Chapter 1

1

Cameron

“Grandpa, push!” my daughter, Katie, squeals, her hands out in front of her, reaching for Mark from a good twenty feet away. She’s strapped into a swing attached to a two-story rocket ship with a slide coming out of the top floor. The new play set was her Christmas gift from my parents, and I stand in the middle of their backyard, my arms crossed, glare in place.

“You never got me anything this cool,” I murmur.

Next to me, Mark, my dad who stepped up , chuckles under his breath. “One, you’re almost thirty. Get over it. And two, you were six when I met you.”

I shrug. “Still…”

“And besides, I bought you a Delorean. ”

A massive grin immediately replaces my fake scowl, and I drop my arms to my sides, stand taller, prouder. “So, what you’re saying is, I’m still your favorite?”

“Grandpa!” Katie squeals again.

Mark jogs toward her, saying, “Coming, sweetheart!”

“Wait!” I call out. “You didn’t answer my question!”

I watch as he replaces my mom behind Katie and catches her at the highest point, whispering something in her ear that makes her giggle, before pushing her forward.

“I’ll always be his favorite, right?” I mumble, slowly trailing my gaze from the play set to my wife waiting beside me, the disapproval in her eyes unmistakable. “What?” I ask.

“You’re competing with your two-year-old daughter.”

I sigh. Then smirk. “I’m your favorite, right?

Lucy giggles, breaking her facade, and steps closer to me. “You’re my favorite… idiot . ”

I throw my hands in the air, basking in the victory, before hugging her close. “I’ll take it.”

Mom approaches, rolling her eyes as she takes Lucy from my arms and straight into hers. “Are you being needy again?” she asks me, then pulls back slightly to look Luce in the eyes. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”

“Tired,” Luce says through a sigh, and whatever Mom sees in her expression has her taking Lucy’s hand and leading her away.

My heart falters a beat, and I begin to follow them. Mom must sense my movements, because she turns to me, her arm going around Lucy’s shoulders as she shakes her head at me. I stop in my tracks and then reluctantly nod.

I know this is their time, and I need to let them have it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hurt for my wife and, admittedly, for me.

Holidays have become harder for Lucy ever since we became parents. Not only does she miss her mom, but she wants so badly to be the type of mother she was blessed with, that her mind’s constantly plagued with fears of falling short.

Just to be clear, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better mother for our daughter.

Unfortunately, no amount of affirmation coming from me can seem to change her mind.

That’s when my mom steps in.

They had always gotten along, and there’s no doubt my mom loves Lucy as if she were her own, but once Lucy became pregnant, their bond became greater, and then even more so once Katie was born.

I think it elevated one night when Katie was just a few weeks old. I was exhausted, but Luce—she’d barely closed her eyes since the moment she knew she was going into labor. Lucy had experience with newborns since she was around to help her mom with all six of her younger brothers, but the only aspect of parenting she was new to was breastfeeding… and it was the only thing she seemed to struggle with. It was close to 3 a.m. one night when we were both sitting up in bed, my daughter in my wife’s arms, as Katie cried out loud and Lucy cried in silence. Tears streamed down Luce’s cheeks, and I watched them both, helpless, not knowing who to comfort more. Katie wasn’t latching on like she should and, of course, Lucy blamed herself. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,” she’d sobbed, over and over, and it had been the same the past three times Katie had woken crying and hungry.

It affected Luce mentally as much as it did physically, and I didn’t know how to fix it. Honestly, I wanted to cry for the both of them. But then Lucy looked up at me, her eyes filled with liquid heartache, and said the words I’d been keeping to myself. “I think I need your mom.”

The phone barely rang before Mom answered, as if she’d been expecting it. She was at our cabin within minutes and in our room within seconds. She handed me Katie and asked for a moment alone with Lucy. For minutes that felt like hours, I attempted to soothe a crying Katie in my arms while I paced the living room. My chest ached every time my daughter opened her eyes—blue, just like her mother’s, like her grandmother’s—a woman I’d never met, but who I spoke to that night. I asked her to help her daughter—my wife— because she was drowning under the weight of her own expectations, and I could feel her struggle to stay afloat.

