find happiness, where you belong.” She tips her head toward Georgia sitting in the garden. “That girl, she’s who you need, and your friends over there, they care about you. I’m jealous.” She kisses my cheek before squeezing my hand. “I’m happy for you, but if it doesn’t work out, you know my number.”
Not happening.
“Thanks for coming,” I say before heading back to where I belong.
I took a week off from the bar.
Not by choice.
When Cohen heard the news about my father, he had my shifts covered. As much as I hate being away from the bar, it’s given me time to grieve and be with my family—something I steered clear of with all my might before.
I stare at Georgia from across the table of the coffee shop. “You have this weekend off, right?”
Now, there’s a happy sense of nostalgia whenever I come here. If possible, I park in the spot where we met and she turned my life upside down.
She shakes her head. “I work Saturday night.”
“Can you find someone to cover?”
“Sure.” She raises a brow. “What’s up?”
“We’re scattering my father’s ashes at my grandparents’ vacation home on Jackson Lake. It’s a few hours away. Want to come?”
“Will your family be okay with that?” She plays with the straw in her iced coffee. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“My mom already asked if you were coming.”
So did my grandparents and Lincoln.
Her face brightens. “Really?”
If it were anyone else, I’d feel weird asking them to attend something so personal for my family, but I want her there. She’s the calm to my storm.
My mother has already mentioned an engagement, wedding, and children with Georgia. Even with the few interactions they’ve had, Georgia has won her over, like she always does with people. I’ve accepted my mother’s comments and recommendations—though I don’t follow through with most of them—because it takes her mind off my father’s passing.
I nod. “Really.”
“I’ll be there.”
I lean across the table, grip her chin, and kiss her.
Lincoln slaps me on the back. “You good to go, brother?”
I nod. “Good to go.”
My mother grips the gold urn in her shaking hands, and there’s silence as we make our way out of the house, down the stone steps, and to the dock. This was my grandfather’s favorite place and then my father’s when they needed a breather from the corporate world. When the Feds began seizing my father’s assets, my mother’s parents purchased the lake home, so our family wouldn’t lose something so cherished.
The last time I was here was when we scattered my grandfather’s ashes. That day, I refused to stay away, and my father and I went at separate times to avoid contact. He’d already prevented me from saying good-bye to my grandfather at his funeral, and it wasn’t happening again.
Lincoln is next to my mother.
Her parents behind them.
Georgia and me following.
My father didn’t have much family.
The Callahans are one cursed bunch.
My grandmother passed when my father was young. When my grandfather remarried, she died a decade later. He gave up on marriage after that. The female companions he had later in life were all decades younger and regularly recycled.
Lincoln and I are the only ones to carry the Callahan name.
My mother sobs as she carefully places the urn on the dock and opens it. My stomach turns as a morbid chill hits me.
That’s all you’re reduced to when you die.
Ashes or a body in the ground.
You live your life, only to have your loved ones stare at your urn and weep.
Georgia stands at the front edge of the dock to give us space while we take our turns with the urn and then scatter his ashes.
We hang out on the dock for an hour, sharing memories, and then my mom and grandparents leave. Last night, Lincoln had asked if I wanted to stay at the cabin overnight, for old times’ sake, so we stay behind.
Now, I’m seated upright against the leather headboard of the bed in my old room.
My mouth waters, my cock stirring, when Georgia circles the bed, wearing one of my baggy tees, and my heart races when she climbs into bed with me. As soon as her knees hit the sheets, I bend forward and pull her onto my lap, and she straddles me.
Caressing her cheek with one hand, I use the other to knot her hair around my wrist, pulling it away from her face. “Thank you for coming, baby.”
She smiles down at me as she reaches forward to massage my tight shoulders, easing