At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

Instead, I’d put myself in an impossible situation and given my mother ammunition. She really had a relentless desire to ruin every single person around her. She’d even sent Gran to an early grave. That argument I’d witnessed in the hospital was the final straw in more than one way for Gran. Unbeknownst to me, she changed her will the next day. Cut my mom out of it for the bullshit she’d pulled in the hospital and Aunt Ruth for not ever giving a shit in the first place. One daughter who only wanted her money and another who lived in the same damn town and hadn’t seen her in more than a decade. Quite a pair.

By doing so, a part of Gran was cut off too. The doctors had bad news about her cancer. It had progressed much farther and faster than they’d thought. Gran didn’t have any more fight left in her. Nothing left after the destruction of her family. She’d given everything to me and Maddox, and then she’d left.

I wished she were still here. It was still impossible to think that she was actually gone. That I couldn’t call and ask her advice. To hear her on the other end, telling me something silly and somehow serious at the same time. The best advice that I never expected.

What would she think of Derek? Would she tell me I was a fool for leaving or that I was her brave little chickadee for having the courage to end it? The worst part was that she was gone, and I’d never have an answer.

I stared down into my ice cream, the game forgotten. My emotions were too close to the surface. Everything too fragile. I needed to get back into the lab and try to lose myself in work. That might help for a little while.

Lila snapped in front of my face. “Earth to Mars.”

I laughed hollowly. “Sorry. I guess I zoned out.”

“You want to watch something else?”

Cole made a sound of protest, and Lila flicked her gaze to him.

“Anything you want,” he said with a perfectly innocent look on his face.

“No, I’m fine. We can keep the game on,” I told them.

Lila opened her mouth to argue, but then the door burst open.

“Honey, I’m home!” Josie announced. She was all decked out in a black minidress and high heels. Her oversize sunglasses obscured half of her face, and her black hair hung down in waves nearly to her waist.

“You wore that on the plane?” Lila asked with a laugh.

“Some people travel in style.” Josie dropped her Louis Vuitton luggage and kicked the door closed. “Now, what the hell is happening here?”

I dropped the tub of ice cream and gave her a hug. “Pizza, ice cream, and football.”

Josie looked between Lila and Cole. She dramatically yanked her glasses off and pointed it between them. “I approve of what is happening here, but you’re entirely too cute for a girls’ night.”

Cole held up his hands. “Hey, I was told to help Marley. I didn’t know it was a girls’ night.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “Really. All of this is fine.”

“Fine,” Josie drawled. Her Southern accent coming back for a split second. “Delilah, darling, get the booze.”

Lila laughed. “Sidecars?”

“Just like Gran liked them,” Josie insisted.

“I really don’t want to drink,” I said as my two best friends promptly ignored me and rummaged through my apartment. Of course, I had everything for sidecars. I always did.

“Cole, honey, sugar these rims like you know what you’re doing.” Josie winked at him.

“I’ll pretend that’s not a sexual innuendo,” he said, shaking his head.

“It is,” Lila and I said at the same time.

We all burst into laughter, and for a second, as we worked together to make the drinks, I forgot the horror of the last twenty-four hours. Josie might have been ridiculous flying out here for me, but she wasn’t wrong. I needed it. I needed to forget. I didn’t want to face it tonight.

When the drinks were poured, Josie held hers aloft. “What should we toast to?”

I gulped and pushed mine up. “Gran.”

Lila and Josie both shot me looks of understanding.

“To Gran,” Lila said.

Then, Josie and Cole and I echoed it. We all took a sip of Gran’s drink, remembering her in the sweet taste of alcohol.

Josie squeezed onto the couch, complaining about the calories in the ice cream for a whole minute before digging into the pint. It was her job to stay the same shape, but it was nice to see her say fuck it for a night. We all did. It was better having everyone there together. Josie took up all the space in a room, which was good for me. I barely had to think at all.

“I should move here,” Josie said a few hours later as she lay sprawled across the recliner, tipsy from sidecars.