Until Harry(80)

Layton was right. But could I handle coming home and going back to being just friends with Kale? I didn’t have the answer.

“I’m scared,” I whispered.

My father hunkered down in front of me and pushed loose strands of hair out of my face. “You have to be brave, kid.”

I nodded.

“Can you really see yourself goin’ back ta New York knowin’ everythin’ ye now know?” Nanny asked me.

I envisioned myself going back to New York and falling back into my usual routine while knowing Kale was back home, needing support. I thought about how I’d never receive a phone call, email or Skype invite from my uncle again, and how I’d be on my own whenever I missed him. I wondered if I could deal with only speaking to my family on the phone or over Skype when I felt so loved and supported in their presence. I asked myself one very important question: Can you go back to feeling hollow and numb?

“No,” I said aloud, answering Nanny’s question, and my own.

My family looked at me, and I saw the hope in their eyes.

“What are you saying, Lane?” my father asked. “Be blunt.”

“I can’t go back – I don’t want to go back,” I said, and I knew that when I spoke those words, I truly meant them.

“Lane,” my mother whispered, tears filling her aqua-blue eyes.

I pressed on before the emotion of my decision hit me. “I’m staying here,” I said, and felt the weight of the world fall off my shoulders. “Harry’s house will be my house. I’m moving back here for good. I’m done with being away from you all. Uncle Harry’s passing has shown me that this is where I belong. With you all. I belong at home.”

Multiple arms came around me, and I heard little whimpers of joy and relief that I knew came from my mother. I made sure to hug each of my family members and assured them I was dead serious. I was moving back home.

Holy. Shit.

Roman. His handsome face was the first to enter my mind. I didn’t know why the urge to speak to him was so great, but it was. There was so much that I had to tell him, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to talk to him.

“Roman,” I breathed when my family released me. “This is all a lot to take in, and I want to talk to my friend.”

“You can use the office next door,” Jeffery offered as he stood up from his desk.

I thanked Jeffery and walked into a large adjoining room that had a few boxes stacked on top of one another. I wasted no time in taking out my phone and dialling Roman’s number.

He answered on the fifth ring.

“Hello?” His voice sounded huskier than usual, and it was then that I remembered it was very early in New York City.

“Sorry, Ro.” I winced. “I forgot about the time difference. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine,” he assured me after a long yawn. “I’m glad you called. Are you okay?” I was about to answer, when he suddenly inhaled sharply. “Shit, sorry,” he breathed. “You just buried your uncle. Of course you aren’t okay.”

I sat on a lone chair next to the window across the room. “I’m as well as can be expected, but I didn’t call you to talk about that because I’ll just cry, and I’m so fed up with crying.”

“What did you call about then?” he quizzed.

“I don’t know where to begin,” I said on a groan.

“From the beginning?” Roman suggested. “That’s as good a place as any to start.”

“Kale’s son, Kaden,” I blurted out. “He died when he was ten months old, from cancer.”

“Oh, my God.”

“I know.” I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat. “And Kale made sure I didn’t know about it because he didn’t want me to come home unless it was my choice.”

“Holy shit!”

“Right?” I breathed. “And I just found out that my uncle died of a heart condition that he hid from me. I just found out about it. Like Kale, he didn’t want me coming home unless it was my choice.”

“Lane, fucking hell, that is insane!” Roman stated. “I thought my family was the only one with deep dark secrets, but yours takes the cake.”

I nodded in agreement. “But on a lighter note . . .”

“Girl, what?” Roman gushed.

“Lochlan is engaged!”

Roman sucked in a huge amount of air. “I’m fucking devastated!”

I couldn’t help but giggle. Roman announced his attraction to my brothers when he saw a photo of them on my phone and declared he was only my friend so he could one day meet them.

“The plot thickens,” I said, “because he is engaged to Ally Day.”