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“I take it that’s the first time you’ve said that out loud?”
All I could do was nod. What if this was the worst decision I’ve ever made? “It is. Am I crazy?”
“Are you kidding me? I’ve been waiting for you to ditch that job for a couple of years. It’s not you.”
“What? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“What did you want us to say?” My dad spoke behind me. “Should we have told you to come home, that you were throwing your dream away, and that we would help you until you got established? You would have hung up and not called back.”
“I… I don’t know. You know this means I’m moving in for a while, right?”
“You are welcome here anytime, but I thought Landon might have other ideas?” His eyes shifted between me and my mother. “Not that you can’t stay here.”
“I am going to need you to keep the room cleaner.” My mother grinned, shaking her head.
I wasn’t certain how to respond to the Landon comment. We’d only just met. And he’d lived by himself for years. He might never want to live with anyone. I hadn’t even thought about that.
The buzzer on the oven went off, causing me to jump.
“What’s going in the oven?” My dad walked past me, planting a kiss on my mother’s cheek.
“The biscuits, please. Can you turn down the beef too? I need to get it out of the Crock-Pot and shred it.”
“I can do that. You can keep showing our daughter how to chop veggies.”
“Funny, Dad. Hilarious.”
A half hour later, we were having a late lunch around the kitchen table. I had always loved my mother’s cooking, and her vegetable soup was one of my favorites. Digging in, it was my father who brought Landon up again.
“In all seriousness, how are you feeling about this guy? He seems like a nice man, but he’s got some stuff in his background, right? Your mom mentioned it.”
“He does, but he’s worked through a lot. Moving here, starting over somewhere small, was the last push to get past what happened to him.”
“I saw the pictures. He’s damn lucky he made it out alive. The Ferrari looked like a matchbox car,” my father continued, passing me a biscuit.
A Ferrari? Holy hell. He hadn’t told me what he was driving. How did I miss that when I was looking at the articles? No wonder he felt safer in the truck.
“He said the same thing,” I uttered. “That’s why he has the truck now. He feels safer in it.”
“That’ll do it. They build those trucks like tanks. That’s why I still have mine, and his is a year older. It sounds crazy, but they don’t make cars as durable as they used to.”
“Oh, shoot!” My mother groaned. “You can’t take me anywhere.”
We looked over, and she’d spilled some soup on her white shirt.
“You’d better get that in the wash,” my dad offered. “It should be okay.”
“It’s comical that we clean clothing for a living and I can’t keep a white shirt clean to save my life.” She shook her head, laughing at herself, and went to change.
A few minutes later, she returned from the basement, and I noticed she had a cell phone in her hand. My first thought was that it was Landon’s, but as she got closer, I noticed it was mine. She caught my confusion, passing it to me.
“Sorry. I was down there, and it kept going off. I thought it might be Landon.”
“I don’t think so. He was going home to write and told me he forgets everything else when he’s focused.”
“He’s writing again?” Her eyes lit up. “That’s exciting. Do you think he’d let me have a sneak peek?”
“Now, Beth.” My dad laughed. “You know you can’t trade him for Tara, right?”
“Of course! I was just thinking if he needed a fan’s opinion, I could help.”
“It’s fine. I’m not offended. I think he’s pretty cool too.” The phone vibrated in my hand as I finished. Looking down, I saw it was Mina and not Landon. I would have let it go until we were done, but that’s when I realized she’d called and texted multiple times.
“I’m going to call Mina back. She’s called and texted a couple of times. I’ll be right back.” I need to plug in as well. After spending the night at Landon’s, my phone was low on power. Connecting it with the cord, I dialed her number. She answered on the first ring.
“Oh, my goodness. Are you okay? I was about to drive to your house?” Mina was breathless, practically yelling in my ear.
“What’s wrong? Of course I’m okay. I’m eating a late lunch with my mom and dad.”
“You haven’t heard, then. Tara, there was an accident. Landon is in the hospital. He crashed after a news crew from Nashville chased him down Long Hollow Canyon. There are tons of cops at the accident site and the hospital.” She stopped, waiting for me to respond, but I couldn’t.
