He glanced up at the window of his old bedroom, front and center, above the dining room. The blinds, which his mom normally made a point of opening each day, were closed tight, same as the room Gabe and Mason had shared, to the right of his.

His parents had bought the North family home three years before Cole was born, when his older brothers were early school-age. It’d been a stretch to buy the nearly three-thousand-square-foot home, he’d heard them say many times, and a bit of a gamble, as the single-location North Brothers store was young and not at all a sure thing back then.

By the time the twins were in middle school, that had changed significantly, and his parents could’ve bought something bigger and newer, but his mom liked the idea of giving her family a solid, unchanging home base. In spite of the business’s growth and success, Faye and Harry North had stayed humble and wanted their boys to do the same.

Even in the depths of their home, Cole was the odd man out. It was a four-bedroom house—one for his parents, one for the two older boys, one for him, and eventually, one for the twins when they were born. Before they’d come along, the fourth had been used as a playroom. While Cole had liked having his own room, he’d always been aware that he was the only one who wasn’t paired off.

The front door was unlocked, and Cole let himself into the two-story foyer.

“Hello?” he called out.

“In here,” Drake said from beyond the central staircase that led to the second floor.

Cole passed the stairway and saw the family room was empty, so he headed toward the noise in the guest room on the left, which had originally served as his father’s office. It had taken his mom several years after his dad’s death to change it.

“What are you doing in here?” Cole asked as he entered the room through the double French doors. It was stuffed full of Norths, with his mom sitting up in the bed and Mason, Gabe, and Drake spread around the room. “I thought the doctor said stairs were okay.”

“Last-minute pivot,” Gabe said. “Stairs are okay but not multiple times a day, so we set her up in here for a couple of weeks.”

“How are you feeling, Mom?” Cole asked, coming up next to Drake at the foot of the double bed.

“Happy.” Her smile was genuine but her eyes showed fatigue, as they had all week. “My own house, no nurses waking me up at all hours, and my boys here with me. I wish Zane could come for a visit, but we’re going to FaceTime tomorrow.”

“Plus some decent food,” Drake said. “I’ve got three bags full of healthy stuff in the kitchen.”