Unforgettable (Cloverleigh Farms #5)(7)

“Dad actually cleaned out his office,” Chloe said, kicking off her heels and dropping into the chair next to Meg. “Maybe he wasn’t lying when he said the job was mine.”

Meg laughed. “Now you don’t have to change the lock.”

Sylvia arrived next, looking a little windblown but otherwise—as usual—radiantly beautiful. The oldest among us, Sylvia had returned to our childhood home over the winter in order to make a fresh start with her two children after being abandoned by her asshole ex-husband. Henry DeSantis, the vineyard manager and winemaker at Cloverleigh Farms, had taken one look at her and fallen head over heels. They were newly engaged and expecting a baby this fall.

“Hey, Syl. How are you feeling?” I asked.

Smiling brightly, Sylvia took the seat between Meg and me. “Pretty good, thanks. Growing out of my pants quicker than I’d like, but that’s okay.”

A moment later, our youngest sister Frannie came bustling in. “Sorry,” she said breathlessly. “Mack was late getting home from work, and I don’t like leaving the girls alone at night.” Frannie was married to Declan MacAllister, the CFO at Cloverleigh Farms, who had three daughters from a previous marriage.

“No worries,” I said as she scooted around the table and sat in the chair to my left.

For a few minutes, I was silent, trying to work up my nerve to tell them my secret. Around me, my sisters jabbered a mile a minute about Meg’s new job and Chloe’s fall wedding and Sylvia’s new house and Frannie’s pastry shop and our dad’s big retirement party at the end of the month, which was also a fortieth anniversary party for Cloverleigh Farms . . . the chatter never seemed to die down.

Eventually, it was Sylvia who noticed I hadn’t said anything. “April, are you okay?” she asked, looking at me with concern.

“Yes.” I cleared my throat and sat up taller. “Yes, but I have something to tell you guys.”

The room grew so silent I could hear the crickets outside the closed kitchen windows.

“What’s wrong?” Frannie asked.

“Nothing’s wrong, exactly, it’s just . . .” I reached for my wine glass and took a sip of riesling.

Next to me, Sylvia put a hand on my leg—somehow she knew. I exchanged a quick glance with her, and she smiled softly at me. It’s okay, her eyes said.

Nodding slightly, I set my glass down. “This is hard for me,” I began, “because I love you and I trust you.” Another deep breath. “But I’ve kept something from you for a lot of years.”

“What is it?” Meg leaned forward, her elbows on the table. “You can tell us, April.”

I placed my hands over my stomach, which was churning. “The summer after I graduated from high school, I got pregnant.”

Jaws dropped around the table. Eyes went wide.

“By who?” Chloe asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“I’ll tell you guys, but please keep his name within our Sawyer sister circle of trust. He was supportive of the adoption, but he didn’t want his name on the birth certificate.”

“It was Tyler Shaw, wasn’t it?” Meg asked.

I stared at her across the table. “Yes. How did you know?”

“You guys hung out a lot that year. You were at his house all the time.” She shrugged. “And he was fucking hot. Half the girls in school were in love with him.”

“Well, I wasn’t in love with him,” I said. “I was at his house all the time because I was babysitting his little sister. We were honestly just good friends. I mean, I wasn’t blind. I thought he was hot too, but he had girls throwing themselves at him all the time—literally throwing themselves. I liked that I wasn’t one of them. And I think he liked it too. He respected me.”

“So then how did it happen?” Chloe tilted her head. “Was it just a random one-time thing?”

I nodded. “Totally. It was right after we’d graduated, the night before he left. We were at someone’s graduation party—I can’t even remember whose—and he offered to drive me home. But instead of going straight there, we took a detour.”

“Where?” Frannie asked, then bit her lip. “Sorry, is this too personal?”

“No, it’s okay.” I took a breath, letting the memories from that night roll over me like ocean waves. “He wanted to drive by this old ballfield where he’d played a lot of games as a kid. It was completely deserted and dark, of course, because it was so late at night, and we just sat in the bed of his truck and talked. We’d spent a lot of time together, but that was the first time he ever really opened up to me about his feelings. He talked more about his childhood, his mom’s death, how much it meant to him to make his dad proud. And he was just so excited to get out of here and go prove himself. The only thing he was sad about was leaving his sister. He thanked me for helping out with her so much.” I took another breath. “Then he thanked me for helping him with homework.” A pause. “Then he said how he couldn’t have made it through senior year without me, and he reached over and touched my hair.”

“You do have awesome hair,” Meg said.

I laughed a little. “Next thing I knew, we were kissing, and after that, everything happened pretty fast. I mean, really fast.”