“It’s still kind of weird to me,” Levi says, and I follow his gaze out onto the dance floor to see Cash twirling Sam in the crowd. “That all of you boys are so settled down now. Two of you are married. Cash is going to be a dad. That’s crazy.”
“You’re telling me.”
He looks over at me, eyebrows raised. “You think you’ll be next?”
I laugh. “Absolutely not.”
His eyes go back to Cash and Sam. “Yeah, I guess they’re next in line. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re not far behind.”
I shove his shoulder. “I think you’ll go before me.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh, yeah. Both of Karen’s best friends are married now. Bet she’ll want to jump on that train soon.” A goofy smile plays at his lips at the mention of Karen and I laugh. “Besides, I’m way too fucked up to be someone’s husband.”
The goofy smile slips and he turns his gaze on me. “You’re not fucked up.”
“I’m just joking—”
“I think it’s about time you gave those jokes a rest,” he says firmly. “Look at you, Lennon. You’ve been doing great.”
I shift in my seat, still uncomfortable to be talking about this stuff openly, but Levi is having none of it. “I mean it. This could have been such a stressful time for you, with all the tension in your family. Cash freaking out about the baby. Reed being so pissed all the time. Everything with Will. I kept waiting for the guilt to get too bad for you, but that never happened.”
“Of course I felt guilty,” I start to argue, but he cuts me off again.
“But you handled it. You’ve been steady.” He shakes his head. “You’ve been more steady than your brothers. Jesus, these last few months you’ve been the most well adjusted of the whole crew. That means something. You should be proud of yourself.”
My instinct is to brush it off, to tell him he’s over-reacting, to remind him of how messed up I’ve always been. But then I see Haylee across the dance floor, jumping around with Layla, the drummer of her band, and I realize I’m smiling. Because I’m happy. I’m really, truly happy, maybe for the first time in my life. And Levi is right—that’s something to be proud of. Happiness is hard work sometimes.
“Thank you,” I tell him, my voice steady. “For everything, Levi.”
He nods. “Thank you, too,” he says. “For asking me to come back.”
I hold his gaze for a moment before turning away, thinking I might go out to join Haylee, but then my Dad drops into the seat on his other side and Levi turns to him, grinning.
“I never knew you had so many moves, Will.”
Dad just laughs, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Ruby is trying to teach me to swing dance. I’m very bad at it.”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “You looked pretty good out there to me.”
“She says I have to learn before our trip or she can’t take me to her favorite club.” At Levi’s questioning look he explains. “We’re heading down to the Florida Keys for a few weeks.”
“A few weeks?” I ask, shocked.
He nods, like him announcing a vacation is the most normal thing in the world. “We’re going to road trip. Thought I could use some time off.”
Levi and I exchange a glance. Who is this man?
“Actually,” Dad says, turning to Levi, his face suddenly serious. This looks a lot more familiar—the all-business version of my father I’m used to. “I wanted to talk to you about picking up some more responsibilities.”
“What kind of responsibilities?” Levi asks.
“Manager responsibilities.” We both just stare at him. “You’re not going to be tour manager forever,” Dad continues. “You have too much potential. And I wouldn’t mind having someone to share the load.” He shrugs. “Honestly this job is too big for one person—if he wants to have any kind of life outside of work. So I think we should start splitting the position.”
Neither of us says a word. I can tell that Levi is just as shocked as I am. My father is talking about willingly giving up responsibility?
“Let me get this straight,” Levi finally manages. “You want me to be your co-manager?”
“Who else would we ask to do it?” Dad asks. “Everyone knows I have issues with control.” He laughs a little. “But I think I could relax a little more so long as we keep it in the family.”
Levi’s brow furrows and I meet Dad’s eye over his head.
“That means you, kid,” Dad says, his voice more gentle as he leans in towards my best friend. “You’ve always been family, Levi. You know that, right? You’re the only one I would trust to do this job with me.”
The table is quiet for a long moment. Levi keeps swallowing, like he can’t find the words to speak. Finally he croaks out an unsteady “thank you,” and Dad ruffles his hair.
“No, Son. Thank you.”
“Why is Levi crying?”
I look up to see Daltrey standing at our table, his arm slung around Daisy. They both look sweaty from dancing.
“Nothing to worry about,” Dad says easily while Levi ducks his head, rubbing at his eyes. “You guys having fun?”
