing.”

“That’s how I feel, too,” I told her. “I’m tired of reaching for scraps. I want what I have here with you and Bailey and Colton and my siblings. I don’t want the fake relationship he’s always offered.”

“I’m proud of you.”

I guffawed. “Look at how you stood up to your dad. I’m proud of you. You saved your sister.”

“I hope she’s happy here,” she said, worrying her lip.

“It’ll take time, but she’ll figure it out.”

“And you really think we can live here?” She glanced up at me with that same hope in her eyes. Then a mischievous glint. “I can stay in the other guest bedroom.”

I snagged her around the waist, lifting her over my shoulder, like I’d imagined earlier. She shrieked as I tossed her back on the bed and growled, “Don’t you dare.”