Page 45 of The Last One You Loved
“Eva, the damn bacon is going to burn!” Brandon’s deep voice boomed behind her, and my chest twisted with the same melancholy I’d felt out at the hollow. Maddox’s dad had done more for me than my real dad ever had.
“Just turn it!” she yelled, but it was muffled by a hand she must have placed over the receiver. Then, she said back into the phone, “Did I mention there’s bacon? If I remember right, I could always bribe you with bacon.”
I chuckled because it was true. I’d never had bacon before I’d had it at the Hatleys’, and I’d fallen in love with it. Now, even knowing as a doctor just how bad it was for me, I still ate it on almost everything.
“I’ll be right up,” I said.
“Good.” And the line went dead.
I didn’t give myself a chance to find a reason not to go. Instead, I let the call of the voices chattering away in the background while she’d talked lure me up to the house and away from pained thoughts and aching loneliness. When I neared the house, I saw Maddox’s Bronco parked in the yard and almost backed out. Our talk at the café hadn’t gone much better than the one at the bar the night before, but I deserved at least a conversation about Mila. I deserved the truth. And he deserved my apology.
Besides Maddox’s Bronco, a mammoth pickup was parked as well as three other vehicles. The random cars all had UTK parking permits hanging in the windows, and my chest tightened because I thought Sadie and her friends weren’t arriving until the next day. I’d thought I’d have one more night to figure out where to go, and now I knew what Eva had meant about a little problem.
When I knocked on the back door, someone hollered to come in, and when I did, the noise and smells assaulted me. Laughter and music blended together, almost to a fever pitch, while the scent of bacon and barbecue hung in the air. Yesterday, the enormous kitchen had felt empty, and today, it was bursting with people, some trailing into the living room.
Sitting on the counter, licking a wooden spoon covered in chocolate, Mila was all smiles as she chatted up several twenty-somethings who stood in front of her. As soon as her eyes landed on me, she screamed my name, “Miss McKenna!”
A hush settled down over the room as she jumped down from the counter and raced through bodies to get to me. She threw herself at my legs, and I barely had time to stabilize myself on the wall in order to keep us on our feet.
“You stayed!” she said, voice high with excitement. “I thought you’d left without saying goodbye, and I was sad, but now you’re here!”
I cleared my throat, shoving aside the emotions clinging to it, and said, “I’m here. And remember, it’s just McKenna. No miss.”
Over the top of my sister’s head, my eyes landed on Maddox, still in his uniform, looking as unfriendly and grumpy as he had when he’d left me at the café.
“Everyone be quiet!” Mila’s little voice screamed, even though she hadn’t needed to yell because everyone was still hushed. “This is McKenna. She was Daddy’s best friend, and I think she’ll be my new friend, too.”
She dragged me into the room farther and started pointing. “That’s Uncle Ryder, and you know Auntie Gemma. Do you know my papa? His real name is Brandon. And that’s Auntie Sadie and her friends Misha, Terrance, Gia, Lexi, and Tal.”
A sea of faces blurred in front of me, but Sadie’s stood out. If I’d been surprised by Gemma’s changes the day before, Sadie’s were even more startling. She’d only been eleven when I’d left—still a child, really—and now she was a vivacious brunette with a pixie haircut, bright-blue eyes, and tan skin that practically glowed. One of the men Mila had pointed out had an arm thrown casually over her shoulders, but the look on his face as he watched her was one of awe, as if he’d found a winning lottery ticket.
Ryder was glowering at her friend just like he’d glowered at me last night at the bar. At least I didn’t have to take it personally.
The person who stepped forward first to greet me was Brandon. Maddox’s dad looked like an older version of Ryder—dark hair and tan leathery skin from spending most of his life outdoors. He had on a worn flannel shirt and equally worn jeans, but his face was twisted into a wide smile that was all Maddox.
He hugged me, squishing Mila between us. She giggled as I tried not to stiffen in his embrace.
“McK! It’s damn good to see you, kid.”
I wasn’t a kid, but the word didn’t bother me at all. Instead, it tugged at the inner parts of me that had felt alone for too long. The word was the same one I’d unconsciously used back at the hollow in just the way Brandon had always used it. He’d been a dad when I didn’t know what it meant. I closed my eyes, heart hammering. Why had I left all of this behind? Why did I think I had to wash it all away to forget the pieces I didn’t want to keep? I could have picked through the memories and people and kept the best of them. Couldn’t I have?
“Linner is ready. Dish up and find a seat anywhere you want,” Eva called out. “But after, I expect all hands on deck to help with the final pie assembly.”
There was a mad rush to get to the plates stacked on the kitchen counter—a buffet line of sorts. I loved how informal this house was…had always been. Here, it was more important you had food and company than formal place cards and china settings. I wondered if that carried over into Eva’s restaurant and if their guests felt the same sense of family when they came.
Kerry’s family had loved formality, and for a brief moment, I’d thought I did, too. His life was a hundred-and-eighty-degree difference from my childhood, and while I’d savored the change, I now knew it had never fit me. Living in their life had felt like I was wearing a skin that wasn’t mine, a costume I’d have to shed at some point. Except, Kerry had shed me before I’d been ready to give it up—another person who’d left me behind and easily forgotten me, even after we’d lived together for three years.
I tossed those thoughts aside because I hated wallowing, and it felt like all I’d done since being forced out of the hospital was wallow in things I couldn’t change. I much preferred diving headfirst into studies, and tasks, and my patients than sitting around assessing my feelings.You’ll have to face it all at some point, McKenna. You can’t push it behind a busy schedule forever, my therapist’s voice rang through my head.
I watched as the others dished up, fidgeting with the hair tie on my wrist, going up and down on my toes, a soothing motion I’d thought I’d abandoned, just like I’d thought I’d left all of them behind. Eva held out a plate in my direction, and I stepped forward to grab it. It placed me behind Maddox and in front of Eva in the dwindling line.
“We didn’t expect Sadie and the gang until tomorrow, McKenna,” she said loud enough for Maddox to hear. “You’re welcome to stay, but we only have the couch here in the living room. Ryder says there’s no way any of the cabins are inhabitable, but like I said yesterday, Maddox has a spare room that will work just fine.”
“Mama,” Maddox’s head whipped around, looking from her to me and then grimacing.
“It’s the right thing to do, Maddox Parker Hatley, and you know it,” Eva said as if it was the end of the discussion.
“It’s okay, Eva.” I jumped in. “I’ll figure something else out.”