“So much fun,” Daisy says, taking the seat on my other side. “I am so glad we hired a nanny for the party. This is awesome. I love liquor.”
“She’s been doing some shots with Karen,” Daltrey explains, taking a seat. “We’re taking a break.”
“Breaks are for sissies,” Daisy argues, definitely tipsy.
“Thanks, Dais,” Reed says, appearing behind her with Paige. “I just convinced this one to sit for a minute.”
“Actually, I’m with you, babe,” Paige tells him, plopping into a chair. “My feet hurt. I’ve been dancing for ages!”
We chat for a moment about the wedding, everyone telling Paige how amazing it is. “Just wait,” she says, grinning. “We haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.”
“Are we doing this now?” Cash asks, joining us with Sam.
“Doing what?” Reed asks.
“We have a present for you both,” Daisy says, turning her head to search the room. “Where’s Karen? I think she has it.”
“I’ll go find her,” Levi says, standing.
“Oooh,” Paige says, clapping. “I totally forgot about wedding presents!”
“Then you haven’t walked by the gift table,” I tell her. “It’s like a mountain of presents over there.”
“I love presents,” Paige says happily.
“We know,” Cash says, laughing. “That’s why we put this together for you.”
Levi returns with Karen, who’s holding a hot-pink wrapped box. “We need Haylee and Ruby,” she says. “They helped too.”
“You all did this?” Paige asks, looking thrilled as Dad goes off to grab the rest of the gang. “That’s so sweet!”
“You don’t even know what it is,” I point out. “You might hate it.”
“No she won’t,” Reed says, kissing her hand. “She’s incapable of anything but gratitude.”
Paige beams up at him. “I’m grateful for you.”
“I’m only allowing this sappiness because it’s your wedding day,” Karen cuts in. “But if you keep being so sweet to each other after tonight I will make fun of you for it.”
“Same,” Cash agrees, and Sam smacks his arm.
Dad returns with the girls and Daisy looks around the table, nodding a little like she’s counting us. “That’s everyone. Give it to them, Karen.”
Karen hands Paige the gift as we all crowd around to watch. “Help me,” she says to Reed, who joins her in ripping off the paper.
“Hey,” Cash mutters, “I tied that bow myself and you didn’t even admire it.”
“It was a great bow, buddy,” I say, slapping his back. Then Paige has the box open and Reed lets out a loud laugh.
“A scrapbook!” Paige cries, beaming. “I love scrapbooks!”
“We know,” Daltrey mutters. “You made us work on them enough on tour.”
Paige is teary as she looks around at us. “You all did this?”
I nod. “We each made some pages. Even Dad.”
She just shakes her head. “This is the best present ever.”
“Maybe you want to look at it before you say that,” Levi says. “Karen was very critical of my paper cutting skills.”
“Can we look at it now?” she asks, bouncing on her chair.
“It’s your wedding day, Paige,” Ruby tells her. “You can do whatever you want.”
Paige pulls Reed down into the chair next to her so they can open the book together. The first few pages are filled with pictures of Paige and Karen as kids and then teenagers. “I did these,” Karen tells her.
“And your Dad did these,” Ruby says as Reed turns the page to a picture of the four of us as kids, laughing as we pound on his old piano.
“Ruby added the stickers,” Dad says.
Paige smiles up at her. “Boys just don’t understand the importance of stickers, do they?”
They continue through the book, looking at pictures of all of us out on tour. Our trip down to Mexico. The girls selling merch at a show. Everyone playing video games on the bus. Shots of us in Europe. All of us crowded around a hotel table in New York the night Paige got us to scrapbook— “meta,” Levi mutters. There're pictures of the Christmas store in Michigan. Reed’s roadside birthday party when the bus caught fire. All the silly museums and landmarks Paige dragged us to.
Towards the end of the book, Paige stops on a sheet all done up in blue. There’s a squiggly black-and-white picture in the center over the words, It’s A Boy!
Reed’s head snaps up to Cash. “Is this an ultrasound?”
He nods, looking as smug as I’ve ever seen him. “We’re having a boy.”
Paige shrieks and throws the book into Reed’s lap before launching herself at Cash and Sam. “That’s amazing!”
They both laugh, hugging her back. “We know how you feel about surprises,” Cash says.
Paige is wiping away tears as she releases them. “Another Ransome boy. That is the coolest wedding present ever!”
