“Work?” he asked, his brow furrowing.

“It was an official invite to be on the committee. I have calls to make, invitations to send, and a certain soldier to stalk… Not to mention a sitter to find. Think Lexi would be up for the job?”

He glanced over to Ava, who suddenly walked up to him and jabbed her finger into his stomach.

“Give me fruit snacks or you’ll be swimmin’ with the fishes, ya filthy animal!” she snarled.

So our four-year-old had a thing for both mob movies and Home Alone.

He grinned at me over the top of her head. “How could she say no to that?”

He had me there, and he fell to his knees, my eyes were fixated on the scene. Father and daughter, Sopranos wannabes. They were silly. At times, they were utterly ridiculous. And they were all mine. My life rocked.

“I like the plan, babe,” he said to me before Ava started attacking again.

“I do, too,” I called. “Let me reach out and make sure he’ll be there.”

And that’s how the Banks family took care of their own. Sure, maybe with a little manipulation and a lot of wishful thinking, but I just knew—watching Jace and Lexi lock eyes for the first time in ten years was going to be so freaking worth it.

“Oh shit,” I muttered when I saw Lexi was calling me.

She’d agreed to come to the reunion, and just last week, I’d dropped the bomb on her, telling her that Jace was going to be there. And then I’d maybe done something a little more manipulative.

“Oh shit,” Ava parroted.

Jeremy grinned as I sighed.

“Oh shit what?” he asked.

“Really?”

“Hey, we just got her to stop calling the neighbor a dickhead. You’re the one who just said shit in front of her.”

“Shit!” Ava exclaimed, collapsing in a pile of giggles.

“I have to take this. You deal with her,” I told him.

When he rolled his eyes, I blew him a kiss. He caught it then crossed the room, scooping up Ava for another rendition of “Don’t Ever Repeat What Mommy and Daddy Say.”

As soon as they left the room, I swiped to answer my phone. Before I could even say hello, my sister’s screech had me taking the phone away from my ear.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Well, what a nice greeting. Not that I’d been expecting any less. She was fuming, which was a good sign.

"At the moment, I'm trying to make my four year old eat something other than mac and cheese. What the hell are you doing?" I responded, my voice sugary sweet and pure innocence. So I lied, but whatever. Maybe the mention of Ava would soften her up.

“I’m wondering how in the hell Jace McAllister got my number and why the hell I just got off the phone with him!”

I wanted to clap my hands with glee. Jace had played right into them. Freaking perfect.

"He called? What'd he say? How long did you guys talk? Is he coming to the reunion?" Sure, I knew the answer to that last question, but I wanted to gauge her reaction.

“Yes, he called, and I think we were both shocked as hell. He is coming to the reunion, but you already knew that. You told me yesterday! And he even said he’d already RSVP’ed, so he had no clue as to why he got another reminder. Seriously, Sierra, what do you think you’re doing?”

The urge to squeal was hard to resist. Still, I couldn't hide the smile in my voice. “Umm, yeah, I may have accidentally put your number on there. Oops. My bad."

She scoffed at my snicker, but there was something in her tone that told me she wasn't as pissed as she was pretending to be.

“It’s not funny. I was already reeling from the thought of having to see him, and then you go and do this? I thought I’d have months to prepare, but now, I feel like that stupid seventeen-year-old girl again, excited and breathless just by the sound of his voice.”

Bing-freaking-go. “Exactly. You can thank me any time now,” I said. God, my work here was practically done, and the reunion was still months away.

“Thank you? I’m freaking pissed. What were you thinking?”

Even though she couldn't see me, I rolled my eyes. “Did you not just hear yourself? Excited and breathless? You’d been void of any positive emotion for far too long. And, in one phone call, you felt something else. Sure, be pissed at me, but at the end of the day, you’re going to be happy about it,” I told her.

Silence hung in the air between us. I was right. More importantly, she knew I was right. I was feeling pretty brilliant right about then. Finally, she sighed, but it sounded more dreamy than exasperated. At least, that's what I told myself.

“Whatever. Stop meddling. I mean it. We haven’t spoken in almost ten years. One phone call is nothing. He’s probably forgotten all about little Alexa Sullivan,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

This was perfect. I finally had my in and could tell her what I'd never told her before, because of Ty. “Oh, no, he hasn’t. When we went to visit before Ava was born, we met up with him. All he did was ask about you. He wanted to know everything—what you were doing, where you were working. He even asked about Ty, and he seemed genuinely interested in knowing if you were happy.”

Her breath caught audibly. “You never told me that. You didn’t even tell me that you saw him." Her voice was accusing. I loved it.

“I didn’t think you’d be interested. And I’m sure Ty would’ve just loved knowing your high school love was asking about you six years later.”

I winced, thinking about the night Jeremy had had a little too much whiskey and done a little too much reminiscing while telling embarrassing childhood stories. Of course, Jace's name came up, and Jeremy seemed in awe of him over his military career. Ty looked uncomfortable as Jeremy went on and on about Lexi's crush. He even went so far as to mention the similarities between Ty and Jace. That's when I cut Jeremy off and practically threatened his balls if he ever brought Jace up again.

“He was not my high school love. We never even dated! It was just a stupid crush." Her protest fell on deaf ears, and I was now even more convinced something had happened between them before Jace had left.

“Whatever you say, sis. All I know is you two were as close as two friends can be, and then he left town and you never talked to him again. I’ve always wondered why that was."

“You’ve never asked.”

“Would you have told me?”

“Umm…no, but bring over a bottle of wine for this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries and maybe, just maybe, Elijah and you can convince me to spill,” she said.

“Yeah, right. You’ve waited ten years, so I have a feeling getting anything out of you will be damn near impossible. Guess I better bring two bottles to get those lips loose." I laughed, but I was secretly wondering how much wine it would take to get it out of her.

"You're on," she said, a smile in her voice.

I probably should’ve felt guilty for being so manipulative. I didn’t. The truth was I’d have done anything for Lexi to be happy again, even if it meant I had to push her in the right direction. When we hung up, I was more convinced than ever that I was doing the right thing. And I couldn’t freaking wait to see how it would pan out.

I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten stuck with giving Ava another lesson about bad words, but I had. Sierra should’ve known better. That girl had me wrapped around her tiny fingers so tight.

Even still, when Sierra blew me a kiss and went to get her phone, I scooped my baby girl up off the floor, pulling her into my arms and tickling her as I carried her down the hallway to my room.