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“I wish you were home because I have news. Chris got a job here. He wants to buy a house right away. Did you like your real estate agent?”
“Loved her. I’ll text her information. And congratulations. Oops, here’s my ride.”
“Thank you, dear. See you tomorrow.”
They ended the call, and Katrina sent her the agent’s information. At the same time, Annie got the email with the list of requirements from Chris. The number one necessity was that the house must be turnkey. He hated renovations.
Also, he wanted to be on the west side of Main Street, north of town, so they could get some property, because he wanted to have horses. On that side of town, they’d be within riding distance of the Chastain clinic and Maggie’s property. It felt out of the way to her, but then she remembered it would be Chris’s house. She didn’t have to live there if she didn’t like the location.
Stop it, Annie! You’re being a jerk.
She got online and searched for property, and there wasn’t much, and nothing that was in live-in shape. The area he liked was mostly swamp shacks and a few new ranches on small lots. Looking at her phone again, she found the real estate agent’s phone number and sent her an introductory text with a message. She didn’t feel like talking on the phone with her.
The weekend was filling up so quickly, with Chris and property hunting and the coffee date at the park. A feeling of peace flowed over her when she realized she had a life in Cypress Cove, even without Steve. She’d never fought him, allowing his dismissive behavior to hurt her but never really acknowledging it. She’d never even cried. Was it going to come out somewhere to be dealt with later?
Back at the kitchen table, she finished up the work on her thesis, organizing the papers into their respective folders and placing neat bookmarks to keep her place in the stack of books. Finding information was easier online, sorting through hundreds of abstracts and published papers from different agencies. But reading the words of famous sociologists in the books they’d written really sank into her brain.
Justin was off work that morning and was going to come over during lunch to talk about his mother. Annie wanted to sit with him at the table. She wouldn’t mention the appointment to Maggie, either. That was unprofessional and even illegal. She had fresh coffee available, and a fruit and cheese tray. Not that he expected lunch, but if he was hungry, it might hamper his ability to relax with her.
At noon on the dot, there was a knock on her door. She peeked through the window to see a huge red pickup truck in the driveway.
Opening the door, she laughed and pointed to the truck. “If we were having an affair, the entire town would know.” The amused but surprised look on Justin’s face said it all. Flushing, she shook her head. “Why the hell did I say that? I’m so sorry.”
He stood on the other side of the threshold, grinning down at her.
“Oh God, come in, Justin.”
Laughing, he grabbed her in a hug. “It’s okay, Annie. I thought the same thing when I pulled into your driveway, that if we were trying to hide our relationship, I just blew it.”
“Sit down, sit down,” she sputtered. “Do you want coffee?”
“Sure, coffee sounds great. This looks good, too,” he said, pointing to the cheese and fruit. “I’m starving.”
“Do you want a croissant? I have some fresh this morning.”
“I’d love a croissant.”
“Chris is on his way, and I like to have food ready for him because he’s usually starving by the time he’s taken that trip.”
“You’re a great girlfriend. My brother is a lucky guy.”
“I keep forgetting you’re related,” she said, placing a plate with the pastry and a pat of butter in front of him. “Anyway, I know you don’t have a lot of time. Do you want to talk about your mother? Maggie gave me the background of what you learned from Doc Chastain last night.”
While he ate, Justin told Maggie what he’d learned and how shocking it was. “The thing that bothers me the most is that I probably wondered if she’d taken her own life when it happened, but I blocked it out, like I blocked out where he found her—supposedly in the corral—and that Mojol was the horse that she had been riding. He had to put him down a few days later.”
That was the last straw, and both Justin and Annie cried.
“Oh, Justin, that’s so sad. I’m so, so sorry.”
Justin snorted, reaching for a paper napkin to blow his nose. “I’m more upset about learning that the goddamned horse was put down than that my mother killed herself. I’m so angry about that! I blamed my father since she died from not dealing with her mental illness, and then to learn that she took her own life?”
“Justin, you’re going to feel anger over this! It’s a stage of grief; you know that. And it’s like she died all over again.”
“Yes! That’s exactly right. She died all over again, but in the worst possible circumstances. She took her own life, and now she’ll never meet Maggie or Tina. She missed out on my vet school graduation and seeing Dave make sheriff. What about Dave and Kat’s son? And now Chris is united with his brothers; she missed out on that. It’s so sad, it’s so maddening. I’m pissed!”
Annie took his hand and held it for a while. “You’re processing everything, so give yourself a chance to sort through it all. It will feel overwhelming at first. But then when things settle down, you can start taking stock of it. You are with Chris. You are Dave’s son’s uncle. You are a boyfriend and a father. It’s about you, Justin; it’s not about your mother. What are you going to do with those relationships to make a difference? How will you rise above your mother’s pain?”
He looked over at Annie and nodded. “I see where you’re going with this. It’s really the only path to surviving the heartache. Thank you. Now if I could get that tattooed on my forehead so I won’t forget.”
