“What?” My eyes spring open as I lean back in the seat. I can’t believe he’s done this, showing up unannounced is something that I never do and although I know they will probably be thrilled to see us, it still doesn’t stop me biting my lip out of nervousness.
What if they aren’t even in? What if they have company?
My mind starts to go into overdrive and for the first time since I got into Jackson’s truck, I feel anxious.
“Chill.” He laughs and presses down on the gas pedal. “They’ll love it. I mean, come on, we’re their favorite kids,” he says, waggling his brows up and down as he parks behind Trevor’s cabin.
“Why are you parking here?” I undo my belt and pull on the door handle.
“So that they don’t know we’re coming.” He smirks and jumps out. “I got it,” he says when I go to grab my bag.
Rolling my eyes, I step out of the car and let my head fall back, closing my eyes and breathing in the smell of the woods that surround the land. It smells like home and I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until right now.
The sight of Trevor’s cabin has my lips lifting into a giant grin.
I’d spent hours in there with him, I only watched him work at first, that was until Trevor thought I was capable enough to learn how to use his power tools. I wasn’t the best at handling the powerful machines but he always told me that I did a good job.
When I hadn’t been in there, I’d been inside learning how to cook or bake. Several times Elena tried to get me involved in the numerous animals that she had brought home from the vets. But I just wasn’t an animal person, not unless it was a dog and that was the one thing that she never bought home with her.
“I love it here too,” Jackson says as he throws his arm over my shoulders. I look up at him, a small smile on my face and nod in agreement. “Come on, let’s go and surprise the folks.”
We both walk up to the main house and I marvel at it, it really is a work of art. Light yellow shutters sit beside each window and the white siding looks like it’s recently been painted. The flowers in the beds either side of the stairs are in bloom, and my eyes zone in on the swing that sits on the wraparound porch. I love that swing, many nights I used to sit out here and watch the trees.
With the dimming sky, we don’t see the cars parked out front until we get closer.
“Jackson, they have company,” I whisper, swallowing down the lump in my throat, disturbing them when they have company doesn’t sit well with me.
“It’s fine,” he says, urging me forward.
I shake my head and wave my hand, signaling him to go first.
He shrugs his shoulders and tip toes up the steps. This is the quietest I’ve ever heard Jackson, he’s always so loud and you know when he’s in a room because he makes it known. So seeing him like this is comical and I try my hardest to hold in the giggle that’s trying to escape.
When he’s at front of the door, he looks back at me and holds up three fingers, counting down until he has none and flings the door open.
“Honey! I’m home!” he shouts, spreading his arms wide and dropping the bags at the same time.
I wince as I hear something in my bag clank against the floor and I really hope it isn’t my laptop. It’s not that it’s anything special, it isn’t the latest kind and it’s certainly not fast by any means, but I bought it out of my own money and for that reason alone, it’s extra special to me.
I’d saved up for a year to buy the thing, refusing to let Elena and Trevor buy me one. I wanted to be able to earn my own things and relying on them to buy it for me was something that I didn’t want to do.
“Jackson? Is that you?” I hear Elena gasp as her footsteps get closer. I stand behind him, knowing that they won’t be able to see me behind his wide frame. “Oh, honey! I missed you!” she squeals as her arms come around him.
Jackson engulfs her in his arms and spins her around, her laughter bouncing off the walls as her feet lift off the ground. Her long hair spins as he picks up speed and the sight of it has me snorting.
“Wait, have you brought somebody to meet us?” she asks pulling back and slapping Jackson’s chest when he lets her down.
“Ava?” she gasps when she spins to face me, her eyes glassing over with unshed tears. She looks at me from head to toe, scanning my whole body, probably trying to work out if I really am here and in one piece.
“Surprise,” I squeak and lift my hands up in the air.
“Everybody! You never guess whose home!” she shouts. I wince at her but I don’t have time to get my bearings before her arms sling around me and squeeze me tight. “Sweet, Ava, I’ve missed you so, so much. How is everything, what have you been up to?”
I chuckle as she fires question after question at me. There’s no way I’m going to be able to answer any of them because as soon as she pulls back, I’m snatched inside another set of arms and lifted off the floor.
I breath in the smell that’s unmistakably Trevor. Musk mixed in with wood. There’s no way that I can ever forget that smell. “Avie!” he shouts down my ear, spinning me around in the same way that Jackson did with Elena. Only he doesn’t put me down, he carries me through to the living room, my feet dangling in the air.
“I see you’ve put on some much needed weight.” He winks.