Worth the Wait (The Harvest Ridge Series Book 1)

by K. L. Ramsey

  She knew it was irrational, but it was the way she felt. Years in therapy had taught her that running away from her feelings wasn’t the answer, but denying them was just as bad. At least she was embracing her feelings about Tag, but she was still running. Eventually, she’d run out of valid excuses and have to return to Harvest Ridge. Until that day, she’d hide from everything and everyone that she loved. It was safer that way.

  ***

  It seemed to take hours to go through all the paperwork for Agnes’s estate.

  “You were her sole beneficiary, Miss Flynn.” Her grandmother’s lawyer almost seemed pleased with himself, sharing that bit of information with her.

  Piper waved off the thought. “I really don’t care about any of it, Mr Ketchum.”

  She looked at the older gentleman, sitting across from her and wondered how well he knew Agnes.

  “How well did you know my grandmother, Mr Ketchum?” The question was out of her mouth before she could think better of asking it.

  “Please, call me John. Your grandmother and I had a working relationship. I really didn’t know her outside of those parameters. Why do you ask?” He seemed to study her, waiting for her answer.

  “Well—”

  Piper wasn’t quite sure why she asked. She had about a million questions about her grandmother but didn’t know if any were appropriate to ask her lawyer.

  “I guess I’m just wondering why she chose to leave it all to me? I really didn’t have a relationship with her.”

  Piper thought back to the number of interactions that she could remember with Agnes. Her father had tried to see his mother each time they made a trip to the city. Piper could only remember seeing Agnes on two accounts. The first was when she was just five and her parents brought her to the city for a writers’ convention that her dad had to attend. The second was the trip to New York when she lost her parents. She had always wondered what kind of person could leave a grieving twelve-year-old girl by herself in a police station. It made her stomach ache just remembering her grandmother’s face as she turned to walk away from her. So stoic and harsh. She hadn’t even hugged her good-bye.

  Over the years, Piper had given up on ever hearing from Agnes. She’d expected a Christmas or birthday card, but they’d stopped coming after her parents’ deaths. Until Mr Ketchum had called her last week, she hadn’t heard a peep from or about her grandmother since that day. And now, to find out that Agnes had left her everything—she just couldn’t wrap her head around it.

  “I have something here that might help explain things, Miss Flynn. Your grandmother left a sealed letter for you. I am only to give it to you after you have signed for the estate.”

  Piper looked at the envelope that Mr Ketchum laid before her. She wanted to go against her grandmother’s wishes and peek inside. She wanted some insight as to what Agnes wanted from her after all this time. She also knew that the letter might not give her any answers.

  “I also know that your grandmother was a hard woman. She was even harder to work for. After she and I met to go over these papers, she handed me this envelope, with her instructions. She told me that her one regret in life was you, and then she sent me on my way. That was over two years ago, Miss Flynn. I’m not telling you what to do, I just know that sometimes in life second chances are needed. You need to decide if you want to grant her another go around.”

  He pulled his pen from his suit coat pocket and pushed it towards Piper with the papers. She studied them for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons of the situation. Had she flown all this way to turn down her grandmother’s estate? She didn’t want anything from the woman, she just wanted some clarity. Maybe her grandmother’s letter would give her that. She decided to take a leap of faith. After all she had nothing waiting for her back in Harvest Ridge. She had nowhere else to go but home, back to a failed relationship and heartache. She picked up the pen and signed the papers, taking ownership of her grandmother’s estate. Mr Ketchum gathered them up and stacked them neatly back into his briefcase.

  “You are a very rich woman now, Miss Flynn. If you need anything else from me, please be in touch.” He handed her his business card along with her grandmother’s letter.

  “All funds will be wired into your accounts by tomorrow, start of business. I will set up a meeting for you with the estate auctioneer. He will help you go through Agnes’s things and decide what you would like to keep and what you would rather part with.”

