Chapter 3

One particular day in early December, a couple years after I graduated and shortly after I was promoted to the head of my local paper’s design team, I got a call from my mother. It started as it normally did with the two of us catching up and simply sharing news. However, when Caleb walked in towards the end, he instantly felt how tense I was. He sat patiently until I hung up before he asked what was wrong.

I sighed. “That was my mom. She…She wants us to come down for the holidays.”

Caleb nodded. “Let me guess, the whole family is going to be there?”

“Yeah…” I crossed my legs the way I do when I’m uncomfortable. “She says it has been too long and she wants us to all try to reconcile, or something along those lines. Once she mentioned that Marie and Brent would be there—”

“Whoa, your cousin is coming too? Shouldn’t he have somewhere else to be? I thought he would be settled down with a bucketful of kids by now.”

“Oh no, Brent’s coming, and he’s bringing his fiancée.”