Her eyes brim with angry tears, and “angry” Evelyn is a whole other level. But I can’t back down on this.
“That’s not fair,” I say, my own anger flaring. “You don’t get to rewrite what happened.”
“How am I rewriting it?” she asks, her voice pitching higher. “I’m telling you what it was like from the outside. I watched you disappear.”
The silence is almost suffocating.
Owen clears his throat. “Okay, maybe we all take it down a notch?—”
“This isn’t about Chloe,” Evelyn cuts in, eyes never leaving mine. “It’s about you making a decision out of fear instead of sense.”
I drag a hand through my hair and let out a heavy sigh. “This isn’t fear, Evie.”
Her eyes narrow. “Then what changed?”
There it is.
I close my eyes and brace for the conversation I’ve been avoiding for months.
“You’ve been against Dad’s will stipulation from the start,” she continues. “You said marrying for money was beneath you. Sowhat happened?”
When I reopen my eyes, Owen’s gaze flicks between us, suddenly alert.
I rub a hand over my face. I didn’t want to say it like this. But they deserve the truth, and I’ve been avoiding it like the plague.
Time to just rip off the band-aid.
“We lost our ag exemption,” I say finally. “The state noticed we haven’t been selling trees. I owe back taxes.”
The room goes very still.
Owen stops eating, which should be an indication of how seriously he’s taking this news.
“How bad?”
“Bad enough that if I miss the December deadline, the farm’s in trouble.Realtrouble. I don’t think we can bounce back from it,” I say quietly.
Evelyn exhales slowly, anger shifting into worry.
“You should’ve told us,” she says, her brows drawn together.
“I know.”
Owen bristles. “You didn’t have to carry that alone.”
“I thought I did.” My voice roughens. “I still do. It was my mistake.”
Evelyn studies me for a long moment, then shakes her head. “So this is about saving the farm.”
“Yes.”
“Why Chloe?”
I don’t say anything, but Evelyn knows me well enough to know that’s a statement all on its own.
Evelyn scoffs softly. “That’s what scares me.”
“Evie—”
