camaraderie in the room. They were an amazing family, and she wasnât a part of it. Nor would she ever be.
The conversation turned as Maggie asked Tori how her new house was coming.
âThe foundationâs dry,â Tori said. âTheyâre due to start framing tomorrow.â
Bex looked over at Tori. âDid you design it?â
Tori nodded. âWeâre pretty excited. So are Seanâs folks. They canât wait to come visit from England. Weâre looking forward to having them here for a month or so.â
âSounds fun.â For them maybe. Whenever Bex had thought of her parents commingling with the Archers, sheâd practically broken out in hives. The Archers were so well-adjusted and normal . And her parents were so . . . not . She couldnât imagine the level of awkwardness that wouldâve ensued, and she didnât want to. Thankfully her mother had never wanted to visit her in Ribbon Ridge, and Dad preferred to be a homebody.
Maggie shuddered. âSure, if your parents arenât weird like mine.â
Bex instantly felt a connection to Kyleâs fiancée. âWhatâs wrong with your parents?â
Maggie gave her a gimlet eye. âWhat isnât wrong with them?â She shook her head and smiled. âThatâs not fair or true. Theyâre good people. Loving. Theyâre just . . . odd. They have an open marriage and have since I was a kid. It was a strange way to grow up.â
âBut you had love,â Aubrey said. âAs opposed to the cold fish I grew up with.â She grimaced as she slid a glass into its Bubble Wrap.
Another kindred spirit, Bex thought. Maybe cold wasnât the best word to describe her mother. No, absent or oblivious were both more apropos.
Maggie passed off another bag of pretzels. âTrue. And as weird as they are, I wouldnât trade them.â
Bex wasnât sure sheâd trade hers either. As self-absorbed as her mother was and as distracted as her father was, Bex had enjoyed a freedom most kids wouldâve killed for. Which wasnât to say it had been the best upbringing. It was, however, the only one she had.
âI can beat all of you,â Alaina said, arching a brow to the table at large. âRaise your hand if your dad was a felon.â She paused. âAnyone? No? How about a mother who was literally once a crackwhore?â
Bex stopped in the middle of tying a bow and looked at Alaina. She couldnât recall if this information was common knowledgeâgiven that most of Alainaâs life was plastered in the media it probably wasâbut Bex hadnât known that about her. âYikes, that couldnât have been easy.â
âEspecially when you throw in my pastor grandfather, who we might as well nickname Grampa Judgy.â
Bex winced. Alaina might have a seemingly perfect life, but you never really knew the truth behind someoneâs façade.
âSorry we canât contribute to this pity-fest, but we have the best parents ever,â Tori said, smiling, in a clear attempt to lighten the mood. Not that it had turned dark, but Bex didnât know these people well enough to say for sure.
Emilyâs mouth quirked into a satisfied smile as she focused on tying a bow. âI canât disagree there.â She set the box of chocolates in her done pile and glanced around the table. âAnd I certainly hit the jackpot when it came to children and children-in-law.â Her gaze hit Bex last before going back to the task in front of her.
Bex didnât for a minute think that short look meant to include Bex in anything. She and Hayden had never even been engaged, no matter how much theyâd all expected that to happen.
Emily wrapped another pink-and-navy-striped bow around a box of chocolates. âIf Bex and Hayden had gotten married, everyone here would be an Archer or Archer-to-be.â
Every muscle in Bexâs body tensed, but she
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