“That’s sweet. I always liked that girl. I’m really glad for him.”
Sammy had been injured a couple of years back in the same car accident that had killed his and Shiloh’s mother. He’d spent months in a coma, and over a year in a rehabilitative care facility, re-learning tasks such as walking and even talking. It was incredible that he was even alive, yet alone beginning to pick up where he’d left off. I knew Shiloh was relieved.
“And Gunner and I…” Her face took on a dreamy expression. “We’re good. He wants to get married, but I’m making him wait. We’ve only been together-together for a few months now.”
“True, but you guys went through a lot in those few months. Stuff that either pulls you close or pushes you apart. You know…job losses. Property damage.” I pause for effect. “Serial killers.”
The breath of laughter Shiloh released had no humor in it. “If we can get through that stuff, we can make it through anything, right? I just want us to be…normal…for a while. I want Gunner to know beyond any doubt that this is what he wants.”
“You mean you want to know.”
“Maybe. Is that so wrong? He’s younger than I am. What if he’s not really ready—” She stopped and shook her head. “I thought I was past all this.”
“Why are you still worrying about that? You need to trust what’s in front of you, Shy. He’s crazy about you and more man than guys ten years older that I worked with down in Texas.”
Shiloh nodded and looked down at her plate. “I know that. I do. Or at least, my heart knows. It’s my brain that keeps throwing up the yellow light.”
“You’ll get there.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m not certain of us, because I am,” she said hurriedly. “I’m just…afraid, maybe.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think I’m afraid to relax into it. Like, if I do, it’s just going to turn into some really nice dream.”
“Oh, Shy.” I reached across the table and placed my hand over hers. “This is one of those situations when that old adage ‘if it seems too good to be true’ doesn’t hold water. It’s true. It’s good.”
“You’re right, of course. Anyway. Are you finished?” She eyed my empty plate. “Why don’t we head back and talk?”
Damnit.My reprieve must have ended. I pushed my plate away and stood, tossing a few bills to the table. “Sure. But I have to go check in with the parents, first. Say hello, listen to what a disappointment I am, et cetera.”
Shiloh rolled her eyes. “I’m coming with you.” She looped her arm through mine as we left the diner. “I’ll be your buffer, and then no more avoiding. We are going to talk about you.”
When Shiloh’s truck, a recent purchase that still smelled of leather conditioner, rocked to a stop in the circular drive, I didn’t open my door right away. Shiloh sat quietly beside me, familiar with the feelings I struggled with each time I came to this place and saw these people. I had put this visit off for two days now that I’d been in Jessup Falls, but I couldn’t put it off any longer.
The house, my childhood home, was a peaceful paradise on the outside. A genteel horse farm, it was renowned for its prime horse flesh, stately oak trees, and picturesque structures. It had been in my father’s family for generations. He had died when I was a toddler, but my stepfather had wasted no time jumping in to help my mother keep it going. I didn’t know the details of their courtship, but I had learned years ago that he and my mother had married within six months of my father’s death. Paul was a businessman first and foremost, a hedge fund manager, but he had made his home here easily as if he’d always been here.
On the interior, the farm had been a cold and formal home, one where I balanced on a tightrope most of the time. I never knew if I was going to receive a dismissive smile or a dignified chastising for my latest effort to please my mother and stepfather. I was too loud, too needy, too unkempt…the list was endless and ever-changing.
Things had come to a head when I discovered Paul was arranging a marriage between me and one of his business partners, a man more than twice my age. Mother had refused to support me when I wouldn’t fall in line, and it had been the final nail in the coffin that was our family.
I had wasted no time leaving. I curled my lip, the motion brittle. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew well Paul wanted control of the trust my father had left for me, and in defying him I would have to wait to claim it until I was thirty.
I’d never cared about that, though. I told them to stick their money where the sun didn’t shine and was gone as soon as I graduated high school. I returned periodically to dutifully make sure they were still alive, but we weren’t a family.
We’d never been a family.
“Cotton?”
I shook my head, clearing it, and opened my door. “All hail, the prodigal returns,” I muttered, and climbed out.
The door opened before I’d cleared the top step, and Savvi, our housekeeper since I was a little girl, stood in the doorway. “Emery Lane! My sweet girl, come here and let me look at you!” My throat closed as she pulled me into a tight hug that smelled of lemon oil and the bread she had no doubt baked that morning; then she held me out for inspection. Her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth. “You’re so skinny! What’s wrong with that place? Don’t they feed you down there?”
I landed a smacking kiss on both of her cheeks, wrinkled and soft, and entered our foyer. “I’m perfectly fine, Savvi. You remember Shiloh?”
“Of course, I do. Come in, young lady.”
“Hey, Savvy. Nice to see you again.”
