AllFreeNovel
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For the same reason I didn’t chase after her that night…
“Because I belong here, Rae. This place, these woods, the people. This is always where I was meant to be. Things have happened since you’ve been gone that you probably don’t even know about. When my grandfather passed away, the land, the lumber company, the construction company, they all went to my father and my uncle. Well, my uncle died last year, and my father took over running everything himself. Which means I’m running everything because he’s damn near eighty years old and is going to give himself a coronary if he keeps trying to do it all.”
She gives me a tight smile, and I consider how to say the next words without it sounding like arrogance or some way of bribing her to stay.
Her light fingers feather across my forehead. “What is it? Why do you have this furrowed brow?”
I lean into her touch, savoring it, wanting to memorize it in case she disappears from my life again. “The companies have gotten a lot bigger than when we were kids.”
“What do you mean?”
It feels strange discussing business with her, but if she doesn’t understand why it’s so important, she won’t understand why I can’t leave. “Well, my dad and my uncle, they expanded into commercial construction instead of just residential. They got a lot of government contracts over the years. There aren’t a lot of qualified companies up here that can handle the government projects.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s very good, Rae.” I tighten my grip on her. “All the companies together, the land, the buildings, all the family-owned properties. All of it is worth billions now.”
She freezes. “Billions with a B?”
I nod. “Yeah, with a B. Add the festival on top of that, and the money it brings in every year, walking away from all of this would be…”
Her kiss-swollen lips droop. “It would be stupid.”
I take her face between my palms. “No, I would give it all up for you. All of it. Every single fucking penny. If it were only about me. But there are hundreds of employees who depend on me running these companies, and I still need to take care of my mom and dad. Plus, I don’t know what the fuck I would do in Milwaukee.” I bark out a humorless laugh. “I know how to work with my hands.”
She leans up and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “You sure do.”
The compliment briefly lifts my spirits, but I know what I’m asking her and how impossible it will be for her to say yes. This brief respite from the world outside and the things pulling us in opposite directions will end soon. A reality we’ll both have to accept.
“I wouldn’t fit in there, that place. Your life. It’s not who or what I am. But up here isn’t you anymore, either, Rae.”
Rae considers my statement for a moment, twisting her lips as she swirls little circles with her fingertip across my chest. “I’m not so sure about that anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighs and rests her cheek over my heart. I let her be for a moment, thinking through whatever it is she has going on in that beautiful head of hers. This isn’t the time to rush any conversations, and I want to enjoy having her in my arms for as long as possible.
“When my parents told me they were moving and asked me to come back to help them pack up the house, I didn’t want to…”
“Because you didn’t want to see me.”
She shakes her head. “It wasn’t just that. I knew it would be hard to leave again once I came up here…leave for the final time and cut all ties with Hayes Creek. The few times I did come home during college over holiday breaks”—she shrugs slightly—“I realized how much I missed it. I missed the town. I missed the people.”
“I never saw you when you were home.”
Tilting her chin up, she gives me a sad, apologetic smile. “That was intentional. Even years later, I felt like an idiot for kissing you like that and leaving. The thought of facing you again after that was too much for me to bear.”
“It was pretty dumb.”
She smacks me playfully on the shoulder. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Milwaukee. I love my life, my friends, my job even…”
The silence hanging between us speaks volumes. Rae may not want to say the words, but I know what she’s thinking—because I haven’t been able to leave, either.
“But it isn’t Hayes Creek.”
She nods. “But it isn’t Hayes Creek.”
It’s the opening I’ve been hoping for—a glimmer of hope that this might all work out. “You could come back, do HR for me, for the various companies…”
