Love Next Door (Lakeside #1) by Helena Hunting

I’ve been to visit Billy a bunch of times since he was admitted. At first I went with Dillion, but after a few visits I started going on my own. We talk construction and play basketball on the outdoor court. He beats me every single time. Although he does have about four inches on me.

“I can be there. Absolutely. Just tell me what you need help with, and I’ll do it.”

“I’ll make a few phone calls, and then you can help me make a cake!” She hops up off the couch and plucks her phone from the end table. First she calls her parents, who are on board with the welcome-home party; then she calls Aaron and a couple of Billy’s other friends who have been supportive over the past few weeks.

Once the calls are made and some food is ordered, she pulls out Bee’s KitchenAid mixer, circa the nineties, and we get to work making a cake and icing from scratch. Three hours and a lot of me dipping my finger into the buttercream icing and getting hit with a spatula on the back of the hand later, we have a WELCOME HOME cake.

Dillion stands with her hands on her hips, frowning. “It looks like a pair of preschoolers decorated this.”

I kiss her on the temple. “But the icing and the cake taste delicious, and that’s way more important. Besides, it means more because it’s homemade. He’s going to love it.”

Twenty minutes later she gets the call that her parents are picking up Billy and that people are on the way to their house. We bring the cake over to her parents’ place and find Aaron already standing in the driveway, holding a bottle of fizzy grape juice with a bow on it and a platter of meat and cheese.

“Hey.” He grins sheepishly. “I thought maybe you could use a hand setting things up.”

“Absolutely! Thanks so much for being here and for being so supportive.”

“Always, Dee. I feel bad that I backed off as much as I did. I should’ve realized there was more going on.”

“We all missed the signs for a long time, but now he’s on the right path, and we’re here to help him stay on it. That’s what counts.” Dillion gives him a side hug. “Anyway, let me run inside and grab all the stuff for the picnic table so we can get things set up before my parents get home. My mom said she’d text before they leave the hospital.”

She flounces up the steps to the front porch and disappears inside the house.

“Hey, man, how’s it going?” Aaron jams a thumb in his pocket and rocks back on his heels.

“Good. You?” I like Aaron, and when we’re talking renos, the conversation flows, but sometimes I find it hard to get a bead on him.

“Yeah. Also good.” He glances at the cake. “Dillion make that?”

“She did. We did, actually.” Oh yeah, the territorial streak is strong.

He grins. “But she decorated it, right?”

“I think she did a great job, you know, for a nonprofessional.”

“Oh yeah. She makes the same cake for Billy every year for his birthday. It’s Funfetti, isn’t it? Got all the little rainbow chip things in it?”

“Yeah, it does. You guys grew up together, right?”

“Yup. She’s like my sister, and she looks at me like a brother.”

“I wasn’t . . . that wasn’t . . . I wasn’t trying . . .”

Aaron holds up his hand. “You don’t need to explain, man. I get it. I might think of her like my sister, but I’m not blind. I know she’s gorgeous and she’s got a heart bigger than Pearl Lake. She loves hard. Just be good to her, that’s all.”

“I plan to.”

“I figured.” He tips his chin in the direction of Grammy Bee’s. “How’s the reno plans going? You still want me to have a look at the garage?”

“That’d be great. I have a few different plans already drawn up, but it would be great to have someone familiar with building code, and plumbing and electrical, to have a look at it before I submit it to the town for approval. No point going to all the trouble only to find out I can’t tie into the existing septic, you know?”

“For sure. Want me to take a look after the party?”

“If you have the time, that’d be perfect.”

Dillion returns with her arms laden with party supplies.

“Babe, why didn’t you ask for help?” I rush over to grab some of the items perched on top.

“I got it.”

I nab a pack of paper plates and a box of plastic utensils before they hit the ground. “Really?”

“You distracted me when you came running at me.”

I don’t say anything else, but I move the cake out of the way, and Aaron and I help her set up. There’s punch and an array of nonalcoholic beverages. Bowls of chips, trays of veggies and fruit, and, in the center of it all, the cake.

We have enough time to blow up a few balloons and tape them to the side of the house and the picnic table before Tawny and Allie show up, along with a couple of Billy’s more reliable high school friends.

A few minutes later, her parents pull down the driveway. Her dad jumps out as soon as the vehicle is in park, opens the rear passenger-side door, takes Billy’s crutches, and helps him out of the truck.

Over the past few weeks he’s put on some much-needed weight; his face is filling out, and the dark circles under his eyes are disappearing. He’s without his cast now, but he accepts his dad’s offer of a crutch so he can cross the driveway without difficulty.