Page 11 of Where Sea Meets Sky

“I’m going to paint the living room,” she sang out eagerly.

Grayson coughed. “We’re still not sure that’s a good idea,” he said.

“Yes, we are!” She placed a finger on his lips, and he shook his head, laughing.

A few minutes later, everyone sat down to dinner. The pot pies were letting off a rich, slightly sweet aroma of spices and buttery pie crust. Grayson began to dish out the slices while Alexis added salad onto everyone’s plates.

Dean, as soon as he’d gotten his plate, picked up a crouton and tossed it across the table to Samantha, who caught it with a triumphant grin.

“Dean!” Vivian scolded. “Honestly, you’d think you were in middle school again.”

Alexis smiled. She knew that despite her scolding, Vivian was thrilled to see Dean acting so energetic, as they all were. Heryounger brother had recently been given the tragic diagnosis of early onset osteoarthritis, and for a while his energy levels and physical strength had both been concerningly inadequate.

Now that he was in physical therapy, however, everything about his life had improved. Not only did he have more strength and energy than he’d had before, but he’d first met his girlfriend Noelle when she was his physical therapist. Although he’d switched to another PT before the two of them had started dating, the family loved knowing that Dean was in a relationship with someone who could look out for his physical needs and remind him to rest. That had been a learning curve for Dean at first, and he’d often pushed himself too hard at work, resulting in days when his fatigue seemed to rule his life. Now, however, he’d seemed to have finally made a breakthrough, and his balance of work, rest, and physical therapy allowed him to feel good physically again.

“I saw you and Noelle looking like a couple of middle schoolers the other day,” Julia said with a grin. “You were standing outside Main Street Auto holding hands and whispering.”

“Yeah, we were plotting to rob a bank,” Dean said gravely. “But we decided against it.”

Everyone laughed and shook their heads. Dean got extra goofy when he was happy, and he always brightened up whenever anyone brought up his beautiful, kind girlfriend.

“Don’t you think right outside the auto repair shop that you own is a bad location for plotting to rob a bank?” Alexis teased. “One of your customers might overhear.”

Dean shook his head. “That’s why we were whispering.”

Everyone laughed and groaned again, and then the conversation turned toward Julia’s wedding planning. Everyone spoke animatedly and ate their food hungrily. Alexis got acompliment from everyone at the table over how delicious the food was, and Hazel begged her for the recipe.

She looked around at her family, feeling a glow of happiness in her chest. She was thankful she had such a close-knit connection with all of them. She didn’t know how she ever could have faced the trials of life without them at her side.

She thought suddenly of Faith Talbot, their cousin, who had lost both her parents. Alexis wondered what Faith was doing at that moment. She was probably alone. Alexis wondered how many times Faith had gotten to experience the kind of community that her family was together. She thought that perhaps Faith had never gotten to experience anything like it at all.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Grayson told her, dishing a second helping of pie onto her plate. “You look serious all of a sudden.”

“I was thinking about Faith Talbot,” she said. “You know, that woman who just moved here. Our cousin.”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” Dean said. “I want to meet her. I vaguely remember her visiting all those years ago.”

“A totally unexpected cousin,” Hazel mused. “I wonder how many other unknown family members we’ve got out there?”

“Well, in Faith’s case, she wasn’t unknown,” Vivian reminded them. “I was pretty good chums with my cousin Lyle when we were growing up. I should have remembered to check in with her. I know I thought about it during the time of the funeral, but then there was so much to catch up on when I recovered from the flu that it slipped my mind. I know I sent her a card, but I wish I’d written her a letter or called her or something later on.” Vivian bit her lip, looking pained.

“It’s okay, Mom.” Julia put a hand on her mother’s arm. “You meant well. That’s just how life goes a lot of the time. Besides, ifshe’d needed something, she would have known that she could reach out.”

“Maybe that’s what she’s doing now,” Samantha said.

“Oh, I don’t think so, honey, I think she’s just moving somewhere new,” Hazel said. “I mean, you said she just kind of drifted off after introducing herself. She didn’t ask to spend time with any of us, did she?”

“No, but we didn’t invite her to either,” Alexis said thoughtfully. “I mean, I know personally, I was totally floored and didn’t think to arrange any kind of a meet-up.”

“What’s she like?” Hazel asked. “Does she seem nice?”

“Yeah,” Julia said slowly. “She does. But I kind of got the impression that she was hiding something.”

“Hiding something?” Dean echoed. “What do you mean?”

“I felt that way too for a second,” Alexis admitted, “but then I realized that she just seems super tired.”

“Hmm, sounds like she’s got a past of some kind,” Grayson said. “I wonder what it is.”

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