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“The word around town is, he was worried about Amos being sick,” she answers.
“Amos is ill?” Dallas asks.
“COPD,” my mom replies with a soft, concerned tone. “And an array of other problems, I assume, even though Amos is too proud to tell anyone what’s going on with him.”
Gage’s dad is a prideful soul who isn’t one to accept handouts. Even when his wife died, he never asked for help. He worked two jobs, was present at every game of Gage’s, and did all the grocery shopping and cooking. The man lived for family, and it doesn’t surprise me that he’s still the same.
“Is thatallyou know?” I push.
What’s the plus of having your mom be in the gossip crew if she doesn’t give you anything juicy?
“Sorry, honey. I wish I had more. He’s cloak-and-dagger about what happened in his life when he was gone, and so is Amos. Give him time. If you push, he’ll only pull.”
I nod, and luckily, Hudson changes the subject. He has the best intuition on when to cut a conversation short and move on to something new.
* * *
“Hey there, big brother,”I say, sitting next to Dallas on the porch swing after dinner.
“Hey there, my mischievous little sister,” he replies.
The sun is setting. My dad is in the yard, playing with Maven, Willow is taking care of Samuel and his dinner business, and my mom is deep into final wedding arrangements with Stella and Hudson.
They’re having the ceremony at my parents’ house, which was a surprise to me. The fact that she’d trade out some big Hollywood nuptials for something small here made my heart warm.
“Can I ask you a question?” I ask.
“Asking permission has never stopped you before.”
“It’s not exactly a question, I guess. More like advice.”
He chuckles. “I might be the wrong person to go to for advice. I’m the dude who has to get that from others.”
“You give good guidance,” I say, elbowing him. “Sure, you’re not the best at taking it when it’s your own life decisions, but you’ve helped both me and Hudson with our problems I don’t know how many times. If it wasn’t for you, Hudson and Stella wouldn’t be together.”
He nods. “I won’t take all the credit for that one, but thank you for coming to me. So, what’s up?”
I hesitate before answering for two reasons. The first being I’m not sure if I’m making a bigger deal than what it is, and the second being it might bring up painful memories for my brother.
“Gage …” I pause. “He was married before he moved back.”
“And?”
“That’s a big commitment.”
Other than my parents, Dallas is the only one in our family who’s been married. He also is no longer with his wife. The circumstances are different since he had no say in his marriage ending. He became a widower too young.
He nods in understanding. “Committing to someone in the past can’t stop you from loving another, nor does it mean you have to keep the person in your heart forever. Not that I can say from experience, but people divorce for different reasons. But one thing to remember is, your heart is big enough to give people pieces of it. You can scatter your love along as you proceed through life. Maybe Gage was married, maybe he did love another woman, but that doesn’t mean he can’t love you, too.”
“He’s a different man from who he was when we were younger.” Something else Dallas can relate to.
“Yes, most people change as they get older.”
I shove his side and laugh. “Shut up, big head. You know what I mean. It’s like he’s carrying something on his shoulders that he can’t let go of.”
“You think it was a bad marriage?”
“I have no idea what to think. It’s so confusing. He said he didn’t love her, and whenever I bring her up, there’s nothing but hatred on his face. Maybe she did him dirty, and he can’t accept it?”
