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Grams reacted completely differently to Hazel’s request to help. She beamed ear to ear and waved Hazel into the kitchen. “Yes, yes, honey. I’d love the help. Please, come on in.”
Hazel wandered into the room, and Grams gave her tasks instantly, and I felt personally attacked. “Are you kidding? I can help!”
“You’re better helping Big Paw,” Hazel said. “He’s requesting your presence in his office.”
I headed toward Big Paw’s office, and when I walked inside, I snickered a little at the image of him holding little Rosie in his hands.
“That’s a good look for you, Big Paw,” I joked, but he didn’t laugh.
He nodded toward the seat across from him. “Take a seat, Ian.”
“What is this? A godfather moment?” I joked.
“Sit your ass down,” he ordered.
I swallowed hard at his tone and took my seat. The sternness of his voice threw me for a loop and shot me back to my high school days when he used to scold me for being a dumbass kid.
He cradled Rosie in his arms—and to be clear, it was still hilarious to watch—and he narrowed his eyes toward me. “What are your intentions with Hazel?”
I chuckled, completely thrown off by his words. “What? What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said, boy. What are your intentions? Do you see a future of some kind with her, or are you just playing the field out there on the road? Because that’s a good girl with a hard work ethic who is raising her sister, and so help me, if you hurt her, I will kick your ass so hard you’ll become a soprano.”
“What the heck, Big Paw? I’m your grandson, not the other way around. Shouldn’t you be giving Hazel this talk about her intentions for me?”
“I already did,” he stated matter-of-factly. “She’s a good girl who sees a future with you. But I can’t have you out there playing with her emotions. She’s a great human being, Ian. This world doesn’t get many great human beings, and she’s already been through a lot in her short lifetime, so if this isn’t something you see yourself going with, if your career is the main focus for you right now, that’s fine. But if that’s so, let her go now before she falls deeper. Don’t drag her along if you don’t want something more. So I ask you again—what are your intentions?”
I clasped my hands together and leaned back in my chair, looking straight into my grandfather’s eyes. “It’s the kind of thing you have with Grams,” I said, feeling it deep in my gut. I wanted to make a million memories with Hazel. I wanted our grandchildren to witness our love story firsthand as we grew older with one another down the line. I wanted her to sass me for the rest of forever.
I wanted to grow old with that girl who’d helped me open up my heart.
“All right, then.” Big Paw smiled with the corner of his mouth, and he nodded once and only once. “No matter the fame and success you find, you keep holding on to that girl, all right? No matter what, you don’t let her go.”
29
HAZEL
“Please tell me that you got the godfather talk from Big Paw, too, and he wasn’t just saying he gave it to you?” Ian asked as we drove back home late that evening from helping his grandparents.
“Oh, I received the talk and the threats that went along with it.” I glanced back to Rosie sleeping in her car seat. If there was anything I could count on, it was Rosie falling asleep on car rides. Lately, when she was too overwhelmed, I’d pack us up in Ian’s truck and drive around for as long as it took to soothe her. “The threats from Big Paw seem a little tamer when he’s going gaga over Rosie, though.”
“He’s obsessed with her, huh? It’s funny seeing him that way. Who knew it would take a baby to make him gentle? I thought only Grams could do that.”
“There’s not a day that he’s not checking in on her. I swear, he comes to the ranch a lot more now that Rosie is around. She’s a special thing, my little sister.”
“She must take after you.”
I smiled toward him as I laid my head against the headrest. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“You can tell me all your secrets.”
“I worry a little about your grandparents working so hard at their age. They do too much for others, and they should really ease back. Holly is still working day in and day out at the Farmhouse, and Big Paw is pretty much running the town. It can’t be good for their health. Plus, when I was cooking with Holly tonight, she seemed to get winded quite fast.”
“I know. I’ve been telling them to slow down for the past few years, but they don’t listen. It’s as if they don’t know how to take breaks from the grind of it all. They’ve done so much for this town. It’s time they take a step back. I don’t know what it will take for them to pull back any. They aren’t really the type to take help—they are more into giving it.”
“That makes me sad for them. They deserve a break, time for themselves.”
“Says the girl who doesn’t take time for herself.”
