Calendar Girl: November: Book 11 by Audrey Carlan

it, and he loves coming home after a full day’s work to the sound of children. Plans to name one of them after you and Maddy, too. And I agreed.”
    I narrowed my eyes. “Cyndi, you already did that with adding Saunders as Jackson’s middle name. You don’t have to do that. At all. Really.”
    She shook her head. “We want our kids to know their aunties and grow up with them in their lives. Know that the names we chose were given because good people loved them. Who better than their aunties?”
    Um, I could think of a hundred more deserving people, but it would just fall on deaf ears. I’d found out the hard way that when Max and Cyndi made decisions, they were a hardcore team and did not break for anyone. They were the type of people anyone would want in their family. People always willing to have your back, love you no matter what, and put you first. Another reason to be thankful.
    The sound of tires crunching on the drive and Isabel’s little feet plunking down the stairs in a mad dash announced that Maddy and Matt had just arrived.
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    H and in hand , Wes and I walked through the trees on my brother’s property.
    “Max is a great guy,” Wes said, maneuvering around a giant log.
    I smiled and squeezed his hand. “He is. The best.”
    “And your sister, wow. It’s like meeting the exact opposite of you, yet somehow not.” The little lines on his brow became more visible when he pinched his lips together.
    I chuckled. “Maddy is love. Everything about her exudes it. She’s a free spirit that way. Only instead of having the hippie nature a typical free spirit has, she’s the intelligent, nose-stuck-in-a-book type who doesn’t let anything bring her down. I think that’s what draws Matt to her. He’s more reserved, conservative, but his family is really kind and completely committed to him and Maddy sharing their life together.”
    Wes nodded. “That’s good. It’s probably nice to know that you don’t have to take care of everything for her anymore.”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d think that, but I’ve spent my life taking care of her. Making sure everything was as perfect as I could make it. It was kind of my purpose. Now, she’s killing it in school, close to getting her bachelor's. Max has already paid off the next few years of schooling so that she can get her master's and doctorate. The Rains pay for her and Matt’s apartment so they don’t have to work and can focus on school. And now that she has money, again because Max made sure of it, she doesn’t need me for anything.”
    Wes stopped in the middle of a clearing. We’d walked a good quarter mile or more from Maxwell’s ranch house. I could barely see it off in the distance through the copse of trees.
    “Does it make you feel useless?” Wes tipped his head and waited for me to respond.
    I thought about the word useless and how it pertained to the situation. “Not exactly. More un-needed. I’m not used to being unnecessary to my sister.”
    He scoffed. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say you’re unnecessary to your sister. I could tell from the second she arrived that you're her touchstone. Even though she knew everyone in that room aside from me, it was you she immediately went to, you she sat next to at dinner, you she hovered around. Mia, I think you’re far more than just her sister. You’re the center of her world. Just like you’re the center of mine.”
    Man I loved him. He knew exactly the right thing to say to make me feel better. “I know she’s growing up and things are changing. It’s just hard. I’ve been responsible for her since she was five years old.”
    Wes’s jaw hardened, and a muscle ticked in his cheek. “You had no business being responsible for your sister. You were only ten years old. Your mother and father made some bad choices, and although things worked out for you and Madison in the end, you still shouldn’t have had to give up your own childhood to make it so. That’s not how