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I was returning to my roots.
“I can pay you rent,” I said. “I’m not a charity case.”
He shook his head. “No one said you were.”
“I have plenty of money. You know that. I told you about the accident settlement payment.”
“I know. I know.” He shrugged. “It’s empty right now anyway. It’ll be good to have someone in it to maintain it.”
He pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked it before tossing me the key. I snatched it out of the air.
I pulled my suitcases inside. Musty and a little dusty, but not too bad. But I wasn’t too picky.
A large rug covered the living room floor, and the mounted heads of several deer and elk decorated the wall. Carl’s dad had been quite the hunter back in the day.
Carl waited at the door, rubbing his hands together again. I wished he’d just say what was on his mind.
“I was gonna head out in a little bit for the Wild Mustang and grab a beer with everyone,” Carl said. “Did you want to come along? I’m sure everyone would be happy to see you again.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. Hell, I knew that wasn’t true. If I went, I knew I’d run into Aspyn. I wasn’t ready for that. Besides, I was actually tired.
“No,” I said. I yawned. “I’m beat. I think I’m gonna settle in and maybe get some rest.”
“There should be blankets and sheets in the closet in the bedroom,” Carl said. “I came here yesterday and put some food and some beers in the refrigerator. Just give me a call or stop by the main house if you need anything.” He turned to leave.
“Thanks, Carl. Thanks for everything.”
“I’m just glad to have you back, bro.” He smiled and headed outside.
I dropped on the nearby couch, knocking up a cloud of dust. I wondered how long it’d been since anyone had actually lived in this cabin.
I clung to my hope that going back to my roots would help the nightmares go away.
Chapter 7
Aspyn
“You’re gonna stay with Nana for tonight, sweetie,” I said.
“Yay! Nana!” Kadie clapped her hands together and bounced up and down.
I smiled down at her, my little brown-eyed cherub. It was hard to not smile whenever I looked into the wide eyes of my cute little 2-year-old girl. My life, my everything, my daughter.
Still, it was also hard not to see her father in her face and her light hair. It was weird to be both angry and grateful to the man at the same time.
I stood in my mama’s living room, guilt shooting through me. She’d agreed to watch Kadie so I could go out to the Wild Mustang with my friends. She never turned down a chance to watch her granddaughter, but I always felt bad when I had her watch Kadie for something other than work.
“Now, I’ll be back later, but it’ll be after bedtime,” I said to Kadie. “You go to sleep for Nana, okay?”
Kadie nodded her head, her expression so serious it made me want to laugh. “Yes, Mama.”
I knelt to give her a hug and a kiss before waving to her nana and stepping into the crisp early evening air.
Even though my car was sitting right in front of my mama’s house, I was going to walk to the Wild Mustang, though I didn’t plan to drink too much. Really, now that I was a parent, I never drank too much. It just wasn’t responsible.
I wanted the time to think. There was a good chance I might walk into the Mustang and see the man who had changed my life and then disappeared for three years.
As I turned a corner and crossed the street, I thought more about Alex. Carl had let me know a week before that Alex was coming to stay at his ranch. My friend had been a bit unclear on the details, but it didn’t sound like a quick stopover on the way to somewhere else.
