Page 39 of Return to Us
“Uncle Josh.”
“Is that my little princess?” Josh’s voice is loud enough that she can hear it.
“It is! It is!”
I laugh as the tone sounds to switch to a video call. Once I accept, my brother’s ugly mug fills the screen.
“Uncle Josh! I have missed you so much.” Amelia grabs the phone and gives her best pouty lip.
“I miss you too, Princess. I was thinking about coming to visit you in a few weeks. Do you have plans?”
She shakes her head. “Nope. We are at the beach.”
“Oh?”
I pull Amelia up into my arms so I can see as well. “We came down to the Cape house.”
Josh grins. “Fun. I bet you two will have a great weekend.”
“Daddy has his friends coming.”
“Oh? Who?”
Amelia answers before I can. “Uncle Jack is coming and so is daddy’s girlfriend.”
“I told you she’s not my girlfriend, Melia.”
My brother’s jaw drops before his lips stretch into a shit-eating grin. “Oh? Girlfriend. What’s her name, Melia?”
“Jessica.”
Josh’s eyes go wide, and there’s nothing I can say now. “Jessica as in Jessica Walker?”
“The same one. But as I said, she’s a friend and was hurt, so she’s in Willow Creek until she gets on her feet.”
“Or on her back,” Josh so unhelpfully adds.
“Can I go see the sand, Daddy?” Amelia asks, and I put her down.
“Just stay close to the porch.”
She runs off, leaving me stuck on the video call with my brother. Yeah, this will go well.
“There is nothing going on,” I tell him before he can say anything.
Joshua doesn’t look convinced. I watch the thoughts turn in his head as he cocks his head to the side. “Right.”
“There’s not.”
Josh smirks. “Nope. Nothing. It’s just a trip to the beach, right?”
I glare at my oldest brother, knowing that this flippant shit is just that . . . shit. He doesn’t believe a word of it any more than he believes me. “It’s just a trip to the beach, Josh.”
He purses his lips, and I know that it’s coming. He is teetering on the need to be right and let me know it. “It sounds like it’ll be good for you guys to all get away. That house is a special place where things happen for you.”
I might kill him. I groan, needing this back and forth to be over so I can prove my point. “Just say it.”
“I have nothing to say but that, truly, I like Jess, I always have. Dad and Mom will not be happy, but then again, who fucking cares what they think?”
