Autumn’s mouth transformed into a guileful grin as her arms crossed against her chest. “So… Owen drove you over here?”
“Don’t,” I pleaded. “It was nothing.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. You and Owen being civil to one another for longer than five minutes is not nothing.”
“Autumn, don’t read into it.”
“Hm. Colton, make sure we have bags packed somewhere.”
He looked alarmed, eyes darting up and down between Autumn’s face and belly. “Is it the baby?”
She laughed loudly. “No, silly. It’s worse. The end of the world may happen sometime soon.” Colton’s face scrunched, and Autumn explained, “Because Aspen and Owen have been hating on each other since they were in elementary school. We’ve never had a single moment where they could be in a room together without something going awry.”
My eyes rolled at her description, though she wasn’t too far off. Of course, she left out the fact that Owen started our rivalry with that stupid nickname. But I couldn’t expect anyone in my family to remember small details like that. I was merely the little shadow who tagged along everywhere. The afterthought.
Glancing over at my sister, I saw her husband was gently rubbing circles on her lower back as she turned toward him. They were in their own little world.
Feeling like a voyeur, I ducked out of the library, slinking along the hallway wall as to not disrupt whatever was going on with Owen and Beverly.
I caught sight of a couple of the guests milling around the living room area just as Owen stomped out of the kitchen toward me, but it was clear he had tunnel vision. I wasn’t sure if I should follow him, but I did anyway.
“Owen!” I shouted as we made it outside.
“I… I can’t talk to you right now,” he said as he yanked open the driver-side door of his car.
I wasn’t privy to the discussion he and Beverly had, but it was clear he was upset about something. I could only imagine some of the things that had come to light. And not that I wanted to blame him for ignoring calls from his mother, since I learned about his childhood, but all fingers pointed in his direction as the reason he was uninformed.
“Not that I care, but maybe you should let your mom explain.”
Leaning against the car, resting his folded arms on the roof, he chastised me. “Look, cricket, in all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never asked for your advice. Why would I follow it, especially unsolicited, now?”
“You don’t have to be an asshole to me just because you’re angry.”
“Go home to your perfect life, cricket. Don’t worry about me.”
Without another word, he slunk down onto his seat and started the car. Within seconds, he was kicking up dust and dirt as he left the B&B.
From behind me, I felt a presence and turned to find Beverly standing just behind the threshold of the door, her face crestfallen.
“Well, that didn’t quite go as expected.”
“What did you tell him exactly?” I asked.
“That I’ve been working here for the last year and the house was condemned.”
“So, he doesn’t even know yet that you sold the land?”
“We… um… didn’t get that far. I’ll see if I can book a room for him here while he’s home. Or maybe there’s a rental in town I can set up.” She paused, and I noticed the glassiness of her eyes. “I was just so happy he was coming home, and now I’m afraid I ruined it.”
“Can I ask why you didn’t tell him anything before now? From what I’ve heard, I realize Owen isn’t the easiest person to get ahold of, but it might not have been such a shock if you’d been able to tell him something.”
“I tried, but he’s so stubborn and refused to listen when I brought up anything not related to baseball. I stopped trying. I should have insisted, I guess.”
Taking her shaking hand, I squeezed it gently between mine. “He’ll come around.”
She shakes her head but smiles at me at the same time. “You’re a sweet girl. Are you headed back to the farm?”
“Yeah, I’ll take one of the UTVs. I need to go over the books with my dad.”
“You work too hard,” she said like a scolding mother.
“You sound like Dean.” He had become friends with most of the town, including Owen’s mom. “I’ll see you later, Miss Beverly. If there’s anything we can do, just let me know.”
I hurried around the side of the house, where we stored the UTVs. There was a path that connected the bed-and-breakfast to Sunny Brook Farms, which made it easier for us to travel back and forth.
While most people were ending their day, mine was still going strong. The workload of a farmer was never-ending.
But even after arriving back at my family’s house and going through the financials with my father—something I was struggling to comprehend—I couldn’t help thinking about how Owen’s world was just flipped upside down.
I was so distracted that, instead of making up an excuse like I usually did, I agreed to join Jenna out for drinks tonight. Something I’d only ever done once since I turned twenty-one three years ago.
Chapter Four – Owen
“Another?”
The bartender stood before me as I sipped at the beer he handed me over an hour ago. I wasn’t much of a drinker to begin with, but my mind was still spinning from the secrets my mother spilled this afternoon.
I stormed out after learning she lost the house I grew up in and had been working for the Easterlys for the past year, before which she’d held a few serving jobs after my high school graduation. I’d been sending her money for years, but she refused to touch any of it.
