Page 73 of His Best Friend's Baby

Rachel led them out to the patio, where the setting sun blazed across the valley, turning the air into liquid gold.

“It’s so pretty.” Julia sighed.

“The view is part of the reason why I married Mac,” Rachel joked.

“She loves me for my land,” Mac said from the grill. “It’s a sad marriage.”

“Let’s have a story, Dad.” Amanda sat with her chin in her hand. “Something from when you were a kid.”

“You’ve heard all my stories,” Mac said, flipping steaks onto the grill.

“Mom?”

“Don’t look at me, all my stories are the same as your Dad’s.” Rachel set down chips and salsa and Amanda dug in. Julia reached over and grabbed a chip for Ben and no one said anything.

Jesse could feel Rachel’s eyes on him, like a motherly hand across his forehead. So he kept his own eyes focused on his plate.

I’m here. That’s enough.

But he knew if ever there was a moment to bridge the chasm, this was it. Awkward and painful he stood on the edge of forgiving his sister, a breath away from erasing the past and setting things between them right.

He looked at Julia, trying to gather some strength from her, and found she was staring right at him, as if she could read his mind.

Go on, she seemed to say. Let it go.

“I have a story,” he said. A pin dropping would have created a cacophony it was so quiet on the deck. Rachel’s hand stalled on the way to a chip. This was his olive branch and they all seemed to know it. “I was about eight, which would have made Mac and Rachel about fifteen.”

“Oh, this should be good,” Amanda cooed and rubbed her hands together.

“Mac found a wallet with five hundred dollars in it in the rock quarry.” Jesse studied his hands, the cut on his thumb, as the memory exploded through him

“I thought I found it,” Rachel looked perplexed. “Didn’t I find it?”

“Nope.” Mac shook his head.

“Mac told me he found it on a dead body. He had me looking for a skeleton down there for about three years,” Jesse told Amanda.

“I found it,” Mac insisted, “but it was only a hundred dollars.”

“But Mac—” Jesse said.

“Are you sure?” Rachel interrupted and Jesse felt a smile tug at his lips. “I remember us spending a lot of money. We went to the movies every day for months.”

“Of course I’m sure.” Mac nodded.

“Whose story is this?” Amanda asked, rolling her eyes. “Let the man tell it.”

“It’s our story,” Jesse said. His eyes darted to Rachel’s and he managed to smile in the face of all of her emotion. You’re my sister, he thought. You did the best you could and I forgive you.

“All of ours.”

“THANKS AGAIN,” Mac said at the door, his hand a firm weight against Jesse’s back. “The cradle is beautiful.”

“Remember to let the glue set a few more days,” Jesse said. “And it will need some finish. I just didn’t get that far.”

He held open the door for Julia, who carried a sleeping Ben out to the Jeep, and he avoided his sister’s eyes. He’d taken a huge stride tonight and didn’t think he could handle any more. He could barely breathe as it was.

He’d told the story. Forgiven his sister and survived the dinner. He’d only said about four words and eaten about three bites afterward. But he was here, on the other side of it, a survivor.

“Thank you, Jesse.” Rachel sighed, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Thank you for coming.”

Jesse looked up at the halogen overhead light and blinked back sudden painful tears.

“Oh,” Rachel said, as he was stepping out the door. “Have you heard from Caleb? Or gotten in touch with him?”

“Gomez?” he asked, blindsided by the name.

He hadn’t even tried to reach him in the past few weeks. Shame trickled through him. He’d started living again and forgotten about the dying.

“Coma,” he said. “Last I heard about three weeks ago.”

Rachel shook her head. “Not anymore. He’s called here.”

Jesse couldn’t contain his surprise. “What did he want?”

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