“You want me to grab her seat?” I asked as she climbed inside.
“No, I’ll just grab her without it,” she said as she unbuckled the baby. “But can you grab the diaper bag? She needs a diaper change.”
“No problem.”
After I’d grabbed the bag from the backseat, I met Cecilia at the hood of the truck. It was so late that I swore I could see the sky growing light, but by the number of people streaming out of the clubhouse, everyone had waited up for the convoy to get back.
“Give me my grandbaby,” Farrah ordered as we made our way toward the front door. “I wanna show her off.”
“Later, Mom,” Cecilia said with a shake of her head. If you looked closely, you could see the tension in her shoulders and in the movement of her body.
Unsurprisingly, no one noticed but me.
“Such a party pooper,” Farrah said lightly, bumping Cecilia with her hip. The tension that Farrah had been carrying seemed to have melted away now that we were behind the safety of the Aces’ gates.
“It’s not a party,” Cecilia ground out. The tension in her had magnified.
We were swallowed up as the groups mingled, and not for the first time, I noticed the way Cecilia stood apart. Not geographically, we were right in the middle of it all, but emotionally.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Poet said as he stepped in front of us. “Look at the three of you.”
“Good to see you, old man,” I said, grinning as he slapped me on the shoulder.
“You need to call me more often,” Poet replied. He pointed at Cecilia. “This one never calls.”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to,” Cecilia said in amusement.
Poet harrumphed. “Like you’ve ever done what you were supposed to anyhow,” he said, reaching out to cup her cheek. “Beautiful, as always. You call me anytime you want to hear an old man blather.”
“Make sure you’ve got the time,” Amy said, coming up behind her husband. “He’ll keep you on the phone for hours.”
“Hey, Amy,” I said as she smiled at me.
“Hey, yourself.” She shook her head. “Should’ve guessed when you were eating us out of house and home that you’d grow into such a giant. Every time you come home, I’m surprised again at how damn tall you are.”
She turned to Cecilia. “Hi, sweetheart,” she said, her voice gentle. “Good to have you home.”
“It’s good to see you,” Cecilia replied. She didn’t say it was good to be home.
“You sure know how to make an entrance,” Amy said, grinning. “Let’s get you inside out of the weather so you can show me that baby of yours.”
“Cecilia!” a voice called over the crowd. I looked up from Amy to find Cecilia’s aunt Callie hurrying toward us. Within seconds, she’d wrapped Cecilia in a hug with Olive pressed between them.
“Goddamn it,” she said, her voice muffled by Cecilia’s head. “I can only take one of the kids getting into trouble at a time.” She leaned back to look at Cecilia’s face. “You okay, baby?”
“I’m okay,” Cecilia replied hoarsely.
“Thank God. Come on, let’s move this party inside.”
I fell into step behind the row of women, Amy on one side of Cecilia and Callie on the other. The sight was enough to make it appear like Cecilia had just been welcomed wholeheartedly back into the fold—but I knew better. These older women, who’d been through hell and lived to talk about it—didn’t have the time or the inclination for petty bullshit. Cecilia hadn’t been worried about her reception with them.
“You did good,” Poet said, striding along beside me. I slowed my gait so he could keep up. While I’d never say it, the old man wasn’t moving like he used to.
“What?” I asked, watching Cecilia move further away.
“Goin’ to get her,” he said jerking his head toward the women. “Bad deal. Glad you were there.”
“Me, too,” I replied.
“I bet,” he said with a sly grin.
I shook my head.
“You’ve got a prime opportunity to make things right,” he said seriously. “Don’t fuck it up, boyo.”
“You just gonna leave us standing outside?” Eli asked, jogging up to us. “I see how it is.”
“Shit,” I muttered. I’d totally forgotten that my team was even there, I was so caught up in seeing the old crew and watching out for Cecilia. “Poet, this is Eli.” I looked up to see Forrest and Lu walking up behind him and introduced them, too.
“Welcome,” Poet said, shaking everyone’s hands. “Real grateful you