by Tia Siren
We made our way back down the street to where our trucks were parked outside the diner. It was after eight and Jasper was fading fast. The sugar rush from the ice cream had peaked and he was crashing.
“We should get going,” I said, a little bummed that the night was coming to an end. I hoped Brock would ask us to dinner again. I knew I had basically forced him into taking me along, but hopefully he liked my company and would want to do it again.
Jasper walked to the passenger side of the truck and crawled into the back seat of the extended cab. Brock deftly fastened the seatbelt around him, checked to make sure it was snapped in place, and then kissed Jasper on the top of his head.
Jasper grabbed Brock’s face with his hands and kissed him on the cheek. I looked away, not wanting either of them to see the tears welling in my eyes. I walked to the driver’s side and climbed in. I, too, was suddenly feeling quite tired. It had been a long past few days at the farm, and it was catching up with me.
Brock came to the driver’s side door.
I rolled the window down. “Thank you. I had a really good time. Jasper did, too.”
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. It was sweet and innocent and, sadly, a little platonic.
“I had a really nice time as well. Can we do it again sometime soon?”
“I’d like that.”
“I’ll call you?”
I nodded.
He stood back as we drove away. I watched in the rearview mirror and felt all warm and fuzzy. It had been a long time since I had felt that way about Brock. About any man, really. I had closed myself off from men in general after learning I was pregnant. I had dated a few, but never entered into any real relationships. Brock had always held a special place in my heart, and I’d never found a way to evict him.
Now I was actually glad about that. It was a strange feeling and one that I wanted to explore further. I had a feeling he felt the same way. Now we needed to figure out whether it was a good idea to go down this road again. We had to think about Jasper. It would be selfish to put him through a nasty breakup if things didn’t work out.
It was too much to try to decide at the moment, though. I would sleep on it and mull it over. Right now, my focus was on my dad and Jasper. They were my priorities and had to stay that way.
Chapter 26
Brock
Running late, I decided to grab some breakfast to go at the diner. I had a phone conference at nine with another potential investor and then a meeting with still another. I needed to have all my ducks in a row. I couldn’t afford another missed opportunity. I was starving after my quick run this morning and couldn’t wait to dig into some carbs.
I pulled into the diner, walked to the front counter, and greeted the hostess. Then it happened.
“Daddy!”
I was absolutely excited to see Jasper, but the single word created some kind of time-warp effect in the diner. No one moved. No one said a word. I turned to see Tanner at a back booth in the diner and Jasper racing down the aisle toward me. His arms went around my legs as he squeezed me tight. I leaned over, rubbed his back, and attempted to hug him, but he had me at a bit of a disadvantage.
“Hey, buddy!” I said, happy to see him.
Tanner sauntered up behind Jasper with a big grin on his face. He made sure the last of the breakfast crowd, which was mostly the older population, saw how happy he was. He smiled and nodded at all the people who were staring at the three of us.
The second Jasper released my legs, I lifted him and kissed his cheek. “Did you already eat your breakfast?”
“Nope. Me and Grandpa ordered some pancakes here so Mom could get some sleep. She was real tired,” he explained.
I laughed. “Good,” I said as I put him back down on the ground. He glued himself to my side.
“Good morning, Tanner,” I said, feeling a little awkward.
Tanner was still beaming. “Good morning yourself, Brock.”
“I was just getting my breakfast to go,” I said for lack of anything else to say.
“Why don’t you join us? Can you spare ten minutes? I think your son would enjoy having breakfast with you.”
I hesitated but then quickly agreed. I turned to the hostess, who smiled and winked at me and told me she’d bring it to the table with the other two orders.
“I’m really happy everything worked out,” Tanner said, winking as he walked toward the table.
I smiled and followed him. I didn’t have the heart to tell him nothing had really worked out, unless he was referring to him keeping his farm. If that was the case, well, that had certainly worked out for him, and I guessed I could admit it wasn’t so bad for me. If it meant I could get those hugs every day, I was cool with losing half a million dollars.
Jasper wanted to sit beside me in the booth. The boy was a bundle of energy this morning. No wonder Ashley was tired. This would take some getting used to.
“How’s Helen doing?” Tanner asked.
I should have known everyone would know about her cancer. Little got past anyone in this town.
“She’s fighting the good fight. She had a double mastectomy. The doctor in Morgantown thought an aggressive approach would give her the best shot at kicking this thing.”
“What’s a mastectomy?” Jasper asked.
Oops. I forgot we had little ears.
Thankfully, Tanner handled the situation. “It’s a woman thing. I’ll explain when you’re older.”
Jasper was satisfied with the answer and went back to doing the maze on the paper menu.
“Next time you talk to her, pass along my best wishes, would you please?” he asked.
“I’ll do that.”
Our food was delivered and we all dug in with gusto. It was a little surreal to be sitting at a table and eating breakfast with my son and Ashley’s dad. I looked up and saw Anna walking by. I prayed she wouldn’t look in the window, but she saw her dad and waved. When she saw me, her eyes practically fell out of her head.
She paused for a second, glared at me, and then continued toward the office. I knew I was going to get the third degree for sure. We finished eating and chatted about nothing in particular for a few more minutes until I checked my watch and realized it was close to nine.
“We better let your dad get to work, Jasper. We need to get those groceries your mom asked for, too,” Tanner said, recognizing my need to leave.
