I didn’t care that the worn wood of the deck might leave splinters in my bare feet or that the morning sun was blazing down on me. I’d sat through worse.
Lifting the bottle to my lips, I stewed over the knowledge that Aspen knew about my family farm all along and said nothing. She’d had so much time to tell me. I’d been home for less than two weeks, but we’d spent a lot of that time together.
Less than two weeks, and everything had changed.
A friend would have told me. A true friend wouldn’t have kept the secret this long.
“I told Aspen not to tell you. She’d been begging me since the sale went through to say something,” my mom said, as if reading my thoughts as she sat beside me with her own beer in hand. Neither of us seemed to care that it was barely nine in the morning. “That’s on me, not her. I also can’t say I expected y’all to form a friendship, much less so quickly after your return. So don’t hold it against her or the Easterlys. This was a decision I made when your father died.”
I wondered what would’ve happened if my father hadn’t died. Would my mother have continued working odd jobs to try to pay back all the loans? My father put them all in her name. Did he do this to his other family too? I was riddled with questions that would never be answered. The bastard died and took it all to hell with him.
I’d bring him back to life one more time just to send him to the grave myself.
“I hate him.” My words faltered, and a took a breath, looking up to the sky through a glassy view. “I hate him so much.”
“I do too. The only good thing that man did in my life was give me you.”
Finishing my beer, I spun the bottle back and forth between my palms, watching as my forearm flexed with each turn. The veins made the mountains and trees of my tattoo look like they were moving.
“Why didn’t you use any of the money I sent you every month?”
Instead of answering, she repeated what she told me the day I got home. “I put it in a trust in your name at the bank. You’re the only one who can access it.”
Nodding, I wished she kept the money for herself. My mother had been through too much to be living in a bed-and-breakfast where she worked. A job she didn’t even need to have.
“You should renew your nursing license. Maybe you can take over this rental when I leave.”
“I’m happy, Owen. I enjoy working at the B&B. And I’m the only one living there full-time. It’s like living in my dream home. Entertaining the guests is one of my favorite things. I always wanted to host Tupperware parties like those moms on television. When we moved out here, I thought that would’ve been be my chance. Never occurred to me we moved here because your father was out-schemed and needed to hide.
“Anyway… I’m perfectly happy with how my life is right now.”
Turning my head to stare at my mother, I could see she was telling the truth. Even after everything she told me, this was the happiest I’d ever seen her. The healthiest too. I was no longer afraid I’d find her ankles covered in rope burns or a boot mark along her stomach. Her brown hair was soft and shiny, not the dull, lifeless strands I remembered growing up.
“I… I don’t know what to do with all this information,” I confessed. “I don’t know how to process it all.”
“I understand,” Beverly replied. “I need to run a few errands, but if it’s all right with you, maybe you could join me for lunch tomorrow.”
“Sure. That sounds nice.”
“I love you, sweet boy,” she said as she stood up, and then she made her way back through the house.
I sat there for a moment longer, and then something inside me snapped.
I darted around the outside of the home, flung open the fence gate, and made my way toward her car. I met her there just as she stepped off the front porch, her face one of surprise. And then my arms wrapped around her tightly, her breath leaving her body in a whoosh.
“I love you too, Mom.”
Chapter Thirteen – Aspen
Sitting high in one of the combines, I watched Owen’s car fly through the driveway to the main house. The McLaren kicked up a ton of dirt that would leave the maroon paint filthy, but I knew he would have it spotless by the next day.
Glancing down at my watch, I noticed he was nearly an hour early. Using a walkie-talkie, I radioed my dad and Andrew to let them know I was taking a break and to send someone out to finish this portion of the field. Soon, one of the veteran workers came out, delight filling his eyes when I handed over the keys.
The UTV made quick work of moving me across the fields and over to the house, where I found Owen and my mom sitting out on the front porch in rocking chairs, drinking lemonade.
They looked adorable.
“Oh, Aspen. Good, you’re here. Let me run inside and get you the list of sandwiches to grab from Ernie’s.”
Mom scurried out of her chair so fast it continued to rock while she made her way inside. I was too busy looking at her retreating back to notice Owen stood up until I turned and found him only a foot away.
“Hey,” I said, just before his hands came up to clasp my face, and he pressed our lips together.
The kiss caught me off guard, and when my lips parted in surprise, Owen’s tongue veered inside. My arms hung loosely at my sides, but as the kiss grew more zealous, I reached for his waist, leaning my body against his.
“Oh!”
Owen and I jumped apart at my mom’s sudden return. While I kept my gaze trained on the wooden planks of the porch, he snickered.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Here is the list,” she said, holding it out for me to take. My eyes looked everywhere but at my mother’s as I reached for the piece of paper.
“Anything else you need, Mrs. Easterly?”
“Oh, maybe a half-dozen pies from the store? Everyone is working so hard. I’m working on the stew for dinner, so that will be a great dessert.”
“Sure. Can I grab a couple of bottles of wine for you as well?”
“Oh, that would be wonderful, Owen. You’re such a kind man. Don’t you think so, Aspen?”
