Page 61 of Lovewell Lane

I looked at the picture made up of slightly more advanced stick figures than I could draw. I sat down on a chair and pulled her into my lap, so we could look at it together.

“I’m guessing this is me,” I pointed to the tallest stick figure of the bunch.

“Mhm, and that’s Grandaddy.” Her fingers, which were covered in what I guessed to be strawberries, pointed to a figure next to mine with glasses on.

“And this must be Jack.” She nodded. Jack’s figure had angry eyebrows, but a smile on its face. “And Calli and Sam and you.”

There was one figure left. “Who is this?” The last stick figure had long yellow hair and a giant smile on its face while standing directly next to me.

“Margo,” my daughter said with a giant smile.

Fucking hell. I went three hours without thinking about her. “Oh, that’s nice.”

Tessa looked at the drawing and frowned. “I forgot Uncle Andy.”

“That’s okay, you can draw him in now. I see a spot right here.”

Right then, the front door slammed open, and Slick entered the house with a scruffy face and a massive grin. “Grandad!”

Tessa’s drawing was quickly abandoned. All of the Westons gathered around my kitchen island as I cooked and everyone debriefed on what had gone down in their lives over the last few months. Except me. I busied myself with making dinner while Tessa helped.

Andy walked through the door a little bit later and dropped a bottle of wine and a bottle of apple juice on the counter. He always made sure Tessa felt included. Slick patted him on the back and welcomed him into the fold while Tessa looked at me with puppy dog eyes, which told me she wanted apple juicenow.

“Should we invite Margo?” Sam asked as we were setting the table.

I scoffed. “She’ll still be at the restaurant.”

“So, you’re keeping tabs on her then.”

“It’s a small town.”

Slick looked very interested in our conversation from his seat at the kitchen island. “Have those two gotten together yet?” He directed the question at Sam.

“Not yet, Derek is still torturing himself for some reason.”

I smacked the back of Sam’s neck as subtly as I could and leaned down to his ear. “Not in front of Tessa,” I growled through gritted teeth.

Sam must have seen how serious I was from the look on my face and took it to heart because Margo wasn’t brought up another time during dinner.

“Slick, meet any new friends out in Alaska?” Andy asked before taking another swig of wine.

My father set down his fork. “Oh did I, but that story isn’t for when tiny ears are around.”

He looked pointedly at Tessa, and I cringed. I didn’t want that story to be for my ears either. Wanting to change the topic as quickly as possible to avoid any thinly veiled innuendos, I turned to Jack.

“How’s Atlanta? Thinking of coming back home anytime soon?” I asked.

He shrugged. I was never much of a talker, but Jack was as a kid. No one knew when the switch happened, but now I had competition for least interested in a conversation.

“Not right now,” he muttered.

Calliope nudged his elbow. “I think he has a girlfriend that he’s hiding from us.”

Sam leaned in. “No way, he’d have to talk to a woman for that to happen.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Andy added. “Some women apparently like the mysterious personality type. The less you say, the better.”

I didn’t like that his eyes flashed to me as he said it.

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