At first, I understood. I understood he didn’t know what would come of his diagnosis and that he didn’t want to worry anyone. I understood him wanting to keep his family from unnecessary pain. But now . . . now, it feels like I’m an accomplice in a lie that will eventually lead to my mother and sister resenting me, because the option to come to terms with things is being taken away from them without them even knowing it.
“Are you okay, honey?” Mom’s hand lands on mine, and I curl my fingers around hers and force myself to relax.
“Yeah.” I meet her gaze, and she eyes me doubtfully.
“You know, with no guests coming in for another week, we should all go to Bigfork,” she says, referring to my family’s property on Flathead Lake. The house we own there is over six thousand square feet, with a huge kitchen, living room, heated pool, and direct access to the lake. Every year when Margret and I were growing up, that was where we spent our summer breaks, and as we’ve gotten older, we’ve made a point to spend at least a couple of weekends there as a family when we can all get time off. “Everly and Sam would love it, and I’ll watch Sam so you and Everly can spend some time alone.” She squeezes my fingers. “It would be good for you to take a little break and get away.”
“I don’t—”
“It would be good for your dad too,” Mom says, cutting me off. “He’s been under a lot of pressure with work. He hasn’t even been able to take his plane out recently.” His job as the CEO of a log-home business is stressful at times, but that’s not what is stressing him out right now.
“I love this idea,” Margret says, grabbing her phone. “I’ll send Ben a message. He owes me some time off, so I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“Before you do that, I need to talk to Everly and see if it’s something she wants to do,” I tell her, and she rolls her eyes, then looks into the living room and calls out Everly’s name.
“Yeah?” Everly answers, and Margret motions for her to come into the kitchen, so she gets up. When she’s close, I take her hand and pull her to stand between my spread thighs.
“Awww, how cute are you two?” Margret sighs dramatically, and Everly shakes her head at her while her cheeks get a little darker.
“So what’s going on?” She looks between us.
“Mom just suggested that we take a few days off and head to our family’s house on Flathead Lake.”
“Okay, cool, just let me know what I need to do while you’re gone.”
“Babe.” I smile. “I’d want you and Sam to come with us. I just need to know if you think you can do that.”
“Umm.” She locks her gaze with me and asks quietly, “Really?”
“Really,” I say just as quietly.
“Well, you are my boss.” She smiles saucily. “So if you say I can go, then I guess I can go.”
“Right.” I grin, and she giggles. Fuck, but I love her laugh.
“All right.” She rests her hand on my shoulder. “But what about work? We don’t have clients coming in this week, but we do have clients coming in—”
“Please don’t start acting like Blake,” Margret groans. “Especially when Blake isn’t even acting like Blake. We have internet and a telephone at the house, so if either of you really feel like you need to do some work, you can do it from the lake.”
“Well, then, it’s a yes from me,” Everly says, and my mom beams while Margret tosses her hands in the air and wiggles around.
“What are we celebrating?” Dad asks, coming over. He’s holding both kids, and he passes Taylor to Margret and Sam to Everly.
“We’re going to the lake house,” Mom tells him with a wide smile, and he looks around at all of us.
“I’d like that,” Dad says quietly, resting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing it once before going to Mom and wrapping his arms around her. “We could all use a little time away from everything. Maybe I’ll see if Grandma can come.”
“Definitely, that would be awesome,” Margret chirps, and Everly nods. Sam shouts, “Da, da,” while lunging for me.
“Then it’s settled,” Mom says, and I nod my agreement.
It’s settled; I just really hope all of us being in the same house for more than a day doesn’t end up blowing up in our faces. It’s going to be a lot more difficult for my dad to keep his secret, and if the truth does come out, he won’t be the only one answering some really fucking uncomfortable questions.
Chapter 13
EVERLY
“I just don’t know what I’m going to do with myself all day without Sam here to keep me company.” My mom pouts as I grab a stack of T-shirts out of my dresser and take them to the bed, where my suitcase is.