Mind Games

“Honeypot, you do, or you couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it. I don’t have a gift that shines that bright, but you do. How did it make you feel?”

“Sick, shaky, my head ached.”

“That’s physical. How did it make you feel?”

“Worried, scared. Scared for her. What if I was wrong? What if they didn’t find her in time? I wanted to be here, to be home and not be worried and scared for a girl I’d never met, but I knew. I knew her now. I had to stop on the way here to get something for my head. But before I got out, I got the text that she was safe. And my headache went away. Just like that.”

“You connected to her, shared her fear and pain. The gift carries weight, you knew that, but you lifted it up. When you knew she was safe, you could let it go.”

“What about … when I don’t want to lift it up?”

“You follow your heart and your conscience. It’s a choice, Thea. It’s always going to be your choice, just like it’s your gift.”

“I really needed to talk to you. I really needed to come home.”

Chapter Twelve

Rem’s homecoming, delayed for a day, as Caleb had his quick and quiet wedding with him as best man, brought Rem’s usual chaos and joy.

He didn’t unpack, a process Thea knew would take him the better part of a week.

He stood at six-three, and looked so much like Caleb, it dazzled. But he had their father’s eyes.

He surrounded himself with the dogs, roughhousing like a twelve-year-old. He lifted his grandmother up and swung her in circles, and nearly cracked Thea’s ribs with his hug.

“Can I have a beer, Grammie? You probably suspect I’ve had one or two in my checkered past.”

“I’ve had that suspicion, so I laid some in. Go on and get one. Then I want to hear about the wedding.”

“Nothing to it.” He popped the top on a beer. “They decided, Hey, let’s just do it now, and it took like five minutes. But I’ve got pictures.”

He took out his phone, hit the app, handed it over.

“Oh, look, Thea! Don’t they look happy? And my boy so handsome in his suit, and his bride just a vision in her pretty dress. Oh, and this one here, see the way they look at each other. That says everything you need to hear. I need you to print this one out for me, Rem, so I can frame it.”

“No problem. Man, it’s really seriously good to be home. I like New York. I like it a lot, but there really is no fricking place like home.”

“Since you mention it, I’ve got something to talk to the two of you about. Let’s sit out on the porch.”

When they did, the dogs rushed them. After the chaos Rem joined in, Lucy gave the word.

“Y’all sit! Sit and settle.”

The puppies sat, for about two minutes, then raced off to wrestle in the yard. Cocoa lay across Rem’s feet, and Goose snored under Lucy’s chair.

“I’m going to say first, I’m as happy as those lunatic puppies to have both of you home. I’m proud as I can be with how you’re making your way, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss you when you’re gone.”

Content, she looked out over the gardens, the fields. “This place has been my home most of my life, and it’s always going to be yours. Now, I wondered if y’all might want to make your homes elsewhere. New York, like Caleb, Atlanta, like my mama, traveling around, like Waylon did before the children came. Not that he and Kyra and the family don’t still get out and about, but they’ve made their home. Somehow I’ve come to think, and you tell me if I’m wrong, that’s not what you’re after.”

“This is where I want to be, Grammie,” Thea told her. “Like Rem, I like New York whenever we’ve visited Caleb, and I like other places I’ve been. But I’m happiest here.”

“It’s home.” Rem nodded. “I want to see other places, sure, but this is where I want to come back to.”

“If that’s the case, I want to say you can live here as long as you want. Hell, if you start your own family, we’ll just build the house bigger. We got room for that. But I’m thinking down the road and how you might, and most likely will, want places of your own. It happens circumstances gave me an idea on that.”

“I hope that’s a long road. I’m not even legal to drink this beer in a bar yet.”

“Time moves fast, darling. A minute ago you were sitting out here wanting to be an astronaut. Y’all remember Miss Leona from down the road a little ways?”