  He stood and offered Piper his hand. She suddenly felt panicked at the thought of being alone in Agnes’s home.

  “Can you tell me a decent place to stay? Nothing too pricey.” Piper shook his hand, not letting go for fear that he would leave.

  Mr Ketchum laughed, pulling his hand free to find his cell phone. He called his assistant and within minutes had a hotel suite reserved in Piper’s name. He also offered his personal driver until she could find her own. She gathered her things, followed Mr Ketchum out and locked up behind herself. She smiled at the doorman who helped her with her bags into the car. She would never get used to people waiting on her, doing things for her. She was a self-reliant woman, always had been.

  Mr Ketchum seemed to notice her discomfort. “Get used to it. This is your new normal.”

  He told his driver about the arrangements that he’d made for Piper and they rode to the hotel in silence. Piper couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in just twenty-four hours. She’d gone from being irrationally terrified that the only man she ever loved was dead, to staying in a suite at the St. Regis. She was staying in one of the most luxurious, expensive hotels in New York City, yet she was consumed with thoughts of Tag. She wondered if he had asked where she was. Actually, she wondered if he’d even noticed that she’d left town yet.

  Mr Ketchum delivered Piper to the St. Regis and helped her check-in. She was truly out of her element and her lawyer seemed to notice. She was thankful to have his help, but she was also dog tired and ready to collapse into a big, white, fluffy bed. Luckily for her, he was a very observant man and left, telling her that he would call on her in the morning.

  She thanked the young man from the front desk of the gorgeous hotel, who’d insisted on helping her to her room, and gave him her last five dollars. She couldn’t believe the suite—it was practically the size of Agnes’s home. She hadn’t missed the surprise on Mr Ketchum’s face when she’d asked for a place to stay, but staying at her grandmother’s apartment was out of the question. Tomorrow, when she felt fresh, she would call the auctioneer and make plans for selling it.

  She turned Agnes’s letter over in her hands. She wanted to read her grandmother’s words but was also afraid of what she had to say. Would she treat her with the same coldness that she had shown to her mother? Piper remembered her mom saying that Agnes had never really had a conversation with her. She just wrote her off from the start, not giving her a chance.

  “It’s now or never, Piper. Stop being a chicken.”

  She opened the envelope and took a deep breath. Her grandmother’s handwriting looked so much like her father’s. Piper could feel her emotions bubbling up, but she was able to choke back her tears. She needed to read the letter, then she could break down.

  My dear Grand-daughter,

  I know that this must all be a shock to you, as we have not had a proper relationship, prior. I’m hoping that you have been able to look past my inadequacies as your grandmother and accept my estate. If that is the case, you probably have questions. It is my hope that this letter will answer a few of them for you. Others are probably better left unanswered.

  First, I must apologize for not being able to care for you after your parents’ deaths. My dear Andrew was my only child. When he decided to go to Colorado State University, to study journalism, I was so pleased. I believed that he would work here in the city after he got his degree, but I was wrong. He met your mother and stayed in Colorado. I was beside myself with grief. I blamed your mother for my sadness, something that I regret to
this day. I didn’t realize how wrong I had been. Seeing your mother in the police morgue made me face my own flaws, only after it was too late to make any amends.

  I was so overcome with my own grief and shame that I couldn’t face you, a twelve-year-old child who needed me. I’ve never been able to forgive myself for the way that I just left you in that police station, waiting for your aunt. I didn’t feel that it was my place to contact you, after I chose to walk away from you. Each year that passed, I longed to send you a card or phone you. I wanted to know about the young woman that had grown up without me, but my own inept inability to forgive myself stood in my way.

  I hope that you were able to find some form of happiness, even after such a great loss. I know that your father would have wanted so much joy for his only daughter. He would have wanted you to grow and flourish into a kind woman, unlike his own mother. I remember how much in love he sounded whenever he spoke of your mother. He truly loved her. I know that he would have wanted you to find that kind of love in your life.

