Tell Me It’s Right (Sweetspire #1)

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

GRACIE

How quickly I have become a complete failure.

I stare miserably up at the door, my arms cramping under the weight of the box in my hands. Maybe I should let it crush me. I would like nothing more than to flop onto the perfectly manicured lawn and lie there until I perish. To slowly waste away while these shiny suburban couples witness my demise. To?—

“Stop whatever dramatic monologue you’ve got going on in your head and help me with these.”

I glare at my brother over my shoulder. I suppose I should be kissing the ground he walks on right now. Leo hoists another box out of the moving truck. His white T-shirt is already soaked through with sweat, but somehow his blond hair is still perfectly coiffed. Mine, however, clings to my neck, the curls already taking on a mind of their own in this humidity.

“I wasn’t?—”

He plops the box on top of the one in my hands, and I grunt, my legs doing an awkward shuffle to keep from folding in on themselves. He juts his chin to the open front door. “Go on then.”

Afraid he’ll add another box if I keep standing here, I hurry inside, barely able to see over the load in my arms.

“Here, I’ll take one of those.” Leo’s wife, Keava, appears in front of me and grabs the top box. I let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.” I keep waiting for a crack in her perfectly pleasant face—even a quick look between her and Leo—but she just smiles and leads the way to the basement.

The house is fairly small and easy to navigate—the kitchen and living room on the first floor, two bedrooms upstairs, and the basement.

Which appears to have been their gym.

A treadmill, bike, and various weights are piled in the corner. It’s an open floor plan with a bathroom in the corner, but at least there’s carpeting and an AC unit.

“We’ll get you a real bed in here soon,” she assures me as she sets the box beside the air mattress currently inflating against the wall.

I’ve met Keava twice—at their wedding and Christmas one year. And neither instance involved spending much time together. Which just makes this situation that much more awkward.

She’s even prettier than I remembered. Way out of Leo’s league. Long brown hair, naturally tan skin, and a warmth to her that makes her instantly personable.

But I don’t care how nice she is. At least a small part of her must be unhappy with me being here. She and Leo got married just over a year ago. There’s no way she’s thrilled about his baby sister moving into her basement.

When I don’t respond, she smiles again and heads for the stairs. “I think I’ll get started on lunch. Come on up whenever you’re hungry.”

Once she’s gone, I set my box on top of the other and peel off the top.

My college diploma stares back at me.

I shove the lid back on.

Great lot of good that’s done me.

Footsteps pound down the stairs, and Leo steps around the corner, three boxes piled high in his arms. He sets them on the ground, not even out of breath, and raises an eyebrow.

“Hiding down here so I do all of the heavy lifting for you?”

“I was coming back,” I mumble.

He pauses, the amusement draining from his face as he puts his hands on his hips and glances around. “Is this okay? I know it’s not a lot of space, but it’s got to be better than Mom and Dad’s, right?”

He doesn’t meet my eyes as he says it, and I don’t meet his as I reply, “Leo, it’s great. I—thank you.”

This, at least, feels like a step above moving back home.

Our parents have lived in the same house in Edgewater for more than thirty years, but Leo and Keava ventured a town away to Sweetspire, putting them closer to the city but still near the water. And if there’s one good thing about returning to Jersey after four years in the Pacific Northwest, it’s the beach.

We came this way plenty over the years since Sweetspire is twice the size, so it’s not exactly new , but at least I’m not slammed in the face with memories everywhere I look like in Edgewater. Not that they’re particularly bad memories, but being in that town feels like I’m forever stuck at sixteen.

Here feels like something new.

Even if it’s only twenty minutes down the road.

A stupid grin covers his face as he tilts his ear toward me. “What was that? Didn’t hear you.”

I slap the back of his head as I surge up the stairs. “And you’ll never hear it again.”

“Babe, you can’t give her that. She’s underage.”

Keava smirks at me across the kitchen table and passes the White Claw. The once-perfect kitchen is now flooded with my boxes, making the small space even more cramped, but Keava navigates it with ease as she slips the plates off the counter and joins us.

“Leo, I’m twenty-two,” I say.

He stares at me, genuine confusion pinching his eyebrows together. “No shit?”

I take a bite of my grilled cheese. “You just came to my college graduation,” I remind him around my mouthful.

He frowns like he’d never thought of it that way.

Keava rolls her eyes and smiles at me like we have some kind of inside joke.

I raise a hand before he can respond. “I’ll always be twelve to you, blah, blah, blah.”

Not that he’s that much older. Four years on me and he thinks he’s some kind of authority figure now, when I’m the one who used to cover for him when he snuck out in high school.

“Thanks for lunch, Keava,” I add.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Leo stands up, leans across the table, and plants a kiss on the top of her head. “You make the best grilled cheese known to man.”

A pretty blush fills her cheeks, and the two of them stare at each other across the table, googly eyes and all.

I’ve got to get out of here.

Their heads snap up as I stand. I awkwardly jab a thumb over my shoulder. “Think I’m gonna start to unpack.”

“Of course!” says Keava.

Leo covers his mouth as he swallows a massive bite of his sandwich. “A friend agreed to come over and help carry some of the furniture down tomorrow. Is that…uh…okay?”

“I think I can survive a night on the air mattress.”

“Right.”

“You know where to find us if you need anything!” Keava calls as I head for the stairs.

The moment they’re out of sight, I let the smile drop from my face. It’s not that I’m ungrateful for them taking me in but being this perky is exhausting.

It’s not that I haven’t tried. For months leading up to graduation, I applied to every single job I could find. Well over a hundred. And…nothing.

Not even an interview.

No number of résumé tweaks or meticulously written cover letters or glowing recommendations got my foot in the door. Not when every entry-level job required five years of experience, and oh yeah , it’s an unpaid internship and requires a master’s degree.

So glad I spent four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a degree just to be as qualified as I was before.

I slump onto the air mattress, and the distinct hiss of air leaking out fills the room.

Sighing, I lie back and stare at the exposed beams in the ceiling, the mattress slowly sinking beneath me. Maybe if I lie here long enough, it’ll swallow me whole.