The request surprised him. “Stop by? Your place?”
“Yep.”
Of course his uncle wasn’t going to elaborate. Where was the fun in that? Instead, Curtis let the silence hang until Stone had no choice but to fill it with a response.
Stone glanced at the clock. “Sure. I could get by there today. Give me an hour?”
“We’ll be here. I’ll make sure there’s a pot of coffee on.”
“See you then.”
Stone disconnected the call and stared at his phone, wondering what Uncle Curtis might want.
He couldn’t remember the last time any of his aunts or uncles had called him. He saw them at holiday get-togethers. Some of them, anyway. Stone’s dad, like Reilly, was the youngest, but he had eight older siblings, five of whom were still alive. His sisters, Celeste and Katherine, had died when Owen was four, and his sister, Adele, had died almost twenty years ago. That left Lorrie, Mitch, Bruce, Rose, and Linda. One of the benefits of living in a small town was that they saw each other often. Stone knew from experience that being away from family wasn’t easy. It was another reason he was bound and determined to put down roots here.
After he finished his sandwich, he cleaned up the kitchen, trying his best not to leave too early. He didn’t want Uncle Curtis to think he was just sitting on his thumbs, waiting for someone to call and invite him over.
When he ran out of ways to be productive, he pulled on his coat and hat and headed out.
Getting to Curtis and Lorrie’s took twenty minutes because the roads were getting bad. The weather service was telling people to stay home if they could. Their warning wasn’t too far-fetched, considering Stone nearly drove off the road twice due to some black ice on the less traveled back roads.
Thankfully, he reached his aunt and uncle’s place without incident. Aunt Lorrie welcomed him at the back door, urging him inside and taking his coat.
“It’s gettin’ colder,” she said as she walked over to the coffee pot. “I’m not a fan. These old bones prefer warmth.”
Stone grinned. Lorrie was seventy-five years young and looked as youthful as she always had. There was a seventeen-year age difference between Lorrie and Stone’s dad, so she was more like a mother to Owen than his own mother had been. Then again, Phillip and Dorothy Jameson hadn’t been the best parents in the world. Some even said Stone’s grandfather was the spawn of Satan. Not that Stone would know. The man died before he was born.
“You take it with milk and sugar, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
While she prepared his coffee, Stone looked around the kitchen, then glanced into the living room. The house was just the same as he remembered growing up. He’d spent a lot of time over here despite Curtis and Lorrie’s boys being older than him. All except Zane, who was a couple of years younger. As kids, they’d run around together at family gatherings, but as they got older, they never really became friends.
Of course, he’d lost touch after he left, only seeing most of them on rare occasions. It was his own fault, he knew, and he was hoping he could reconnect with some of them now that he was back.
“There you are, boy,” Curtis said as he strolled into the room. He was wearing his usual Wranglers and boots, along with a long-sleeve shirt covered by a thick flannel shirt, which was unbuttoned, the cuffs rolled up.
“Hey,” Stone said, walking over to shake Curtis’s hand.
As always, Curtis took his hand like he was going to be formal, then jerked him in for a hug.
Lorrie chuckled, delivering two mugs of coffee and going back for a third.
“Have a seat,” Curtis said when he released him. “Your daddy tells me you’re back for good. That right?”
Stone knew that his parents were close to Curtis and Lorrie. Always had been. They got together frequently, and not only to celebrate birthdays or holidays. It wasn’t until Stone went out into the world that he realized that sort of closeness wasn’t the norm. It was one of the things he’d missed most while he was gone.
“Yes, sir,” he said, pulling out a chair and planting his butt in it.
“What made you decide to do that? You’ve been gone, what? Fifteen years?”
“Give or take a week,” he joked. “I wish I could say I got the itch to come back, but it was circumstance.”
“You got caught with the boss’s daughter.”
“Curtis,” Lorrie admonished.
Curtis laughed. “What? It’s true, ain’t it?”
