Page 84 of Sing For Me

“Until him and the other brothers started having kids too,” Rose says. “All of a sudden they could see the benefit of having an escape like this.”

“So, your parents own the house?” Eva asks Rose.

“They own the original farmhouse,” she explains. “The other guys bought the land surrounding it and built the lodge.”

Just then we come out through a break in the trees and the old farmhouse comes into view in front of us. “Oh,” Eva breathes. “That’s so sweet.”

“And there’s the monstrositymydad built,” I say, pointing at the excessively large log and glass home set off on a nearby hill.

“Uncle Cash is such a show-off,” River says, laughing.

“Yeah, sometimes I don’t understand how you’re not his kid,” Rose mutters.

At the sound of our car, a bunch of kids come running around the side of the barn. As River pulls in to park next to the long line of cars already here, the front door bangs open, more people spilling out onto the porch.

“Looks like they’re laying out the welcome mat for us,” Rose says, and I bite back a groan.

“Of course they are.”

Eva reaches over and takes my hand, giving it a squeeze. “It’s going to be fine,” she tells me.

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?”

“Well, I’m not the one who’s acting like a giant baby, am I?”

River and Rose crack up. “I knew I liked you, Eva,” River says, unbuckling his seatbelt. Eva winks at me and follows my cousins out of the car.

It’s tempting to sit here in the car for the rest of the day, but it would probably be pretty shitty to leave Eva to fend for herself with the crazy that is the Ransome family. I mentally cross my fingers that this whole thing doesn’t go off the rails and climb out of the car.

The little girls—Violet, Vega, and CeCe—are crowded around Rose, hugging her like they haven’t seen her in years, instead of just a few days. River has somehow managed to get his gangly thirteen-year-old brother Ash over his shoulder and he’s spinning around while the kid laughs. “Will!” Silas calls and then I’m surrounded by three teenagers as my brother, Lyric, and Nix all press in around me.

“You’re totally famous, Will,” Lyric singsongs. “You were all over twitter and Instagram.”

“I heard you have agirlfriend,” Nix adds in a pretty good imitation of her high falsetto. Behind him, I see most of the parents descending from the porch and shit, I’m already overwhelmed.

“You hanging in there, buddy?” Eva murmurs in my ear and I look down to see her grinning up at me like she finds all of this so amusing.

“You just wait until they start asking you questions,” I warn. “I hope you’ve picked out your wedding colors already.”

“Mywhat?”

I smirk at her. “That’s what I thought.”

“Let’s give them a little breathing room,” a familiar voice says and the kids miraculously listen, parting to let my parents through. Immediately my palms start to sweat.

“Uh, Dad,” I say, trying not to fidget. “I think you met Eva at the gala?”

“It’s good to see you again,” he says, shaking her hand with a huge grin on his face.

I swallow hard, turning to my mother. Her expressive brown eyes twinkle up at me, filled with amusement and what looks a lot like gratitude. My stomach dips as I think about how long it’s been since I’ve been here, and how much that probably hurt her. But then my mom grins and her smile is as familiar to me as my own reflection.

“Mom. This is Eva.” I take her hand in mine. “Eva, meet my mother.”

I can’t shake the feeling that this moment means something, but what, I’m not exactly sure. All I know is that when my mom turns that smile on Eva and immediately pulls her into a hug, something in my chest tightens, pulling taut and almost painful, before it dissolves into warmth.

“I’m so glad to meet you,” my mom murmurs, pulling back to study Eva’s face. “And so glad you’re going to be spending the week with us here.”

I can tell that Eva is affected by the moment as well from the way she has to swallow several times before answering. “Thank you so much for having me.”