A curve Benji had caused. But as soon as she realized it, she stopped.

Because the thing with Benji just would never work out.

It just wouldn’t.

But when Lucy got to her mom’s, it was not that hard not to smile.

Because her safe haven, her childhood home, well…most of it, was lying on the front lawn.

“What is going on?” Angie asked as they parked and Lucy shut the car off. “Did the house blow up?” Her voice was full of panic as Lucy threw the door open.

“Calm down, baby. I think they’re fixing something,” she said as Angie came beside her, pushing the door open and then taking Lucy’s hand. “Mom?” Lucy called out, and seconds later, her mother, clad in her painting clothes, emerged, a mask on her face.

As she lifted her mask, her eyes were full of confusion. “Lucy? Baby, what are you doing here? You should have called. We are knee-deep in gutting the house. I don’t want Angie to step on a nail. Honey bear, be careful, please.”

Gutting? Just then, River appeared, waving happily at them. “Hey, girls! Angie, guess who’s excited for your first game on Saturday?”

Angie grinned. “You?”

“Duh!” He laughed, and Lucy wanted to laugh, she did. River used to be so quiet, so to himself unless he was yelling at the boys on the ice, but now, he was animated. He was funny and he got along with Angie effortlessly. “What are you guys doing over? It’s dangerous for Angie here, Lucy.”

“I see that,” Lucy said, on the verge of tears as he came down and stepped over the rubble. He reached for Angie, who went willingly to him. “What are you guys doing?”

“Did Autumn not tell you?” he asked, looking back at her mother as she came down the stairs, gobbling Angie up in her arms as she took her from him.

“I think I forgot to tell her. But I told Avery, probably because I call that girl twenty-four seven to make her talk to me.”

“Mom, that’s not okay,” Lucy said, looking back at her. “Leave her alone. But really, what is going on here?”

“We are gutting the house. Gonna make our room into one huge bedroom with a sitting area, and then we are gonna add on a suite for when you kids come to visit and expand the kitchen. We are doing the gutting ourselves to save money. The contractors come in tomorrow,” River said, looking all proud of himself. Any other day, she might have been proud of him too.

But not today.

“So my room is gone?” Lucy asked, her throat thick.

“Yeah, but you don’t need it, baby. You have your own place, don’t look so sad,” she said, reaching out to pat Lucy’s face, but she moved out of her reach. “Lucy Lane?”

But Lucy just shook her head. “Actually, I do need it. But, whatever, it’s fine. Come on, baby,” she said to Angie, turning to leave, but Autumn stopped her.

“Lucy, what’s wrong?”

“Lucy, you’ve got us worried. Tell us,” River demanded, and it was crazy how much he had become a father figure to her. That wasn’t right, was it? At twenty-six, having a new father figure? But he was, and Lucy couldn’t talk for fear she’d start crying. But where was she going to go? Could she expect her child to live in a hotel? That wasn’t stable for her, and she had to give her stability. Damn it, this was worse than she thought. She thought she could come home. Crap on a cracker. What was she going to do?

“Our apartment is broke. A water pipe busted,” Angie said, and her mother’s eyes widened.

“What happened? Can you not stay there?” River asked and Lucy shook her head, explaining what was going on. When she finished, a tear ran down her face but she quickly wiped it.

“It’s fine. I’ll figure something out.”

“No, you’ll sleep here. We’ll figure it out,” Autumn said desperately.

“It isn’t safe, Autumn, not for Angie,” River said, shaking his head. “Well, hell, we need a plan, huh, girlie?”

“Yeah, because we’re homeless,” Angie said simply, and Lucy swallowed back more tears.

“We’re fine, don’t worry. I’ve got this.”

But she didn’t.

“Jayden! Call Jayden. He’s leaving, so Baylor will be alone. She’d love to have you guys till the apartment is done,” her mother yelled before pulling out her phone and calling him, despite Lucy’s complaints.

“I can’t just expect to—”

But Autumn ignored her, talking quickly to Jayden.

River looked over at her and smiled. “It’s okay to have help every once in a while, Miss Do-it-All.”

Lucy scoffed. “Hush, you.”

He wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her into his chest. “Damn headstrong, just like my daughter.”

“That’s why I like her,” Lucy said with a wink.

And that was a good thing because it looked like she’d be staying with her sister-in-law until her apartment was fixed. Leave it to her mom to solve everything in seconds. Plus, Jayden didn’t mind. He urged her to come, even when Lucy said she’d get a hotel. She really didn’t want to and she’d rather stay at Jayden’s, but she didn’t want to impose on anyone.

“You can’t impose on family, Lucy. Get your ass in the car and come on. We have plenty of room,” Jayden demanded.

And so they did. Of course, after her mom and River fussed over them, demanding to know updates as soon as she had them. She felt a little better, but not much. It was all such a clusterfuck. Once in the car on her way to Jayden and Baylor’s, Angie was in the backseat, singing, oblivious to her mother’s troubles while Lucy was having a mild panic attack. When her phone rang, she closed her eyes, praying it wasn’t Rick or anyone else who was going to make this day an even more complete hell. Reaching for it, she saw it was Rayne.