Page 82 of Hometown Hottie

“Where are you going?” he called as I spun around and dug my keys out of my back pocket.

I hit the unlock button on the fob and the lights on my truck flashed. “I’m going to talk to Mom. Stay out of it, Ryan. I’ve got it from here.”

Without waiting for him to argue, I climbed into my car and drove to our parents’ house, relieved when I saw Dad’s truck wasn’t parked outside. That meant he was still working on the ranch, and for once, I’d have some time to talk to my mom alone.

“Hello?” I said as I pushed their front door open, letting myself in and shutting it silently behind me. “Mom, are you here?”

“I’m in here, baby,” she called.

I followed the sound of her voice, then stopped dead in my tracks when I walked into the kitchen to find that she’d unpacked every cabinet and was on her hands and knees, washing the shelves and doing God only knew what else.

I arched an eyebrow at her, my gaze sweeping across the room before it settled on hers. “Mom? What on earth are you doing?”

“It was time for a cleanup,” she said, her eyes too wide and her cheeks flushed. “If we’re going to be moving out soon, we need to get a head start. We’ve got lifetimes worth of stuff in this house and we need to start sorting through it all.”

She was obviously stressed and I walked in slowly, sinking to my knees in front of her and taking her hands. “You’re not moving out yet, Mom. Let me get us some water and we’ll talk, okay?”

Jerking her chin in a nod, she hung her head and closed her eyes, breathing in and out deeply. I got up and went to pour us each a glass of cold water. Once I had our drinks, I went back to her and helped her up. Then I led her to the backyard and sat her down at the table in her favorite spot in the garden.

Tears filled her eyes as she looked around, taking in the flower beds that surrounded us and the tall trees that she’d planted here with her own two hands. “I’m so sorry it’s come to this, honey.”

“It hasn’t come to anything,” I said reassuringly, leaning back in my chair and trying to keep my voice even. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re thinking? Where’s your head at?”

“It’s time for your father to retire,” she said shakily. “He just won’t admit that the business has run its course and that he needs to let you kids take over. Hell, we could sell off a few parcels of land and nothing would change, but the land that has the most value is what’s been built up.”

“Which is your house, mine, Ryan’s, and the bakery.” I sighed as I took a sip of my water and tried to hide how badly my hands were shaking. “The land Carson has offered to buy.”

My mother nodded, wiping away the tears from her eyes. She drew in another breath and offered me a sad, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t offload all this onto you. You just caught me at a bad time. I’m assuming Ryan told you about the other offer?”

“A few minutes ago,” I said before I blurted out, “I’m seeing someone.”

She blinked rapidly a few times before she schooled her expression and smiled a happier smile this time. “Are you? I’m glad to hear it, baby. It’s good that you’re finally letting yourself think about love and relationships again rather than just focusing on work. Who is it?”

I shook my head. “I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you he might be able to help. If you’ll let him.”

“It’s Carson,” she concluded, her smile growing into a full-blown grin. “It’s about damn time, honey. I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“You might not be, but I am. How did you know?”

She laughed softly, her earlier misery making way for excitement. “I remember how in love you used to be with him. Now he’s back and suddenly you’re seeing someone who can help? It has to be him. You know, I always thought you two would be end game.”

“End game?” I gaped at her. “I’m not sure why you thought that. Ryan is going to be livid. He’ll never let us live happily ever after.”

Mom waved a hand dismissively. “He’s just protective of you, Nova. That’s all it is. He doesn’t want to see you get hurt and he definitely doesn’t want to acknowledge that you’re a woman now. If you explain to him how you’ve always felt about Carson, he’ll understand eventually.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but if even my mom thought that my brother would get over it in time, maybe I was making too big a deal of his reaction. “Maybe you’re right, but let’s keep it a secret for now. Do you think Dad will sell to Carson once he finds out?”

“I think you need to do what you think is right and focus on your own life instead of worrying so much about Dad and Ryan.” She leaned forward and took my hand on the table, squeezing it as she nodded at me. “I love you, baby. Things are going to work out the way they’re supposed to, okay? We’re all going to be okay in the end. We just need to trust the journey life takes us on.”

I wound my fingers around hers and squeezed them in return, not saying anything else for a long minute. Maybe we needed to trust the journey life took us on, but that didn’t mean that I had to sit back and just let things happen.

We were going to be okay in the end. I had no doubt about that. I just wasn’t about to let the end be that we lost the ranch when we still had options available to keep it. I wouldn’t go down without a fight and the end wasn’t here just yet. Until the final whistle blew when Dad put pen to paper, I was in it to win it—or to keep it, as the case may be—and I still had a lot of fight left in me.

Now I just had to hope that Carson did too, and that his legendary determination would count in my favor this time.