Coming Home

He had a hard time living in that house without her. They all did.

Leah stripped off her “cooking T-shirt”—an old shirt so splattered and stained it looked like a Rorschach test—and pulled a fitted green sweater over her head. She glanced down, tugging the sleeve over her bare wrist. It had been two days since she’d left the note at Catherine’s. The optimist in her wanted to believe that maybe her note had blown away in the storm, and that was why Catherine hadn’t called. But the realist in her knew that if she hadn’t called, she hadn’t found it. And if she hadn’t found it by now, she wasn’t going to.

Leah knew she couldn’t hide the lost bracelet forever, but she just wanted to make it through the holiday before she had to come clean and tell her father.

After changing into a pair of ski

“Daddy,” she said, and he dropped it quickly, spi

“Princess. You look beautiful.”

“Nice try,” she said, walking over and sliding the platter out of his reach. “You know you’re not supposed to be eating that.”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s Christmas, Leah. I’ve been good all year.”

“I know, but you have to take it easy with that stuff.”

Her father reached over and pinched the tiniest sliver of salami off the plate, nibbling it off the tip of his finger before raising his eyebrows at her. “Happy?”

“Don’t be like that,” Leah sighed. “I’m just looking out for you.”

He walked over to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “I know,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “But it’s been two years. My blood pressure and cholesterol are both good. You gotta stop treating me like I’m made of glass.”

Leah nodded and looked down. It didn’t feel like two years since her father’s heart attack. It felt like it could have been yesterday. She could remember every horrible detail with perfect clarity, right down to what an awful excuse for a daughter she had been.

“Besides,” her father said. “I eat healthy practically every other day of the year.”

Leah smiled up at him. “Only because I go on reco

“I didn’t say I was responsible for my healthy eating habits, just that I had them.”

The corner of her mouth lifted in a smile just as Christopher’s voice boomed through the house. “Not for nothing, but I’m about to eat my fucking arm out here!”

“Watch your mouth!” Leah and her father yelled in unison.

She glanced up at him, rolling her eyes, and he laughed softly, kissing her head again before grabbing one of the serving platters and bringing it to the table.

A few minutes later, they were all seated as Leah poured everyone a glass of wine. As soon as she placed the empty bottle on the table, everyone turned to look at her father, sitting at the head.

He cleared his throat and raised his glass. “Here’s to good health, good food, my wonderful children, and my little grandbaby on the way.”

“Here, here,” Chris said, lifting his wine, and everyone followed, the delicate clinking of glasses echoing around the table.

“We miss you, Dee,” her father said just as everyone took a sip.

Over the top of her wine glass, Sarah made eye contact with Leah, smiling sadly, and Leah looked down, focusing on dishing out the food.

As soon as everyone’s plate was full, the atmosphere grew lighthearted again; the entire first course was comprised mostly of Sarah informing everyone at the table—as only she could—of all the “crazy shit” she had learned in her most recent psychology class, interspersed here and there with Christopher trying to convince everyone that, boy or girl, he’d be naming his future child Humperdink.

Sarah helped Leah clear the table after di

Leah smiled in approval as Kyle pulled the chair out for her sister and asked her what dessert she’d like, serving her before he took anything for himself. She’d only met him a few times, but he seemed like such a genuine guy. There were so many times she caught herself wanting to tell her sister how much she liked him, but she always stopped herself. The truth was, as convinced as she was that Kyle really cared about Sarah, she couldn’t get past the possibility that she might be wrong. It didn’t have anything to do with Kyle—there was nothing about him that made her feel unsure. It was just that Leah had been wrong about that sort of thing before.

Devastatingly wrong.

After everything had been cleaned up, Chris and Alexis left, followed by Sarah and Kyle. As her father settled into his recliner with the remote, Leah made her way to the mud room, switching the load of laundry she had started earlier over to the dryer. She came back to the living room and collapsed on the couch, yawning for the fourth time as the day finally started catching up to her.

“Leah, go home and get some sleep.”

“I will, as soon as your laundry’s done.”

He turned in his chair. “I can fold my own laundry, princess.”

Leah eyed him doubtfully and he laughed. “It may not be pretty, but it will be folded. Go home and get some rest. You’ve done enough for today.”

She opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by another yawn. Her father lifted his brow at her and she sighed.

“Okay, okay. If you’re too tired to fold the entire load, just take out your button-downs and hang them so they don’t wrinkle,” she said, standing from the couch and stretching.

“What would I ever do without you?” he said sarcastically, but Leah could see in his eyes that there was truth to his words.

She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “Good night, Dad.”

“Send me a text when you get home, please.”

Leah nodded, dropping her eyes as she remembered how irritated she used to get by his constant request to be notified whenever she arrived somewhere. Sometimes she wished she could go back and slap her younger self. Of course he was uneasy about his loved ones getting in a car and leaving. Of course he had a fear of them never reaching their destination. He had every reason to feel that way.

“I will,” she said. “Love you.”

“Love you too. Thanks for everything today.”

After lethargically gathering her things, Leah walked down the driveway and started the car, pulling out onto the road before it had even warmed up. She had a twenty-five minute drive back to her apartment, and she decided it would be in her best interest not to turn the heat on, hoping the cold would keep her awake. Her eyelids suddenly felt like they weighed a hundred pounds, and all she wanted to do was get home and crawl into her bed.

The muffled sound of her phone ringing inside her purse snapped Leah out of her daze, and she immediately glanced down at the clock on the dashboard.

It was after eleven.

Few things made her more anxious than an unexpected late-night call.

With one hand on the wheel, she leaned over to the passenger seat and began rummaging through her purse. As soon as her hand wrapped around it, she swiped her thumb over the screen and pulled it out of the bag, hoping she made it before the call went to voice mail.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Um…is this Leah?”

Her brow drew together as she pulled the phone away from her ear, squinting at the screen before bringing her eyes back to the road.

“Yes, this is Leah,” she said cautiously. “Who is this?”

“It’s Da

Da