“That’s amazing. But not really because you’re so talented.” She would say that. “Don’t you just pinch yourself? To think that a few months ago you were sitting here.” She slapped her hands down on the bed. “And now you’re designing royal stuff. And you’re in London with a hot, British boyfriend.”
My life was very different from how it had been up until a few months ago. But by the sounds of it, my mom and dad’s lives had changed almost beyond recognition as well. Why had it taken me leaving the country for them to get jobs and put their lives in something like order? Perhaps they would be able to manage without me if I wanted to extend my stay. Dexter had been true to his word and not brought up the idea of me applying for jobs again. Maybe I should be the one to restart the conversation.
“Are you two decent? Can we come in?” Dexter called from the corridor.
I slid off the bed as the two hottest guys on the planet walked in.
“Happy nearly birthday, Hollie,” Gabriel said. “I brought you a card. Handmade by a three-year-old, so don’t judge.” I lifted up on my toes to hug him and he said “Hi” over my shoulder.
“This is my sister, Autumn.”
He nodded and my sister stood and extended her arm. I swear she’d never shaken hands with anyone in her life. “Dexter was right,” she muttered.
“All the way from Oregon,” Gabriel said, smiling at Autumn as Autumn smiled back at him. There were lots of smiles. “Well, I don’t want to interrupt. You two look very cozy.”
Maybe it was me but it seemed like Gabriel was having a hard time looking away from my baby sister.
“Are you staying in London long, Autumn?”
“Just two nights,” I interrupted.
It was as if I’d broken some kind of spell he was under. Gabriel cleared his throat and nodded again. “Well, happy birthday. Very good to meet you, Autumn. I hope to see you again.” And with that both of them swept out, leaving Autumn fake fanning herself with her hand.
“What is it with the men in this town? Are they all like this? No wonder you fell in love here.”
I dissolved into laughter. “I’m not in love.”
“Of course you are,” Autumn replied, her eyebrows pulled together as if I’d just told her there were twenty-six hours in the day.
“Don’t be crazy.” I wasn’t in love. Dexter was just the first man I’d dated who didn’t want me to be his mother. Yes, I cooked for him, but he bought me scarves and dresses, flew my sister over for my birthday and told me I was beautiful, like all the time. Yes, I listened as he told me about the frustrations of his day but he did the same for me. And yes, I wanted to make things better for him, just as I did with my family, but he wanted to do the same for me. “It’s a stupid thing to say because he’s Dexter Daniels and he has everything anyone could ever want, but it feels like we’re a team, you know?”
“Well, like I told you, that makes a change for you.”
“Yeah, remember when I dated Pauly for those few weeks and he asked me how to use the washer and it turned out his mom was out of town seeing his aunt? I swear he was hoping I’d offer to do his laundry for him.”
“He was ridiculous. But I don’t mean it’s a change in the men you date. What I mean is, in Oregon you’re out front, trying to lead everyone out of the woods. While behind you, people are getting distracted swimming in the lake, eating marionberries, or just looking up at the sun. It’s good to have someone who goes at the same speed as you, someone who’s working with you rather than against you.”
Dexter and I were at completely different points in our careers. We weren’t going at the same speed. He was in the New York marathon and I was doing a charity five-mile fun run. And it sounded like my family had all put their names down for the same run as me now I’d left for London. “Sounds like everyone’s making their way out of the woods just fine without me.”
“Maybe Mom and Dad have realized that they’ve got to stand on their own two feet.”
It sounded great in theory—just what I’d always wanted. Except, if I wasn’t looking after them, I didn’t know who I was leading out of the woods anymore. If they all had their own paths, where did that leave me? Wandering around, and maybe a little lost.
Twenty-Five
Dexter
It had only taken three words—sixteen letters—to get me to this place. This café. On this day. Sixteen letters and fifteen years and now I was about to see my brother.