Page 36 of Home Is Where You Are

“Don’t give me that look. I know what you’re doing over there.” I pointed my finger at her.

“Who, me?” She gasped and brought her hands to her chest to make herself appear innocent.

Only I knew different.

“There can’t be anything between Gentry and me. I broke his heart when I left. If I’m honest, I broke mine in the process. Plus, I don’t know if I’m staying,” I admitted. I couldn’t possibly give him hope if I didn’t know what my future held. I'd hurt him before, and he didn’t deserve it. I couldn’t be the cause of his heartbreak again.

“We’ll see. What do you have back in Virginia anyway? Oh that’s right. Kyle’s awaiting your return so y’all can get back together,” she said, a gleam of mischievousness in her glance.

“That’s never going to happen. I’m not taking him back no matter how much he begs.” And he’d been begging. At least from the messages I’d read.

“He still bothering you?” she asked, concern etched on her face.

“Yeah, but I’ve been deleting the messages.”

“Good, now back to Gentry,” she said, sounding giddy at the thought.

I shook my head and continued to tell her how my dad decided it would be a great idea for Gentry to be my boss for the day.

“See, even your dad is trying to push y’all back together.”

Ever the romantic.

“I talked to him, and I can assure you it was just a fluke due to staff members being sick. I told my dad today that I wouldn’t be staying. He wasn’t very happy about my declaration, but hopefully he keeps his word and doesn’t tell my mother. I’m not ready to dampen her excitement about me being home just yet. I want to keep her happy as long as I can.”

“He missed his baby girl. Can you blame him for not being happy? I mean, I don’t even understand your hesitation on coming back home. From just the first few minutes I’ve been here, it appears that you had an amazing life growing up. I’d have loved to grow up in a place like this.”

“I had a great childhood. I never saw myself leaving here. Every dream I had for my future involved this ranch. When we lost Bella, I just couldn’t stay here anymore. Now, I don’t know if I want to work on the ranch or branch out from here and see what else job wise is out there,” I told her, but even the words tasted foul coming out of my mouth.

I wanted the city life. Away from here. Away from prying eyes and heartache. Away from Gentry.

Didn’t I?

I shook my head to clear those thoughts. I could digest them another day.

“How’re you doing being back home?”

I groaned. I knew Aspen would ask eventually; she always had to make sure I was okay. But I didn’t want to ruin our night with heavy conversation. Only Aspen wouldn’t let me get out of it, so instead of changing the subject, I gave her an honest answer.

“Being home is harder than I’d thought. I don’t know what I thought would happen. That I’d return and everything would magically be okay or the grief and pain wouldn’t hit me hard, but my first night here I couldn’t even sleep in this room,” I admitted.

“I’m so sorry, Ainsleigh. I know being here is hard, but you have a great support system. Lean on them. And you can always sleep in my room with me while I’m here. Just like old times,” she said with an understanding smile.

“Now what should we wear?” I said with the brightest smile I could muster as I changed the subject, left the bed, and walked over to the closet door throwing it open.

Aspen walked over and pushed me out of the way and rummaged through the racks of clothes. She’d be sorely mistaken if she thought she’d find anything. My wardrobe from high school consisted of jeans and flannels mostly.

“You’ve got to try this on,” she said with two hangers in her hands.

My eyebrows raised because those jean shorts were tight in high school and the top was slightly revealing.

Reluctantly, I snatched the clothes from her and went over to the bed to change.

Surprisingly, the shorts, albeit a little snug, fit like a glove. The pockets in the front peeked out of the bottom just a smidge, but that was how they were made. The sleeveless top was a little shorter than I preferred, but it would do.

I walked over to the mirror on the front of the closet door, shocked at the person who peered back at me.

Wow. The reflection was the old Ainsleigh through and through. I just didn’t know if I liked the person very much.