by Lori L. Otto
“Even for me,” Trey says. “I never would have gone to Columbia had you not talked it up like you did… and I never would have met Coley.”
I look around at all of them, grateful. Thankful. “And really, let’s be real. Don’t we owe a lot of this to Jack and Emi? It was their art school; their scholarship that let me in… that allowed me to meet her in the first place.”
“Jack and Emi and a little thing called fate,” Callen says. “Let’s go with that.”
“A little thing called fate,” I repeat as I look out the window, trying to wrap my head around that. If there’s one thing fate is not, it’s small. It’s the inextinguishable unknown that forces itself upon you like a tornado in the dead of night. Whether it strips you from your roots or leaves you standing in one piece–sometimes you don’t discover the outcome until it’s come and gone, and the sun begins to shine again.
“Granddaddy and Memi sent a picture,” Edie says, slipping in through the crowded kitchen and handing me my phone. I take a look at it and see the two of them smiling, wrapped in a blanket we’d given them as a gift last year, holding up mugs of what I am certain are filled with chai latte.
Cheers from us to you on this blustery winter morning! Jack has typed.
“I think Jack Holland took a selfie,” I say with a laugh, handing the phone to Trey.
“Holy crap, he did!” he giggles, giving the phone to Coley. I take my son from her, gently waking him.
“That’s so cute!”
“You have to remember, my dad was a tech genius in his day,” he reminds us.
“And then he sold off everything and relied on us,” Will says.
“And we happily helped him,” Callen adds.
“Because we’re family.” I can’t help but get a little emotional, looking around the room again at all the people I love the most. “Thanks to Livvy, I have this family… and it’s an entirely different one than I had when I met her, but I love it all the same, and the best part is that I’ve never felt more secure in the love and the friends I have. And I know we’re going to be okay.”
Callen has poured lattes for all of us–even my daughters. “Everyone, go sit around the couch with your mugs.” I leave mine on the counter, holding my baby close instead.
“Here’s Jon’s phone,” Shea says, giving it to Max’s boyfriend.
“I want to be in the front!” Edie says, putting her drink down to fluff her long hair, still curly from last night.
“I’ll take the picture,” Max offers, sitting next to Edie.
I make sure Luca’s outfit can be seen, knowing Jack and Emi would want to see him in uniform. A little tickle to his belly gets a smile out of him, too. After seven attempts, we can’t take a photo where someone isn’t laughing or purposefully trying to make someone else laugh. In the end, when they hand the phone back to me, I decide to send the entire series.
Wish you were here! is the message I type, but before I hit reply to Jack’s text, I add one more person to the message: Livvy Holland Scott.
Wish you were here…
About the Author
Inspired by popular fiction and encouraged by close friends, Lori L. Otto returned to writing in the winter of 2008. After a sixteen-year hiatus, she rediscovered her passion for fiction and began writing what would soon become her first series, Emi Lost & Found. Although the books of Nate, Emi and Jack have concluded, other characters from the books continued their own journeys, demanding their stories be told.
For more information:
www.loriotto.com
[email protected]
Also by Lori L. Otto
Lost and Found
Time Stands Still
Never Look Back
Not Today, But Someday
Number Seven
Contessa
Olivia
Dear Jon
Livvy
Hollandtown Extras
Crossroads
Love Like We Do (side a)
Love Like We Do (side b)
Love Will
In the Wake of Wanting
(It Happened) One Friday
Make Waves
