Accidentally Family (Pecan Valley 1)

“They? You mean Dad?” Honor asked.

Nick snorted. “Careless. So fricking…stupid.”

“Nick.” Felicity’s tone was soft but firm. “Now isn’t the time.”

“No?” Nick’s voice was hard. “We’re in a hospital, Mom. On Honor’s graduation night. Because he swerved into oncoming traffic?”

“Nick, please.” Felicity’s tone was soft, soothing. “Come on, hon. Everyone is tense.”

Diana was staring at Nick. “I get that you’re upset, and you totally have every right to be pissed, but—”

“You do?” Nick nodded. “You get it?”

“Yeah. I. Do.” Diana slid from the chair, her hands fisting at her sides. “I hate that this happened as much as you do.”

That was exactly the wrong thing to say right now—even if she meant well. “Diana,” Graham put in. “Let’s not make tonight harder than it already is.” Which was also the wrong thing to say—so, apparently, she got it from him. But the words were out, and the damage was done.

“I didn’t do anything.” Diana’s face turned bright red as she held her hands up. “How am I going to make it harder? How about I make it easier and leave?” And she did.

Graham ran a hand over his face, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.” He sucked in a deep breath. “She’s sort of wound up.”

“You don’t need to apologize.” Felicity was frowning at her son. “She meant well.”

Nick sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

Honor stood, frowning at her brother. “Nickie, we’re not the only ones having a bad night, you know?” She sighed, brushing past her brother. “I’ll go talk to her. Just…” She paused. “Find me if there’s news on Dad?”

“You don’t need to go, Honor.” Graham smiled. “She’s my family. You stay here with yours.” He nodded at Felicity and went off in search of his daughter.

…

Honor stared at her phone. Message after message kept popping up. Everyone in Pecan Valley knew her dad had been in an accident—and they all wanted details. Even Mr. Fabulous himself, Owen Nelson, had called. She’d ignored his call, as always, but he’d left a voice message. Not that she’d listened to it—or any of the voice messages for that matter. Somehow, that would make all this…real.

Still, the texts kept coming in. Her fingers hovered over her screen, frozen. What to say?

My dad’s in surgery.

My dad’s baby mama is dead.

My baby brother’s in a coma.

She looked at baby Jack, sound asleep. Not sleeping. The poor thing was in a coma. A coma. The last time she’d seen him?

??the only time she’d ever seen him in person—had been his baptism. Nick refused to go, so she’d gone alone. Alone-alone. Dad’s friends weren’t Dad’s friends anymore, for the most part. Not the ones Honor knew, anyway. Which was weird because they weren’t Mom’s friends, either. Where had they all gone? Something else lost in the divorce.

Jack had been an adorable screaming thing in a long, lacy dress. Before the day ended, Honor had felt exactly the same way as Jack—miserable and ready to go home.

And then there’d been Amber. Painfully beautiful, model-in-a-bikini gorgeous and mesmerizing. She’d tried to include Honor, sort of. But it was clear she was having a hard enough time with the whole mom thing with Jack. Figuring out where Honor fit hadn’t been a top priority.

That was the only time they’d had together. Last Christmas, their Christmas with Dad, things had “come up,” and she and Nick had stayed with Mom.

And now, there wasn’t time to get to know Amber.

She swallowed some of the soda she and Nick were sharing. It was sweet, too sweet, making the back of her jaw tingle.

“I thought we were sharing,” Nick said, grabbing the bottle.

She shrugged, smiling at him. She held up her phone, showing him the growing list of notifications. He nodded.