Reed stands to hug them too. “Congratulations, man.”
“Do you have a name yet?” Paige asks, clapping her hands.
Cash looks a little sheepish. “We let Wyatt pick the name.”
“Is your kid going to be named David Beckham?” Levi asks.
Cash shakes his head then looks at Dad. “He actually picked the perfect name. We’re going to call the baby Will.”
Everyone goes quiet, looking from Dad to Cash. Dad’s face is frozen, clearly shocked. Then Paige bursts into tears and the tension is broken, most of us laughing.
“That’s so sweet!” Paige cries, jumping up to hug Cash and Sam again. Then Dad moves in to do the same, kissing Sam on the cheek before pulling Cash into a tight hug.
“I wish I could tell you what that means to me,” he says, his voice thick.
“It’s okay, Dad,” Cash says, the sound muffled against Dad’s shoulder. “You never had to have the right words. We know anyway.”
“I am so happy right now,” Paige says, leaning against Reed. “Seriously, you guys. This is the most amazing scrapbook ever.”
“We learned from the best,” I tell her and she beams at me.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the DJ booms over the microphone, and Paige squeals.
“It’s time!”
“Time for what?” Daisy asks, rubbing the ear closest to Paige.
“The best part!” Paige jumps up from the table, pulling on Reed’s hands. “We got fireworks!”
“Of course you did,” Haylee laughs.
“Well, we can’t miss the fireworks,” Dad says, slinging his arm around Ruby’s shoulders. He still looks pretty emotional from Cash’s announcement, but he’s grinning, too.
Haylee and I fall into step with the others as they head out to the balcony. Above us, the sky is dark and clear. Perfect for seeing fireworks. I fall back a little, watching them go ahead of me, and Haylee glances back. “You coming?”
“I’ll be right there,” I assure her. She watches me for a moment before nodding, walking away and slipping her arm through Daisy’s as they head to the railing.
I stand off to the side, a position that I’m very familiar with. How many times have I stood just like this, watching from the outside? Near my family but separate from them, too. Just outside of the circle, on my own.
But tonight there’s nothing lonely about my position. Tonight I just need a minute to take it in. To look at all of these people who I love so much. To see how happy they are. Haylee. My brothers. Levi and the girls. Dad. My family. They’re all here, all together, all safe and healthy. And I’m safe and healthy, too. For the first time in a long time, I really feel like I might be able to hang onto this, this feeling that everything will be okay. Not perfect—nothing is ever perfect. But okay. Okay is more than enough for me.
The first firework goes off over our heads and the crowd lets out a collective “ooh!” The bursting lights above illuminate my family, all of their faces turned upwards toward the show.
Not okay, I amend in my head as I watch them. Better than okay. Really fucking great, actually.
“Lennon,” Reed calls out, waving at me. “Get over here!”
Haylee holds out her hand for me and I reach for her automatically, leaving my spot on the outside so I can go and join my family.
* * *
The End
* * *
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* * *
Look out for the Ransom gang in a brand new spin-off series, beginning with Lance: An Intrigue Novel
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Also by Rachel Schurig
Ransom Series
Ransom
Release
Redeem
Relent
Rescue
On the Road (A digital short story)
* * *
Escape Series
Escape in You
Escape with You
* * *
Lovestruck Series
Lovestruck in London
Lovestruck in Los Angeles
Lovestruck Forever
Sofie and the Movie Star (A digital short story)
Lovestruck at Christmas (A digital novella)
Starstruck
Star Crossed
* * *
Three Girls Series
Three Girls and a Baby
Three Girls and a Wedding
Three Girls and a Leading Man
The Truth About Ever After
Three Girls and a New Beginning
Snow Kissed (A digital short story)
A Three Girls Christmas (A digital short story)
* * *
Love Story Series
In Search of a Love Story
An Unexpected Love Story
An (Almost) Perfect Love Story
* * *
Lilac Bay Series
Where Your Heart Is
Always You
* * *
Stand Alone
Persuaded
About the Author
Rachel Schurig is a USA Today bestselling author. Rachel lives in the metro Detroit area with her dog, Lucy. She loves to watch reality TV, and she reads as many books as she can get her hands on. In her spare time, Rachel decorates cakes.
To find out more about her books, visit Rachel at
rachelschurig.com
[email protected]
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The Ransome Brothers Page 38