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All the memories I’ve been having the last three weeks have made me feel like a gigantic ass for not reaching out to him.
“Your dad?” Bruce asked, his tone gentle.
I clenched my jaw and lifted a shoulder. All the same things that had run through my mind for my brother fit my dad too. “We’re not close.”
“Oh.” Bruce sat forward and put his elbows on his knees, his fingertips touching each other. “How was Allan last time you saw him. Really? And so you know, whatever you tell me stays between us. Cameron and Kira…If they want to know, they can behave better and ask you themselves.”
I debated what to say. Mama wouldn’t have sent Christmas cards if Dad had ranted about Bruce. She supported Dad, and she’d trusted Bruce and Willow with updates about the family. I’d do the same. “Dad lost everything before I was ten. The new owner of the ranch let him stay on as manager, and Mama was the lodge housekeeper.” After he’d made us move out. “But any profit funneled to them, not us. Then Mama died three years later, and things really went downhill. I blamed Dad. I won the scholarship, and that changed everything.
“Mr. Truitt—he’s my current boss and the guy who sponsored the scholarship—was everything Dad wasn’t. When I went back home, I think my dad and Ansen thought I had become an arrogant bastard. I think I gave up on Dad and I antagonized my brother. And I can’t say they were wrong to quit talking to me.”
Bruce stayed quiet for several moments after I stopped speaking. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to say anything. Nothing would make it right. Not the mistakes Dad had made, nor how I’d acted toward him and my brother.
“Cameron’s the oldest.” His brow furrowed as if he had to bolster himself to keep talking. “He had the authority. Our parents put him in charge of everything.” He wiggled his hands. “Everything. From the moment we left the womb, I don’t remember a time Cameron wasn’t the boss of us. Kira and I, we went along with it. But we were younger and there wasn’t as much expected of us. But your dad is only a year younger than Cameron. He had to do just as much work, sometimes more, but he never got our parents’ attention. Cameron got all the glory, all the rewards.”
I got a better sense of Dad’s personality. He’d wanted to prove himself, so when he’d failed, he made sure no one saw. He’d kept us isolated. Perhaps he didn’t think he deserved rewards, and the rest of us didn’t know why.
“They fought.” Bruce’s chuckle lacked all humor. “Those two fought all the time. And when Dad handed full control over to Cameron? Allan was pissed. I was trained to believe Cameron’s word was law. Kira too. So we didn’t help. I can’t blame your dad. For never coming home. I can’t blame him. I just wish things turned out better for you all.”
“Me too. But since I’ve been here, I’ve remembered a lot more of the good times. And I’m grateful for that.”
His smile was so fatherly it damn near ripped my heart out. “Good. If you don’t mind me asking, and tell me to butt out if you need to, but where are you and Delaney going to live?”
I didn’t want to lie, but I didn’t want to get into it. I lacked answers to a lot of important questions. “We’re not sure yet.”
“I imagine leaving your job won’t be easy, but I wasn’t sure if you’d move into Delaney’s parents’ house or the trailer.”
I lifted my brows. “Excuse me?”
Bruce waved a hand. “Oh, I ran into Kane at the grocery store. Willow needed some green beans. Anyway, he said Laney will be ranch manager, and her mom plans to work less. But I can’t imagine either of you wants to live in his trailer house.”
“Definitely not,” I uttered, not sure how else to reply. I was willfully ignorant of Dad’s and Ansen’s well-being. I was out of the loop with my wife, but not because I wanted to be. Why didn’t she discuss this with me? We were trying to work on our marriage, so for her to decide to stay and manage the Diamond UU—when she knew my past—was almost like me going to the condo and finding her gone again. Confusion and betrayal mingled in my brain.
Delaney appeared at the entry of the living room. “Dinner’s ready.” She grinned at me. “Willow is such a good cook, I bet her food is better than your chef’s.”
I couldn’t force a smile. Because what Bruce said sounded recent, and I’d been around Delaney all damn day, receiving hay shipments. And she hadn’t mentioned any new arrangements, ones that would affect our future together.
* * *
Laney
“I’m sorry, all right?” I sat in my pickup in the yard outside the barn. It was the only private place we could discuss what Bruce had said. “I talked with Ma yesterday and it just…It was a shock, and I didn’t know what to do.”
I had known Archer was upset about something, and it most likely had to do with me. What should’ve been a pleasant visit with neighbors I’d lived near my entire life had turned into the biggest acting gig of my life. It was like I was out with the Truitts again. Smile here. Say something smart. Cue laughter. My stomach had churned the entire time, which was too bad. Willow made really fucking good hotdishes.
I hoped Bruce and Willow didn’t realize that Archer and I were anything but a happy couple. But from the way Archer’s eyes had flashed, we were not. I shouldn’t have been surprised when Archer told me what he was upset about. It was a small town, and I should’ve talked to him yesterday.
His hot gaze burned the side of my face as I stared out the windshield. “You mean you know what to do, you just didn’t want to tell me.”
“Archer, this is mylife.”
“What about me? What aboutus? Don’t you think this is a decision we should make together?”
“Oh, you mean like you’ve been talking to me about where we should live?”
His brows drew together. “We’ve talked.”
“You’ve said you love your job, it’s your dream, Norville’s awesome, and you’re going back to Dallas.” He’d made it clear, but silly me, I’d hung on to hope.
