The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)

She was anxious about meeting them. “They’re going to be really nice to you, and very busy trying to figure out why you’re with me.”

She did give him a small smile at that, and he paused before bringing up her family again. “You’ve not said much about growing up, other than you were passed around a lot. You’re not close to your family, I take it.”

“No.” She pushed around the empty glass. “My mom was a teenager when she got pregnant and my dad didn’t stick around, so it’s an understatement to say she wasn’t ready to take care of a baby. It was tough for her to keep up with school and have a life, so we bounced around for a while, stayed with friends or family friends.”

“Not family?”

“Not then,” she said. “She’d burned some bridges.”

“And you? What happened to you?”

“I don’t remember much of this, but apparently when I was two, my mom got an opportunity to go away to college. I was sent to my mom’s older sister, Aunt Viv. But she had five kids of her own and worked all the time, so I ended up at my grandma’s sister’s daughter’s. I stayed there a bit, until she got married and wanted to start a family of her own.”

“What was wrong with keeping you too?”

“I was a needy thing.” She shrugged. “Got sick a lot.”

Levi shook his head. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”

“I was fine, I don’t really even remember much of it,” she said quickly, as if she didn’t want him to feel angry on her behalf, or worse, sorry for her. “And anyway, that’s when my grandparents took me in. And that was . . .” She smiled a little, as some of the fond memories appeared to beat back her bad ones. “The best. They lived here in Sunrise Cove in a tiny cabin. I loved everything about that time.”

“Here?” he asked, surprised. “They’re here in Tahoe?”

“Just my grandpa now. My grandma . . .” She paused, her liquid jade eyes revealing pain. “She died when I was eight.”

“Aw, Jane. I’m so sorry. Did you get to stay with your grandpa?”

“Her death was . . . hard on him. They’d been together since they were kids. They had an amazing relationship. He’d hide things for her to find. Food, cheap little knickknacks, seriously expensive jewelry, it didn’t matter. It was a game between them. He’d give her hints and she’d run around looking. She was just as happy to get a box of cookies as a diamond bracelet. He’d just sit there and laugh the entire time she was hunting for whatever it was.”

“They sound amazing.”

She nodded. “My time with them holds my favorite childhood memories.”

“What happened after your grandma died?” he asked softly.

“My grandpa had problems. Grief, and some health issues. My aunt Viv took me back in so I wouldn’t bother him or put any burden on him.”

“Damn. You couldn’t catch a break.”

“Maybe if I’d been an easier kid—”

“Jane, you were just a kid. Someone should have given you the choice and made you feel wanted. Someone should have asked you to stay.”

She shook her head. “Real life’s not like that. Memories stay. People go.”

He hated that this was the lesson she’d gotten out of her childhood, and put his hand over hers. “What happened next?”

“I bounced around, and when I turned sixteen, I emancipated myself.”

Yeah, brave as hell, and he had a whole new appreciation for what she’d done with her life. But damn, he hated that she’d never really had a home to call her own. “Do you see your grandpa when you’re here?”

“No. Thinking about it, though. Maybe.” She met his gaze, caught the look on his face, and shook her head. “Don’t feel sorry for me. It wasn’t all bad.”

She’d been through hell and she was comforting him. His heart tightened at that. “Your family failed you.”

“They did the best they could. And I never had to go into the system.” She shuddered. “I know people who are still scarred from that life.”

He squeezed her hand. “Still, it couldn’t have been easy.”

“Yeah, but when is life ever easy?”

She was amazing and resilient, and he wanted to hold her. He wanted to do other things too. She was beautiful, and he was extremely attracted to her, but more than anything, he wanted to make her smile. Make her feel as special as she made him feel.

Kendra came by and gathered up their plates. “Your s’mores platter is ready when you are.”

Levi stood and took Jane’s hand, pulling her up. “Come on. They’ll serve it by the fire pit.”

There were six fire pits spread out on a snow-covered patio. The sitting arrangements were low benches. They claimed a spot by themselves and Kendra brought a platter that held three bowls filled with marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers.

“I’ve never done this before,” Jane said.

Levi smiled and handed her a spear. “You just load a marshmallow—” He broke off as she loaded not one, not two, but three marshmallows on her spear and held it over the fire, looking so excited that he laughed as he loaded his own spear. He held his marshmallow over the fire too and gently tapped it to hers.

She looked up at him from where she’d been deep in concentration on her marshmallow.

“Thanks for tonight,” he said.

“I haven’t been out in a long time,” she admitted.

“How long is long?”

She thought about it. “Maybe over a year. My last relationship was a long-distance one, and it didn’t work out.”

“What happened?”

“Long distance.” She lifted a shoulder. “I got a new assignment, and we weren’t serious enough to make it work.” She pulled her marshmallows back from the fire and beamed with pride. Perfectly golden. She carefully sandwiched them with chocolate and then graham crackers.

“Thought you’d never done this before.”

“Haven’t,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t always want to try.” She took a big bite, and he became enthralled with the dollop of melted marshmallow at the corner of her mouth.

“What happened between you and Amy?” she asked.