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This time I spoke with more confidence.“Thanks.I will.Sorry, I have to go.I still have a long drive to Williston.”
I waited until I hit the highway that’d take me to the interstate before I dialed Kenny.
She was out of breath when she answered, her voice floating through the cab.“Hi.You on the road?”
“Yep.I just had an interesting interaction with Charlotte Garcia.”I told her the story.
“It wouldn’t hurt to hear Hattie out and see if you two can work out a deal.My gosh, that would be awesome.”
I knew she’d agree, but her excitement was infectious.“I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
“I know, but you can’t keep letting Cameron and Naomi take away good things.They don’t own you.They’ve done nothing but hurt you.You don’t deserve it.”
“I know I don’t deserve it.”I’d spent too much time wondering why as I was growing up.
“Knowing itlogicallyis different from knowing itviscerally.Logically, you know that Cameron was the one who started an affair with his assistant.Logically, you know that Cameron said hateful things that made your mom too distraught to drive safely.Viscerally, that asshole and his wife have always made you feel like you were the reason everything blew up.That you being born was the catalyst that destroyed everything.Maybe that’s why you’ve chosen to ignore him rather than fight for your spot in this town.”
“Damn, Kenny.”I stared at the blacktop with the freshly painted dotted yellow line down the middle in front of me.
“Sorry, that just came out.”I could picture her biting her lower lip, an adorable line between her brows.
“I’m glad it did.”I laughed, mostly to relieve the knot in my chest that her words had created.I had decided to stay for the boys.Yet, I’d been tiptoeing around, afraid of my father’s reaction.
Fuck it.I was leaping in with both feet.“I’m going to tell Grandma Gin to start the paperwork with the bank.”Word would get back to Bruce that Grandma Gin was selling—to me and not him.That was going to piss off Bruce, and that would make it Cameron’s problem.“And I’ll work on my side gig while I’m in Williston.”I’d brainstorm ideas for when Hattie called, search for scrap metal I could work with, plan new projects, and apply for every fucking welding job in a sixty-mile radius from Coal Haven.
I was a Barron after all.
Kennedy
I faced Rattler’s.I’d done a lot of firsts in the last five months.All things I might’ve done before in my life, but they had become significant after my breakdown.My first long walk.My foray into yoga had become routine, like the walks.Sleeping with Liam.
Tonight was girls’ night out.Some of my coworkers had invited me along.They had tried for their May night out, but I had passed.This time, when the fifth-grade teacher, Aspen Whitfield, had asked, I’d made myself accept.
I was regretting it.I’d endured grocery trips with the sympathetic smiles.The knowing looks shot my way.The ones who ignored me completely.Those I was used to.Same with gassing my car up or passing someone on the walking path.
I stared at my bare ring finger.My stomach knotted, and I drew in a long, deep breath.
Had I made the right decision?I was growing used to having the ring off, but I hadn’t gone out with it off.I’d been around my coworkers, who’d been discreet if they had noticed I was no longer wearing my ring, with Liam, or at home.
Willow’s shocked reaction banged around my head.
My hands clenched around the steering wheel.I could go home and grab it.Tuck it back on my hand where it belonged.
Wedding rings were symbols.For a couple, they were a symbol of love and commitment.For a widow, it got complicated, and I instinctively knew that putting it on to buffer me from others’ reactions wasn’t healthy for me.
Rattler’s was packed.The busy supper crowd, full of people who knew who I was and my story.I was supposed to go in there and pretend I was having a good time.I was supposed to go in there and pretend that I was fine twenty-four seven.I was fine at work, but summer school was only a few hours a day, and the kids were oblivious to anything but what I was teaching and the fun their friends might be having without them.Around Liam, I didn’t have to hold back.
I forced my hand loose.This was why I had to do new things, go new places, meet new people—without Liam.I couldn’t spend my life waiting for him to slide in front of me like the guy who sweeps the ice in front of the curling stone to help me go farther and straighter.
A red car pulled in kitty-corner to me.Aspen grinned and waved.
The spell broken, I hurried out of my car.Entering the restaurant with someone would be easier.
“I’m so glad you could make it.”The description of amber waves of grain came to mind around Aspen.Hair the color of wheat hung down her back in soft waves, and her eyes were the color of a cold glass of light beer.She’d been in Coal Haven for a year.The upcoming school year would be her second out of college, and this was her first job.I didn’t know much else about her other than she had my old job.
“Thanks for inviting me—again.”
“I’ve been called tenacious, but my momma calls it nagging.”She hooked her arm through mine and towed me toward the door.“Marion is on her way.Kelsey messaged me and said she’d be a little late.Something with her kids.I also invited a friend of mine.She works at the clinic in town.The lab, I think.Oh, she grew up here.Of course you know Lyric.”
