Falling for Home Read online

  Chapter 2

  Lucy gasped and tried to sit up, but the hand on her face held her down. Eyes wide open, she saw Kate. Her younger sister’s vibrant green eyes sparkled with mischief and absolute glee. Her fingers pinched Lucy’s nostrils together.

  “‘Eriously?” Lucy gurgled. Kate nodded and removed her fingers.

  “Fastest way to wake you up. You’re home!” she squealed, sounding closer to ten than twenty-one.

  “I’m home but I’m not awake. Get off my bed.” Lucy pushed at her sister with her feet while trying to hide her head under the pillow, but she immediately regretted her actions when Kate applied pressure to the top of the pillow. She flailed her arms and Kate laughed and scooted off the bed before Lucy could smack her.

  “You are such a brat.”

  “Get up!” Kate bounced from one foot to the other.

  “I’m up.” Lucy threw the pillow at her, but Kate tossed it back.

  “Like out-of-the-bed up,” Kate added, unzipping Lucy’s suitcase and pawing through it. She tossed a bra at Lucy, followed by a pair of cotton underwear, a T-shirt, and black yoga pants.

  “Hey!” Lucy protested when most of the clothing landed on her face. She threw the mountain of warm covers off her cozy body and sat up. Kate came back to her side and threw her arms around Lucy’s neck.

  “You’re home,” she repeated.

  “Yes, I’m home,” Lucy sighed. She gave Kate a tight squeeze.

  “For now,” they said in unison. Lucy tried to glare at her sister but couldn’t pull it off. When had she gotten so beautiful? They shared the same cheekbones and hair, but Lucy could see features in Kate that she didn’t have. Her father’s elegant jaw and his long, straight nose instead of their mother’s button one. When had she transitioned from teen to woman? While you were wandering.

  “I missed you. Or I did, until you woke me up.” She pushed at her sister’s shoulders, but Kate bounced back, undeterred.

  “Missed you, too. Come on. Get up!” She stood and yanked Lucy’s arm while Lucy grabbed the pillow with her free hand and smacked her with it. Kate tried to keep a straight face as she told Lucy, “Mom’s making whole wheat, honey, and oat pancakes. Apparently, they help with stomach problems.”

  Lucy scrunched her brows together. “I don’t have stomach problems.”

  Kate nodded as she pulled Lucy’s clothes out of her suitcase and began loading them into the same dresser she’d used as a teen. Lucy stretched and, left with no other options, stood to get dressed.

  “None of us do.” Kate laughed, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder to look back at Lucy. Their mom was always on the lookout for the next non-existent problem to solve, often using her daughters as research for the self-help books she wrote.

  Lucy pulled her top over her head and shook her hair out, figuring her slightly disheveled look was good enough for breakfast. She could use a shower, but that could wait.

  “Are Charlotte and Luke coming over?”

  Kate slipped two of her sister’s handmade paper-bead bracelets around her wrists and stretched her arm out to admire them.

  “They’ll be at the center later to help. I can’t believe you haven’t met baby Mia yet. These are gorgeous.”

  “I can’t wait to meet her. Unlike you, I’ll just call her Mia. I think it’s fairly evident that she’s a baby.” Lucy tugged her covers up to the top of the bed and considered it made. She tried to ignore the pang of guilt that settled under her ribs when she thought of missing her niece’s birth. Looking back at Kate, she gestured toward the bracelets. “Those were made by the women of one of the tribes I photographed. It’s their primary source of income. Pretty amazing, actually.”

  “They’re gorgeous. And look good on me,” she said. Lucy shook her head. The bracelets shifted on Kate’s wrist when she looped her arm through Lucy’s and pulled her down the stairs.

  Her parents were chatting about motion lights as Lucy and Kate entered the kitchen. Lucy’s smile widened when her mom leaned in to kiss her dad on the cheek. Mark smiled up at his wife with the same fondness he always did, making Lucy grateful that some things really didn’t change.

