Swear (Landry Family 4)

“I don’t know. I’m looking at this shirt. Can I buy this now?” she laughs.

“I want that in purple,” Danielle chimes in. “Now that I’m not so round I’d look like a grape.”

“Don’t talk about grapes,” Alison blushes.

“Why not? You don’t like grapes?” Mallory asks.

Danielle bursts out laughing. “I think it’s quite the opposite, wouldn’t you say, Ali?”

Alison giggles. “What I wouldn’t give for some grape-age right now.”

The girls laugh, parting ways, and all clamor about checking out Halcyon’s inventory before we go live. I stand in the middle of them all, feeling incredibly blessed.

It’s been two weeks since my father passed away. Each day gets a little easier, especially with my Huxley coin in my pocket and my father’s words in my ears.

“I love that rainbow,” Sienna breathes, checking out the hand-painted art Heath tucked in a corner for me. “It’s gorgeous.”

I don’t tell her it’s my ode to my father, my reminder that there’s always a rainbow at the end of every storm. Violet doesn’t even know why it’s there, just that it was important for me to have.

Sienna comes up to me with a smile. “Everything looks fantastic. If you ever want to get some up-and-coming designers, let me know. I have some friends that would

fit in well here, I think.”

“Really? That would be awesome, Sienna. Thank you.”

She tosses a lock of hair off her shoulder. “Yeah, you’re welcome. Anything I can do, just let me know. I have contacts here and there.”

“Ford said you were thinking of going back to Los Angeles soon?”

“I was. I probably won’t though.”

“I’ve always wanted to go there,” I admit.

“It’s amazing in a lot of ways. It’s beautiful for sure and there’s always something fun happening and lots of work opportunities. But I just don’t feel like a California girl,” she sighs. “I think what I want is to just . . . go. See. Do. Not necessarily in LA, just somewhere that’s . . .”

“Not here?” I offer.

“Exactly!”

“Maybe you just want to travel and not necessarily put down roots,” I suggest. “I can’t imagine not seeing your family for months on end. That has to be hard. Even when I was in Florida, I could come home once a month or more, depending on my schedule.”

“Sometimes. And sometimes it’s not so hard,” she laughs as the girls burst out in a fit of laughter. “I see what the boys are doing to Cam and her love life, and I don’t want that.”

“Ford was telling me about them trying to figure out who he is.”

“Who who is?” Danielle asks as she and Alison join us. “Oh, are we talking about Camilla’s mystery man again?”

“I can’t believe Barrett went into The Gold Room,” Alison sighs. “If one picture would’ve gotten out . . .”

Danielle takes her phone out, looks at the screen, and laughs. “Look at this. This is what I have to put up with.”

Flipping the phone to face us, I see a picture of Ryan asleep in his crib with a miniature baseball glove on his hand.

“That’s adorable,” I laugh.

“Wait until it’s Ford. He’ll have your baby doing pushups,” Danielle teases. She hip bumps Alison. “When are you joining the Landry baby factory?”

She looks at the ceiling. “I don’t know. Do I want to do that all over again?”