that and we’d lucked out and gotten the same duty station and unit.
Remy shot me a grateful look before picking up his bag. “I’ll send Danny home when he gets done raiding my fridge. Will I see you tonight at the party?”
Shit. The party that his girlfriend was throwing, as a way to welcome him home. I’d honestly forgotten all about it. My eyes strayed up to Kennedy’s window again, but she was gone.
“Yeah. I’ll be there.” There was only one other place I’d rather be more, and there’s no way I could trust myself to be alone with Kennedy. Not until I figured out what had happened to her.
I pulled out my phone to check the time, surprised when it wasn’t even mid-afternoon yet. Still plenty of time to take a nap. Except for the fact that my mom and little sister were home, and there was no chance that they’d leave me alone. Not when I’d been gone for six months and especially since I didn’t tell them when I was coming home. The possibility that they’d make one of those huge, over the top garish signs welcoming us back was just too high. And I absolutely hated being the center of attention. It was bad enough that people in our hometown treated us like we were heroes for literally doing what so many of our parents had done before us.
“Actually. I think I’ll just take a nap here.” I grabbed my bag and started walking up to Remy’s front door. “There’s no way I’ll get any rest with my little sister at home.” Although it was a complaint, it was a good natured one.
“Besides your whole family lives on a crazy compound, and they’d all be up in your shit.”
“It’s not a compound,” I told him for the millionth time while we unloaded our bags in the hall and walked through the house. “We own most of a street from way back in the old days. So when my grandfather built rental houses on it, and then died, it made sense to keep it in the family.”
Remy just shrugged. “Whatever, man. It’s weird that you all live on the same street. Not to mention you all eat together and do all kinds of shit. Weird. I would shoot myself if I had to live with my siblings that close to me.” He looked pointedly at all the girl crap piled high on his parents’ kitchen table when we walked in. “See what I mean?”
I didn’t know what to say. I loved the fact that after I was done in the Marines, I’d be close to my family. It made the separation now so much easier to handle. Anyway, it meant that I didn’t need to worry about cooking my own meals if I didn’t want to. My mom was raised in the South, like the super South, and she always made enough food to feed everyone.
His mom was standing there, too, waiting for us to pay attention to her like she hadn’t just spent months away from her only son. She was expectant, clearly waiting for him to give her a hug and tell her that he missed her. Still Remy was playing a game, one that their whole family seemed to get in on from time to time. He’d done it with Kennedy at the airport too. They ignored each other, waiting until one or the other gave in and demanded attention.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure which one of them would win this time. Remy learned everything he knew about women from the one standing in front of us. She was more stubborn than all of her kids, and me, put together. His mom was staring at both of us with one eyebrow raised, and a hand on her hip. She had a spotless wooden spoon in one hand, and wore an apron covered in flour. She looked like something out of a women’s magazine, like Pioneer Woman.
“Jeremy Townsend, you will get your ass over here right now and give your momma a hug. Or so help me, I will beat you within an inch of your life.” Even though she was threatening him, it was clear to me that Mrs. T was getting ready to burst into tears if he waited any longer.
Still, it was adorable the way a five-foot tall woman was able to command her son, at six-foot-four, to give her a hug.
“I love you too, Mama.” Then, Remy hugged his momma like he’d