  “I’ll see how much—there she is!” Julie Aarons bubbled, catching sight of her middle daughter. She clapped her hands together and pressed them to her mouth. Her flowing mass of hair framed the soft angles of her ageless face. Lucy walked toward her, and Julie opened her arms, meeting her halfway. Her mom rocked side to side, holding tight as Lucy breathed in the fragrant combination of her mom’s favored Oil of Olay body wash and the still-percolating coffee. Nothing else made her feel more at home than those two smells. Tears pricked Lucy’s eyes as her mom continued the hug. She ran her hand up and down her mom’s back.

  “Hi mom,” she croaked, surprised at how difficult it was to swallow the lump in her throat. Julie squeezed harder.

  “About damn time you came home, missy,” her mom lectured without heat. She pulled back and looked Lucy up and down.

  “I missed you.” Lucy said. She hadn’t even realized how much.

  “I thought of you once or twice, too,” Julie answered. When her eyes met Lucy’s, they were damp. Lucy bit her lip and looked over at her dad.

  “Hey dad.” Like her mom had, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. His hand came up to her hair and held her there for a moment.

  “Hi, sweetheart. How’d you sleep?”

  “Good. Really good.”

  Kate brought her over a cup of black coffee, adding one more reason she adored her younger sister.

  “Great. There goes all my attention now that the prodigal daughter is home,” Kate joked, stealing her dad’s last rectangle of toast before sitting on the opposite side of the table.

  “I’m pretty sure you’re the reason I came home, brat,” Lucy reminded, sitting down beside her sister while their mom just beamed.

  “Sit down, Julie. It’s not the first time we’ve all sat at the table. No reason to make a Hallmark moment of it,” Mark laughed at the way his wife stood, hands clasped, staring at her family.

  “Oh, be quiet. It can’t be a Hallmark moment if Char isn’t here. I need all three of my girls for that. You look tired, Lucy,” she rambled, ignoring her daughter’s frown at the assessment. She ran her palm along Lucy’s cheek and added, “I can say that because I’m your mother. I have some tea that helps rebalance energies. I’ll make you some after you eat.”

  Lucy shared a glance with her dad and Kate. Her mom had written several books on a multitude of topics that dealt with healing yourself, being yourself, and finding yourself. Lucy thought she needed to write one on how to lose yourself. She would make for great research for her mom—she’d spent several years trying to do just that.

  They fell into an easy space of teasing and sharing, catching up and remembering, filling in the gaps for the time she’d been gone. Regardless of where Lucy was in the world, her family was her constant. Her north star. She didn’t need to tend to them or check on them; she’d known that they’d be there when she needed direction. She tried not to think too hard about the fact that she needed them but they were all just fine without her. They thought she was home to help Kate, but truthfully, this trip was going to go a long ways toward helping herself. She hoped.

  Alex pulled off his worn hoodie and tossed it onto the front seat of his truck. It was shaping up to be a warm day. He’d had to follow up on some phone calls in the morning, so he was later than he wanted to be, but he could see that Kate had no shortage of helpers for her community ‘pitch-in’ day.

  Once upon a time, long before Alex had arrived in town, the paint-chipped, battered recreation building had been a centerpiece of Angel’s Lake. After the new high school had been built, it was used less and less. Its parking lot saw more action than the actual building as a local teen hang out. The walls of the building had been tagged and uniquely decorated with both images and words that no one needed to see. Alex was glad the more colorful words were getting covered up tod
ay.

  He wandered through the groups of people—some he’d known most of his life—waving and nodding. There were some people he recognized but didn’t know, some newcomers, and some he wished he had never met. Being sheriff made him privy to secrets he would rather not know, pieces of their lives that weren’t shared with the general population but ended up being, in part, his problem.

  “Hey Sheriff!” The bank manager waved at Alex. As he waved back, he caught sight of Kate giving orders and directions, a clipboard in her hand. She pulled a pencil out of the knot of hair on her head and made notes as Lucy walked over to her with a bottle of water. All three of the Aaron sisters were beauties, but there was something about Lucy that made him feel like he’d swallowed his tongue.

  “Well hey there, Sheriff,” Lucy said. She smiled at him, her eyes playful, as she handed Kate the water.

  “Ladies.”

  “Hi Alex. Thanks for coming,” Kate greeted.

