I jerked my chin to indicate he should keep going. “Not just Mom. You and Artie, too. There’s a great school there for kids who love the outdoors. Plus the SAR team’s always looking for volunteers along the river.
Conrad was still stopped.
He was a good fifteen feet behind us now. “You coming, or what?”
Conrad jogged to catch up. “Are you suggesting all three of us—Mom, Artie, and me—uproot our lives to move to the town your girlfriend lives in? So what, you can visit her more?”
“First of all,” I said, unfazed, “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s the love of my fucking life.”
Mom’s worker threw a hairy eyeball in my direction.
“Sorry. Second of all, what are you talking about, uproot? You don’t have any roots here, especially now that Dad’sgone. Third of all, I saw the way your eyes lit up when I saidSAR.”
Conrad had always wanted to volunteer for the Search and Rescue teams here, but refused to accept my help with childcare, so it had never panned out.
He glowered at me.
“Okay, kidding aside,” I said, stopping this time too, “I’m serious.”
“How often are you going to be there, Mitch? Be honest. Your work requires you to be in those office towers you own.”
“I don’t own them anymore.”
Conrad tilted his head.
“I sold LoupTeq.”
“You what?”
“Well, I got bought out. On purpose. It’s not finalized yet so it’s not in the news. But Sal’s taking over as CEO. She did amazing at my side with the acquisition. Honestly, I was pretty superfluous by the end of it. I’ll stay on the board, but it’s just a technicality, really. Mostly I’ll be writing books.”
“Gentlemen,” Mom’s worker said, hands on her hips.
We started walking again.
“I’m going to be writing books in Quince Valley,” I told Conrad. “Sci-fi and Fantasy.”
Conrad’s face broke out in a grin. “Fuck yes, Mitchie.”
“Well, I’ve already put things in motion about moving Mom, and I saw this great place on the river you and Artie would love. So, think about it, and let me know, okay?”
I hadn’t actually done anything to move Mom yet, and I wouldn’t without full consent from the three of us. But I could make it happen in a few days once they signed on. Blake was a given, and I was too, so Conrad would get on board, I knew he would. I also already bought the property just in case Conrad wanted it. He’d insist on buying it from me of course, which was fine. I’d sell it for a song and put the song inan account for Artie. It was the perfect plan, and I wasn’t just saying that because of the reason I was turning my life upside down. I hadn’t told her yet. She might decide she didn’t want to be with me after all.
I’d probably hurl myself in the river if that happened, but then I’d pull myself out again and honestly, be no worse off than before. Save the absolutely decimated heart and loss of my future children.
But I prayed none of that would happen, because I planned on having the happiest ever fucking after with Winona Chalmers, and I was moving every mountain in my path to make that happen.
“Does Blake know?” Conrad asked.
But by that time, we’d caught up to Blake and Cassandra, and our older brother was looking eagerly between the two of us. “Did you tell him, Mitchie?”
“Yeah,” I said, grinning. “He knows. He said if you don’t agree to come with us he’s going to sit on you.”
That got a laugh out of Conrad.
We said our goodbyes, and I waited as the other cars pulled away. We were going to meet back at Conrad’s for drinks once we dropped Mom off at the home. Then I was going to call Winona. We hadn’t talked since Christmas, two weeks ago. The call was horrific. Both of us cried. Winona said she couldn’t keep this up. I’d started putting the buyout into motion the minute after hanging up.
When the last vehicle had pulled out of the gate and disappeared onto the road, I reached over to the passenger seat of my car and grabbed the thick manila envelope I’d left there. I walked back to Dad’s plot, where a little backhoe had already turned up, though the cemetery worker was still setting things up to fill the hole.