  Finally, I want to leave you with a little wisdom that I have gleaned from my long, lonely life. I have pushed everyone that I have loved from my life, to protect my own pride. I have regretted that decision for a very long time. I gave up my son, his wife and my only grand-daughter, in my own arrogance. My life is marred with regret and desolation. If I am afforded the luxury of leaving you with any advice, it would be to not follow my example. Blaze your own path, my dear Piper. Find love and happiness and fill your life with both, every day.

  Fondly,

  Your Grandmother, Agnes

  Piper put the letter back into the envelope and shoved it into her purse. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Agnes’s final words to her. She needed time to process everything that had happened to her over the past two days. It felt more like two months had passed since she’d walked away from Tag. All she could think about was showering and sleeping.

  When she finally crawled into the massive bed, she thought about calling home. She looked at the clock—it would be about one in the morning back home, too late to call Sunny. She’d call her in the morning to let her know that she was safe. Piper closed her eyes, expecting to see images of the monster that killed her parents, but she only saw Tag. Her nightmares had taken on a new face. Images of Tag lying dead at the bottom of a cliff played through her dreams nightly now. Her only consolation was that he was alive and well back in Harvest Ridge. For now, that was enough.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It had been five days since Piper left town. Tag was going out of his mind not hearing her voice or being able to touch her. He went over to Piper’s old house a few hours after she broke up with him. He wanted to talk some sense into her, needed to tell her how much she meant to him. Tag knew that if she would just listen to him, he could convince her not to let her fears rule her life. Everyone had fears, he just needed to prove to her that happiness waited for her if she fought hers.

  When he didn’t find her at her old house or her shop, he headed over to Sunny’s bakery, where he found Lorna. She was giving Sunny a piece of her mind, her hands on her hips, yelling at the top of her lungs. When she got to the part about Piper leaving town, Tag panicked.

  “Piper left? Where the hell did she go?” Both women turned to face Tag. Lorna’s face showed the tears she had shed with worry about her niece. Sunny groaned and smacked her head with her palm.

  “This is just what I needed. Thanks, Pipe.” She looked towards the ceiling, as if talking to a ghost.

  “I know where she went. I know that she is safe but, beyond that, I can’t tell you where she is.” Sunny locked her jaw, her stubborn attempt at keeping Piper’s secret.

  “Just tell me where she is, Sunny. I’m her aunt. I have a right to know that the woman that I raised as my own is someplace safe.” Lorna’s tears started anew.

  Sunny rounded the counter to put her arms around Lorna, who buried her face in Sunny’s shoulder.

  “She’s safe, Lorna. She decided to go to New York to settle her grandmother’s estate. She just needed some time.” She looked at Tag as she spoke.

  “Where in New York? Give me an address Sunny.” Tag could hear the heat in his voice, and he couldn’t hide his anger. He needed to get to Piper. He wanted to be with her. He’d said he’d go with her if she changed her mind about settling her grandmother’s estate. He felt like he was breaking another promise to her, even though he knew she hadn’t given him a chance to be there for her.

  He knew the demons that she was facing in going back to New York, and she shouldn’t be facing them alone. But Piper had shut everyone out. Tag knew that Piper’s refusing to let anyone in was her way of coping with her fears, but that didn’t make him hurt any less.

  “Tag, I can’t tell you her address. I promised her, when we were nine, to never break the best friend code. If she wants to talk to you, she’ll call you. I won’t betray her.”

  Tag turned to leave the bakery, knowing that Sunny wasn’t going to give up Piper’s address. He would just have to get it another way. He growled as he pushed the door open, anxious to find Piper.

  “Just give her a day or two, she’ll come to her senses.” Sunny shouted after him.

  He didn’t want to sit around while Piper came to her senses, so he did the only thing he could think of—he talked to Torren.