  She took a long swallow of her water and then passed it to Lucy, who did the same. Alex made himself look away so he wasn’t focused on Lucy with her head tipped back, her hair flowing down her back, and her eyes half closed.

  “Where do you want me?” he asked.

  He arched his eyebrows as Lucy sputtered on her water. A little drop escaped down her chin when she lifted her head. She promptly wiped it away with the heel of her hand.

  “You okay, Luce?” he asked, giving her a knowing wink. His chest filled with satisfaction. Maybe she wasn’t as immune as she’d always seemed.

  “She’s fine,” Kate assured, pursing her lips and giving Lucy a look that he couldn’t quite decipher.

  “How about you go help Sam. He was getting all of the rolling pans ready. I want the first coat on today,” Kate suggested, pointing in Sam’s direction.

  Alex saw Sam, his closest friend, on the other side of the lot. When his gaze went back to Lucy, her cheeks were still flushed, and locked his eyes on hers.

  She broke eye contact first. “I’m going to grab my camera and set up for some shots,” Lucy said.

  “Perfect. But don’t think that’ll get you out of the heavy lifting later.”

  “Yeah, yeah. When did you get so bossy?” Lucy grumbled, scrunching her eyebrows and frowning at her sister.

  Alex laughed at the look of indignation on Kate’s face. From the outside, it was easy to find the back and forth sniping amusing. He had always wondered what it would be like to have siblings. With the mutual glaring contest happening between the two, he thought it best not to mention that he thought they were lucky to have each other.

  “I’m off to find Sam. Play nice, ladies.” He smiled, tipped an imaginary cap, and strolled away.

  “He looks just as good walking away as he does walking toward you, huh?” Kate commented, her tone bland, her annoyingly ever-present clipboard at her side.

  “Do you have a thing for him?” Lucy asked, pulling her gaze away from Alex’s back. Which, indeed, looked pretty fine walking away.

  “A thing? No. He’s a sweetheart and I adore him, like most of the town, but no, I don’t have a thing for him.” Kate looked up from her list and pinned Lucy with a serious glare. “And you shouldn’t, either.”

  They wound around two guys setting up a table saw, a couple of teens laying down painting tarps, and an older woman wearing an odd hat that resembled both a fedora and a sun visor setting up a food table for the volunteers. Lucy’s stomach rumbled even though she’d eaten her fair share of her mom’s oatmeal pancakes.

  “Why not? Is he taken?” She tried to keep her tone casual.

  “No. But he’s not for you,” Kate evaded, her eyes on her list. Lucy reached out and grabbed the clipboard from her sister.

  “Hey!”

  “Why did you say that?” Lucy demanded, her voice low. She held the clipboard out of Kate’s reach while her sister chewed on her bottom lip then frowned.

  “He’s long-term and you’re not. He’s forever, and you’re … for now,” Kate answered. With a huff, she held out her hand for the clipboard.

  “Well, don’t hold back.” Lucy gave Kate the board and turned away.

  It was the truth, and Lucy knew it. She didn’t understand why hearing it from her sister bothered her so much. She would grab her camera from Kate’s car, and lose herself in taking pictures of the events around her without having to take part. Another thing she did well.

  When Kate had asked her during a Skype session if there was any way she could come home and help with this project, it had been perfect timing. Vincent, the editor for the international magazine Everywhere Around Us had made it clear that the ladder to success would be a lot easier to climb if she were to sleep with him. When she had disagreed, vehemently, he had decided she didn’t belong on that particular assignment or on any other with the magazine. She snapped a picture of the woman with the fun hat as she shook thoughts of Vincent from her head.

  She was a good photographer; better than good. She had freelanced countless jobs and had her work featured in a number of top magazines. She’d photographed models and movie sets, architectural wonders, and indescribable landscapes. Still, she’d only ever been a “contributor,” and she now found herself wanting a more reliable income. Even when she was abroad, where costs were minimal, it was comforting to have a cushion, particularly since she never knew if the next job would be her last.