After what felt like forever, Mom called me back into the bedroom, where Lucy was in bed, on her side, her eyes clear of tears for the first time in hours. I looked at my mom, who offered a reassuring smile, and then I listened to her advice as she showed me how to place Katie so she could feed while Lucy was lying down. It took a bit of maneuvering to get my two girls just right , and then it all just… clicked. Mom stood at the end of the bed, looking down at us—me lying opposite my wife, our daughter between us. I reached across, stroking my wife’s cheek as her eyes got heavier and heavier, losing the fight to fake it. Within minutes, she was asleep, and Katie followed soon after.

Mom took Katie into her arms, kissed my cheek, and promised me that things would get better. Easier. And they did.

To this day, I have no idea what was said in that bedroom while I was gone, and I’ll never ask. But whatever it was, it changed their relationship forever.

“Are you still pouting about the favorite child thing?” Mark asks now, a smiling Katie sitting on his shoulders. Hands out, finger stretched, she reaches for me just as a yawn escapes me. I take her from him, then attack her cheek and neck, pretending to bite her. She squirms in my arms and giggles loudly—the greatest sound in the entire world, but I’m biased, obviously.

“Daddy silly, isn’t he?” Mark asks her.

“Silly Daddy,” she repeats, kicking out her legs—a sign for me to put her back down. The second her feet touch the grass, she’s off again, running around my parents’ backyard, kicking up fallen leaves with her tiny little boots.

“She has so much energy,” Mark chuckles, standing beside me while Katie runs toward a giant oak tree.

“I know. I don’t know where she gets it,” I reply, my words muffled by another yawn.

Katie had woken us up just before five this morning, jumping on the bed and yelling, “Mama! Daddy! Santa came! Santa came!”

Luce and I had just gotten to sleep a few hours earlier after spending the night wrapping the insane number of gifts we’d gotten her. We had a low-key breakfast, just the three of us, then headed to Lucy’s family home for lunch, and then we came here for dinner and to drop Katie off before the mayhem truly begins. It’s been a long-ass day, and I’m exhausted. I don’t know how Katie is still upright. “Twenty-eleventy-three,” Katie shouts from behind the oak tree. “Ready or not, here I come!”

“Shit, were we supposed to be hiding?” Mark mumbles, taking off before I have time to respond. He hides behind a large potted plant, and I climb onto the trampoline and lie flat. If I’m lucky, I might be able to close my eyes for a few minutes.

“Daddy! Grandpa!” Katie shouts. “Where are you?”

“I want to play!” Lucy calls out, and I lift my head to see her and Mom walking toward Katie.

“Let’s count again,” Mom says, taking Katie’s hand and leading her back toward the oak tree. “Give your mama time to hide.”

Katie goes willingly, and I wait until Lucy’s close before sitting up to help her climb onto the trampoline with me. We lie on our sides, facing each other, the sound of Katie counting made-up numbers filling our ears. “You good?” I ask, hand on her waist as I pull her close.

Lucy nods, her lips curving into a smile. “Do you realize how lucky we are?”

“I know how lucky I am. I have you. You, though—you’re stuck with me.”

Shaking her head, she moves in closer, her lips meeting mine for all of a millisecond. “I wouldn’t want to do life without you.”

“Really?” I ask, raising my eyebrows. “Two nights ago, you threatened to murder me in my sleep.”

She rolls her eyes, her smile getting wider. “I threaten that every night, and you’re still breathing, so…”

“True.” I chuckle, bringing her closer so her head’s to my chest. “So what you’re saying is that you love me, and I’m your favorite.”

“You’ve always been my favorite, and you always will be.”

I sigh. “That’s all I need to hear.”

“Found you, Grandpa!” Katie squeals, and Luce and I separate, lifting our heads to watch them.

“You’re so smart! How did you know where I was?” Mark says, poking her sides until she runs away from him. He chases after her, hands out, fingers ready to tickle her some more.

“I think she might be the luckiest girl in the world,” I murmur, facing Lucy again. “She has two amazing grandpas.”

