Page 47 of Artfully Wild
“What about him?” I roll my head back to watch Hudson jumping down, almost twisting his ankle by the looks of it until Avery catches him. They both fall back into the snow, laughing before he plants a quick kiss on her lips. He gets up to help Ethan down to the ground. Once Ethan’s feet hit the snow, he takes off running into the house, probably more to get out of the cold than anything. Hudson and Avery disappear behind the giant oak and considering they don’t emerge right away, they’re probably making out behind it.
“Ew, really Hudson! Can you wait two hours to go home and do that? People across the street can see you!”
“No, I can’t,” is all he yells from behind the tree.
Mom laughs, her voice echoing off the wall behind us. “Don’t be such a prude, Skylar. I know you better than that.”
“Do you?” I ask, suddenly defensive for some reason.
If she is taken off guard, she doesn’t let it show. I don’t know why I said that. I love my mom and she was one of the closest people in my life until Sarah got sick. When her sickness took over, I fell to the background. And I understood it then and I still do now. Sarah was the priority and if I were my mother, I would have shoved me aside too.
“I used to,” she admits.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
She holds up a hand to stop me, clearly wanting to get something off her chest. “I’m glad you did,” she says.
“What?”
“I’m glad you said it, because now it opens up a conversationwe should have had a long time ago. But I never did, because I was scared,” she looks in my direction, waiting for me to meet her eyes. “I neglected you. I didn’t mean to do it, but I did. Sarah needed me. But you needed me too.”
“I did,” I admit, because if she wants to do this, we may as well dive right in. I don’t resent her for doing what she could while her other daughter was sick. There’s no manual on how to handle life when your kid gets seriously sick and never gets better. Mom did the best she could, I know that. But it doesn’t stop the hurt I have felt over the last few years.
“I never meant to grow apart from you, Sky. It just happened. You came home for her. For us. And I don’t think we ever even thanked you for that.” Her voice catches and she is trying—and failing—to hold back tears. She swipes them away as quickly as they fall. “You took over the store for us, kept it running. Hell, you made it better than we ever had and we are so proud of you.”
A pang of guilt drops heavily into the bottom of my stomach like a stone splashing into the lake, sinking fast through the murky water until it stops with a dullthudon the sand. A massive puff rises around it, obscuring it from view, seeming to swallow it whole and I wish I could be in the depths of the lake. Hidden away from the guilt that weighs in me from the possibility of selling the store.
“We arealwaysproud of you. No matter what you do,” she says, patting my hand. “I just hope we can reconnect. I think it would be good for us.” She stands and bends over to plant a kiss on my forehead, her hands framing my face.
“I think so too,” I whisper as she pulls away. I think she came out here to talk about something completely different, but I am grateful for her words. Being away from them was hard over the years and I made it harder on myself, but the truth is, I had been distanced from them for years before Sarah’s death. I just didn’t realize how much I was hurting myself too.
Once Mom is inside, I take in the silence on the front porch for a minute longer before getting up to follow her. There’s shuffling from the oak tree and Hudson and Avery finally emerge. I’d actually forgotten they were over there and I suddenly wish I’d gone inside sooner.
Avery’s hair is slightly tangled and a red ribbon hangs from Hudson’s fingertips. Her skin is slightly flushed and Hudson’s bun isn’t in its high position that it was before. I glance between them.
“Oh my God, did you just get her off behind that tree?” Obviously, if they did anything other than make out, it’d be public indecency, but then again, anyone on that hiking trail Jacob and I took would be subject to much worse if they hike at the wrong time.
“A gentleman never tells.”
Avery’s neck blushes at my question and I decide that I am way too involved in my brother’s sex life and it’scompletelyinvoluntary.
“I’m just avoiding trees and windows whenever I’m within a mile of your vicinity from now on until the day I die,” I say to their backs. “Actually, I’m avoiding them in the afterlife too. I don’t need any more nightmares.”
“You’ll have plenty down there, I’m sure,” Hudson jokes. I kick his knee out from under him and he collapses on the porch. Quickly, I pass him and dodge the grab of his hands, making it inside. I close the door behind me and lock it before he has a chance to turn the doorknob. It rattles and a series of loud pounds follows.
“Really?? You’re going to bethisimmature?”
“Yes, I am!” I turn around to walk into the kitchen where it looks like Jacob and my father are deep in conversation.
“There you are,” Dad remarks as I step out of the hallway.
“Here I am,” I say, presenting myself like I’m on a gameshow, arms out wide and bending into a deep bow.
“Good, I need to talk to you,” he points at me as he gets up from the table, newspaper and a pencil almost down to a nub in hand. He makes his way to the back porch and sits at the long table, waiting for me to follow. Apparently this Sunday brunch is the one for parent talks.
I let out a long sigh. We should have stayed in bed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