  Watching Piper walk away from him, leaving him standing in the middle of the road—it had broken him. He wasn’t sure how to pick himself up and move forward. Torren tried to get him to go out and find another woman to forget Piper with, but that would never happen. He should have known better than to go to his brother for advice on women. Piper was the only woman he wanted, something Torren just didn’t understand. Tag was back to square one and he wasn’t sure what to do next.

  After two more days of wallowing in his own anger, Tag decided that if he was looking for sound advice, he needed to ask Aaron. His best friend told him that he needed to get himself together and go after his girl. That would be a whole lot easier to do if Tag knew where she was. He was pissed that Piper had walked away from him so easily, without looking back. He was angry that she hadn’t contacted him, at least to let him know that she was still alive. A part of him knew Aaron was right, but he let his stubborn pride and anger get in the way. He decided to wait her out. Piper needed to come to him if she wanted him back. He wasn’t going to chase her halfway across the country and beg her for another chance. She was the one that broke up with him. She was the one who left him and went to New York, breaking his heart. She left him.

  That same stubborn pride and anger is what got him through three more days without Piper. It was time to get himself together and figure his shit out because, if he was being honest, he couldn’t see his future without Piper. She was the other half to his heart. Figuring out how to get her back was another problem. When Piper dug her heels in, she wasn’t one to budge easily. He needed reinforcements. He needed Sunny, God help him, to figure Piper out. If it wasn’t for Sunny’s persistence and butting in, they would have never gotten together in the first place. If anyone would know what to do, it was Sunny. The problem was getting her to give up Piper’s whereabouts without feeling like she was betraying her best friend.

  Every day, Sunny came into his store to check on him. At first, he met her concern with anger. If Sunny cared about him, she would have told him where he could find Piper. All he needed was an address and he’d be on a plane, headed to her. Tag could feel Sunny’s resistance wearing down. Each day, she seemed to find it harder and harder to look him dead in the eye and refuse to tell him. Today was the day—he was determined to find out exactly where Piper had been hiding. God help him, Sunny was his only hope.

  He walked into the town’s only bar and found Sunny sitting at a booth in the corner. She was about halfway through a plate of loaded fries.

  “Hey, you’re late!” Sunny was going for angry, but her smile gave her away.

  “Yeah, sorry. I had to wait for Tor
ren to show up at the store. Being on time isn’t his strong suit.”

  Sunny rolled her eyes and nodded to the seat across from hers. Tag slid into the booth and stole one of her fries. When the waitress came over he ordered a burger and a beer.

  “You look like shit, Tag.” Sunny looked him up and down, disapprovingly. “Have you slept or ate since she left? Each day you’ve looked worse and worse.”

  “Barely,” Tag admitted. He ran his hands through his already disheveled hair. “What do I do Sunny? I can’t get her out of my mind. I know she said not to follow her—hell, she said a lot of things. I just … I need her.” Tag felt like he wanted to cry, he needed to get himself together. Admitting out loud just how much he missed Piper only made him even more miserable.

  “She’s turned off her phone, I can’t reach her either. It’s like she’s just disappeared from the face of the earth.” Sunny took a sip of her water. “I’m not sure what to do. I do know that I have never seen Piper happier than when she was with you. She needs you Tag, I don’t give a fig what she told you. She was letting her fear talk, not her heart.”

  “What are my options, Sunny? She won’t answer any of my phone calls and she is half a country from anyone who cares about her.” Tag took his beer from the waitress and drank down half of it.

  “We just need a plan. One that will knock Piper on her ass and show her what a jerk she’s being.” Sunny finished off the rest of her fries and shoved her plate to the side.

  “I say you get on a plane, Tag. New York is gorgeous in the summer, you’ll love it.” Sunny leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her tiny frame.

  “Sure, Sunny. I’ll just jump on a plane and fly to New York.” Tag took a big bite of his burger and groaned. It was the first real food he’d had in days. “I’ll just wander around the city, shouting Piper’s name. I’m sure I’ll find her in no time.”

  Sunny laughed as Tag took a swallow of his beer to wash down his burger.