  “Hey, Lucy! Nice to see you,” a woman called out. Lucy turned. She recognized the woman but couldn’t remember her name. She was almost positive she was a friend or fan of her mother’s. Julie Aarons had many fans, especially locally. She used to come out and soak up the energy and feel good about seeing how her work affected people. It had surprised Lucy when her mom had insisted she needed to stay home today. Lucy gave a one-handed wave and snapped a photo in the woman’s direction. Perhaps she’d put together an album for Kate. Ideas played in her mind as she continued to take candid shots. This community was so different from the one she had just come home from, yet the core elements were the same.

  She had been on assignment in Kenya in a small village called Lwak. A clean drinking water project was making drastic differences in the lives of the people there, and Lucy had felt like she was a part of something special. It was certainly the longest-running feature she’d done. On other photo shoots, she was a background figure, like an extra in a cast of thousands. The size of Lwak, along with the nature of the job, forced an intimacy she hadn’t immediately recognized as familial.

  “Are you taking pictures of anything besides hot men?” a familiar voice asked sardonically. Lucy lowered her camera carefully, placing it back in the insulated bag hanging on her shoulder, a smile tugging hard as she bit her lip. She turned to look at her older sister, already leaning in for an embrace.

  “Why? Is your husband offering to pose?” Lucy teased as she wrapped herself around Charlotte in a hug that settled the upset inside of her.

  “He probably would if I let him, but he actually had to work today,” Charlotte laughed, pulling Lucy impossibly closer. “You’ve been gone too long this time.”

  Lucy bit her lip to keep from crying, but the tears fell anyway. She held tighter and hoped the pressure would alleviate the ache in her chest.

  “I stay away to make sure you appreciate me when I come back.”

  Charlotte leaned back and eyed Lucy with her critical, steely blue gaze. This close, she could see the odd strand of grey in her sister’s sharply bobbed, dark brown hair. Her narrow face and high cheek bones had always lent an elegance to her features that was matched by the way she presented herself. She could see the hint of late nights around Charlotte’s eyes. To Lucy, and most others, she was perfect. Something that Lucy would never be.

  “We appreciate you just fine. I’ll appreciate you even more when you get your butt in gear and do your share of this project Kate has us all slaving over,” she laughed, the seriousness in her eyes fading.

  “Slaving. As if. You might chip a nail,” Kate i
nterrupted. In her arms, she held Charlotte’s youngest daughter.

  Lucy didn’t think she was the squealing type, but that was what she did as she reached for the bundle of pink.

  “Let me have her,” she said when Kate took too long to pass Mia over.

  “This is your auntie Lucy, Mia. She’s a bit nutty and doesn’t stay in one place long, but we love her. She takes good pictures and makes the best scrambled eggs ever,” Kate cooed to the sleeping baby as she slowly shifted her from her own arms to Lucy’s.

  Lucy held Mia and stared down in awe at the wonderful mix of Charlotte and her husband, Luke. Some hidden pocket of longing slammed hard into her ribs, surprising her with its intensity. The Aarons nose and Donnelly lips stood proudly on smooth, porcelain skin. Her eyelids scrunched and fluttered, but didn’t open. Lucy beamed silently at her sisters and caught sight of her dad walking toward them with Carmen, Mia’s five-year-old sister, in tow.

  “She’s gorgeous, Char. She’s just perfect.” Lucy kissed Mia’s tiny forehead.

  “Obviously,” Charlotte laughed as Carmen walked in between them. Lucy thought she’d stayed close to everyone—she Skyped and Facebooked whenever possible. She’d talked to Carmen and sent birthday gifts, but just like with her dad last night, seeing her in person hit Lucy like a punch to the stomach. Carmen was carrying a book, talking steadily to her grandfather, who nodded thoughtfully. Lucy gently bounced her arms when Mia peeped then looked down at Carmen.

  “Hello there,” she said to the animated five-year-old. Carmen didn’t look away from her grandfather.

  “There are more than three hundred fifty types of sharks,” Carmen stated. Lucy’s dad nodded.

  Char touched Carmen’s shoulder to interrupt her, and when she looked up at her mom, Char said quietly to her daughter, “Your aunt said hello, Carmen. Can you say hello, please?”

  Carmen’s tiny face scrunched in uncertainty, or perhaps frustration from being interrupted. Looking back at her grandfather, she said, “Hello. Sharks hardly ever get tumors. That’s very different from humans.”