“What was she asking?”
“If the place has a well, what the water rights were, can more than one family live on it—that kind of thing.”
“It’s your property and it has two houses. Surely the county can’t tell you who can live there.”
“Jerry said it’s zoned for residential use. And I’m not trying to start a business or anything, so that would work for me.”
“That’s great, baby. Do you want me to go get you a taco?”
He finished his chip and shook his head. “No, I can do it.” He slid to the end of the bench and stumbled for a moment as he got to his feet. Instead of heading for the taco bar, he came to her side of the table and leaned down. “It’s good to see you, Win.” He pressed a kiss to her temple that shouldn’t feel so erotic, but did, and then walked away to get his tacos.
Winnie watched him go, wondering when her feelings had started to feel like love.
Her phone chimed as she filled a chip with regular guacamole—her second-favorite variety on this platter—and she knew it was her mother without having to look at the device. Winnie sighed, because it was Thursday, and she wasn’t sure she had the patience to deal with her parents tonight. Her mother needed constant advice—though she’d already looked everything up on the internet and wouldn’t listen to anything Winnie suggested. She simply wanted to vent, and Winnie supposed everybody needed somebody like that.
She checked the screen and found that her mother’s text wasn’t the only one she hadn’t read. She had a couple from Jerome at work, and one from Colt, who was more Ty’s friend than hers, that sent her heartbeat tumbling. She tapped on his, though her mother sent in another message that started withyou need to call me.
Hey, Winnie,Colt said.Ty’s birthday is coming up next month, and me and Trap and the boys want to do something for him. I’m sure you guys have some romantic plans, so will you let me know what day works for us to kidnap Ty and show him a good time?He’d added a smiley-face emoji, and his second text read,Don’t worry—it’ll be good, clean fun.
Winnie grinned at the text and then tapped over to her mother’s, because she had not known that Ty’s birthday was in May and therefore didn’t have any romantic plans as of yet.
Winnie, your father has fallen down, and Brad has told us to go to the hospital. I just don’t know if it’s necessary or not. And you know how your father is—he thinks the doctors might be trying to trick himabout everything. Can you please call him and tell him that he needs to go to the hospital?
The next text, which had to come in only a few seconds after the first, said,You need to call me, please. It’s really urgent.
Her heartbeat sprinted through her chest as pure indecision raged through her. Ty had not finished telling her about the property, and she wanted to ask him about his birthday too. She glanced over to the taco bar and found him standing there with a plate of food in his hand, resting his left hip against the counter as someone she didn’t know spoke with him. Ty knew everyone in town, so this encounter wasn’t unique or unusual, and Winnie quickly dialed her mother.
Her mother answered after only one ring. “Oh, praise the heavens, Winnie. I called nine-one-one.”
Alarm rang through her. “You called nine-one-one?”
“Your father was in so much pain, he threw up,” she said. “I didn’t know what else to do, and I don’t need you yelling at me too.”
“I didn’t yell at you,” Taylor uh, yelled, from somewhere on the other end of the line.
“I’m not yelling at you, Mother,” Winnie said in a calm, placating voice, quickly employing the role she’d always played in her family: a peacemaker between her parents and her sister. “How far out are they, Momma?”
“Seven minutes,” Momma said. “Can you come?”
“Momma, I live three hours away now, remember?”
“But you could be here soon,” her mother said.
“Mom, I have a job. I can’t just leave town. You’re capable. You’ll go to the hospital with Daddy, and you’ll figure out what’s going on, and you’ll text me.”
Not only that, but Taylor lived right there, and Brad only lived thirty minutes away. Winnie wasn’t sure whysheneeded to rearrange her life when her parents had other people to rely on.
“I’ll tell Taylor to be nice,” Winnie said. “And I’ll text Brad so I get all the updates, okay?”
“Okay,” Momma said a second later, the sound of Taylor’s voice silencing. “I swear that girl was getting on my last nerve.”
“She’s been on mine for a while,” Winnie said, a flash of sympathy moving through her at the same time. Her parents could kick Taylor out anytime they wanted, and they didn’t, so they must not hate having her live there as much as Momma sometimes said she did.
“Oh, they’re here,” Mom said. “That was so much faster than I thought.”
“I’ll let you go,” Winnie said. “Keep me updated.”
She hung up just as Ty sat down across from her. A sigh moved through her whole body, and she instinctively reached for another chip, because guacamole made everything better.
