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His eyebrows drew together. “The Lawton estate? The place you sold?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
Nash leaned back in his chair and let out a long, low whistle. “Holy shit,” he murmured; then a smile spread across his lips. “You’re fucking coming home.”
I shrugged and took another drink of my water.
Nash laughed out loud. “Damn, this is good news. First Asa and now you.”
“It’s home for both me and Willa. I tried running from it, thinking I’d find somewhere else that worked for us, but this is home. Willa misses her nonna and worries about her. Hell, I do too. The woman can cook. Bryony is the only blood relative I have that I care about. I want to be in her life. She’s growing so fucking fast.”
“And then there is me,” Nash added, still grinning.
“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” I drawled.
“So you think Willa is going to want this? The Lawton Estate? Moving back without talking to her?” Nash asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, she is. It’s not something she brings up a lot but when she talks about the future she mentions moving back here. Taking care of her nonna. Being home. I think this is ultimately where she wants us to be but she won’t tell me that. She thinks I am happy with our current plans.”
He slapped his hand on the table and stood up. “This calls for a celebration. Let’s day drink.”
“They haven’t accepted my offer yet. The place wasn’t on the market,” I told him. When we had driven into town and Willa’s eyes filled with emotion as she sighed and said “We’re home.” I’d decided then to make an offer on the Lawton estate. If this place made her that happy, then it was what I wanted too.
He cut his eyes back at me. “Yeah, but you offered them enough to make them want to sell.”
I shrugged. “Possibly.”
“That’s my obnoxious, rich, yet loveable Gunner. I’m getting us a beer,” he said just as the front door opened and Tallulah walked in with a tray of goodies that I knew were straight from her momma’s kitchen.
“Beer at noon? Really?” she asked, looking at Nash.
He paused and then smiled at her. “Maybe not this early,” he replied.
She smirked and put the tray on the table. “Milk goes better with these caramel fudge cookies than beer anyway,” she told him then looked over at me. “Is Willa here? I need to find shoes for the field dedication. I was hoping she could help me shop.”
I started to shake my head when there was a knock this time on the door before it opened up. Willa stepped inside, and she didn’t have to speak for me to know something was wrong. Her gaze swung to mine, and the look in her eyes had me standing up and forgetting about the cookies.
“Hey,” I said, walking toward her. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head and forced a smile. “It’s fine,” she replied, placing her hand on my arm.
“No, it’s not. You can’t lie to me,” I told her.
She sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “Not rightnow, okay?” she said, then looked at the other two over my shoulder. “Oh! I have pies and brownies in the car. I forgot them. Nonna sent them.”
“I’ll get them, but walk with me,” I said, placing my hand on her back and turning around toward the door.
She didn’t argue, thankfully. I wasn’t waiting to find out why she looked so damn upset. I was hoping to give her good news later today. This was not how I wanted her to be when that happened.
“Talk, baby,” I said the moment the door closed behind us.
She took a few more steps, then turned to look up at me. “My mother has cancer. She’s dying. Six months if she’s lucky,” she said without taking a breath. “And I… I don’t know if I care and if that makes me a bad person or if it’s okay to feel nothing.”
I pulled her into my arms and held her against my chest. Her mother was a fucking piece of shit. I hated the woman more than I hated my own mother, and that was saying a lot. But it was clear Willa was feeling something. Her eyes never lied.
“Is it that you feel something and you don’t want to maybe?”
She shook her head against my chest. “No. I’m upset for Nonna. I’m worried about Chance, who is going to betwenty-one raising a six-year-old little girl. Rick ran off a few years ago, apparently. Yet Chance has told me nothing. He has kept so much a secret from me and I have let him. I’m his sister and I should have known. And I am worried about my soul because I feel nothing for her. I don’t feel any emotion for my mother at all. Just for those this will affect.”