“And the best grandma,” she says.

“ Grandmas ,” I correct. “One here, and one watching over her twenty-four-seven.”

Lucy smiles at that.

“And enough aunts and uncles to always have her back.”

“And the most amazing dad to always protect her,” Lucy adds, kissing me once. Then returning for more, deepening the kiss just enough to stir up a lick of fire inside me.

“And the most beautiful, most giving…” I grab her ass, squeeze tight. “Most sexiest mom in the entire world.”

Luce pulls away and sits up straight, her cheeks flushed. “We’re leaving now!” she yells.

I laugh under my breath and hop off the trampoline before helping her down. Mom takes Katie’s hand and leads her toward us, saying, “So, you have plans with your friends tonight?”

“Yep,” Lucy replies.

“It’s so nice that you can all be together for the holidays. I miss them.”

Living in a small town, she sees our friends often. It’s only Heidi, Jake and Mikayla who moved away, and out of North Carolina. My mom didn’t really get to know Heidi well back when we were in high school, and she moved away after college, so she’s not around much.

Micky and Jake live in St. Louis now, but Micky’s been spending more time here lately, so what my mom is really saying is she misses Jake . My mom loves Jake. Scratch that. All moms love Jake. It’s hard not to.

“So, what’s the plan?” Mark asks. “You’re just going to hang out in your cabin?”

Lucy fake sniffles. “It’s the farewell tour, Marky Mark.”

Mark hugs her to his side. “I bet y’all have a ton of memories there, huh?”

Lucy pouts for real this time, nodding as she says, “We’ve been there for so long. It’s where we grew up, grew together , and where we brought Katie home.”

“But you have a beautiful new home where you can make fresh memories,” Mom tries to assure. “And how many women get to say they live in a house their husband designed and their brothers built?”

“That’s true,” Lucy says, moving from Mark’s side to mine. She smiles up at me, and I return the expression. Our new house, still built on the Preston property, has been my favorite project to work on because it’s ours . Luce and I worked tirelessly to make everything perfect in our forever home, and personally, I can’t wait to move in there. But Luce—she’s a romantic, not just with love but with the memories the cabin holds. We’d practically lived there together since her dad built it for her when we were still in high school. There are a lot of moments tied to the place and a hell of a lot of firsts .

“So, what happens to the cabin now?” Mark asks.

“The twins have already claimed it,” I answer. Lucy’s brothers—Lincoln and Liam—are social media influencers, and so they’re turning it into a studio/office.

“Well, have fun tonight,” Mom says. “And don’t feel you have to rush to pick her up tomorrow.”

“She can stay as long as you need,” Mark agrees.

“You know we love having her,” Mom adds. “And I have no plans for days, just in case you two wanted to get things done while you’re off work.”

Since I can remember, Mark had always wanted to “take care” of Mom and me, and to him, that meant setting me up for life and giving Mom the option to never have to work again. It took a lot of convincing on his end, but once Katie was born, Mom finally conceded. She has Katie a few days a week while Lucy and I work. Not surprisingly, those are also the days Mark seems to have very little going on at his car dealership, so he only works half-days.

On the days Mom doesn’t have her, Katie goes to work with Lucy at the bookstore, or she’s with Tom, Lucy’s dad, or any of her brothers and their girls. Sometimes, it almost becomes a competition to be the one to take care of her. Like I said, Katie’s the luckiest girl in the entire world.

“I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how we’re holding up,” I tell them.

Lucy squats down, hugging our daughter tight. “Be good for Grandma and Grandpa, okay?”

Katie holds her mother’s face in her hands, kissing the tip of her nose like she’s watched me do a thousand times before. “I be good,” she says, then whispers something in Lucy’s ear before pulling back.

Lucy sighs. “Just one time. And do it now so it’s out of your system.”

Katie’s eyes go wide with excitement, before looking up at me, then at her grandparents. She takes a step back, so she’s the center of our universe. Then she smirks—crooked, just like her mother’s. “One time?” she confirms with Lucy.

“Just once,” Luce agrees.

Katie giggles. And then… “Fucking shit.”