“Thank you so much for letting me eat breakfast with you,” I said to Jasper, ruffling his hair.
He shrugged. “It’s no problem,” he said, as if he were a grown adult doing me a favor.
His response got a chuckle out of both me and Tanner. I slid out of the booth, said my good-byes, and walked out of the diner. I could feel the hum of voices as I went. The old biddies had their confirmation now. By the end of the day, the whole town would know that Ashley and I had a son together. It was going to be a bumpy ride, but together, we could weather the scandal that was headed our way.
I drove the short distance to my office, bracing myself for Anna’s wrath, and headed inside. She was sitting at her desk, tapping on the keyboard, pretending she didn’t notice as I walked in. The bell made it impossible for her not to know.
“Good morning, Anna.”
She looked up, shot me another glare, and went back to whatever she was doing.
“Gee, Anna, are you upset about something?”
“I can’t believe my dad is dining with the enemy.”
“What, you thought you were the only Parks willing to give me the time of day? Sorry, I guess I’m not enemy number one. Not anymore.”
I didn’t want to tell her that eating breakfast with Tanner was nothing compared to what I’d been doing with Ashley. That would probably result in the computer monitor being thrown at my head.
“Any messages this morning?” I asked, changing the subject to one that was relatively safe.
“I wrote them down. They’re on your desk.”
“Thanks.”
&nbs
p; I headed into my office and picked up the stack of messages. One name stuck out. It was another realtor, some guy who was a hotshot in Morgantown. I had a feeling he had heard about the property outside town and was probably going to try to sell it. No way. I had to move fast if I wanted to make sure I was the one who got that deal.
The call came in and I spent thirty minutes pitching the deal to the new investor. He was interested as well. Competition was good. It meant I was onto something. I called the owners of the land, spoke with the person managing the trust, and talked numbers. They were going to present it to the rest of the family and get back to me tomorrow.
Now it was time to get down to what I did best. Putting together a lucrative package that would entice an investor was something I had gotten very good at. My attention to detail and my charm had worked well for me in the past. I hoped it was enough this time.
Anna appeared in my doorway. “So Jasper knows?”
I assumed she was referring to his parentage. “Yes, of course.”
She shook her head and left. The girl had some serious issues. I couldn’t believe the four siblings didn’t get along better. They had no idea how lucky they were to have each other. I had no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no one at all. They had family by the buckets and didn’t appreciate each other in the least. It was a little disheartening. I wanted Jasper to have a big family, but I wanted it to be a family he actually liked and got along with.
Anna appeared once again. “Do you need me to make those copies for you?”
I nodded. “Yes, please.”
“I’ll have to go to the copy center. Your copy machine is on the fritz again. You really should buy a new one, you know.”
I chuckled. “I’ll get right on that. I think they’re only a couple thousand dollars.”
She looked at me over her shoulder. “If this deal goes through, you can buy ten.”
I smiled. Damn straight I could. I considered asking her if she knew why Tanner seemed so quick to accept me into the fold. If anyone should be mad at me, it was the old man. I had worked hard to get his land, and I’d apparently knocked up his daughter years ago as well. Either one of those offenses should have been enough to earn me banishment from the Parks family for the rest of my days.
But Tanner wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he seemed down right happy to see me. It was like he was welcoming me back with open arms. I decided I better keep my guard up in case it was a ruse, a ploy to get me to relax so he could spring a surprise attack on me. What kind of attack, I didn’t know.
I dismissed Tanner’s strange behavior from my mind and focused on the proposal. I needed to make sure every T was crossed and every I was dotted. There could be no mistakes. I was trying to get into the big leagues and needed to show I could compete with some of the most successful investors. Land was better than gold, and I wanted lots of it.
“I’m headed out,” I told Anna, feeling a little anxious about my meeting.
“Good luck.”
Her words took me by surprise. “Thank you.”
I had to drive up to Morgantown and wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. This was not a meeting I could be late for.
I arrived twenty minutes early and was shown into a conference room. I expected to be meeting with the entire investment group and had come prepared. Anna had done an excellent job putting together the packets that I would hand out to each person. My palms grew sweaty and my stomach was a jumble of nerves.
“You can do this,” I whispered to myself.
Several people meandered into the room. We went through the introductions and then I got right down to business. After an hour-long meeting, I had gotten what I wanted. I had a signed agreement with several stipulations. I was confident I could fulfill each of the demands the investment group had put in the contract. If I could get the property for the agreed upon price, the deal would move forward.
As I drove home, I couldn’t fight the bubble of excitement that came over me. I wanted to call Ashley and tell her the news. I was a little surprised she was the person I wanted to share my excitement with. She had become a friend once again, and I had to laugh at the irony of it all. My plan to buy her home to piss her off had certainly backfired, but it had been the best backfire possible.
Ashley was in my life. I had a son and we were building a relationship that I hoped to foster and grow. Life was good. The bitterness that had nearly eaten me alive these past six years was gone. I didn’t hate Ashley, and I wasn’t mad at the world for dealing me a shitty hand. I felt good, and I wanted to scream it from the mountaintop.
Now I had to hope the trust was willing to sell the land at the price I offered. The land wasn’t even on the market yet, but I knew they had called several realty agencies and there were a lot of interested parties. The competition would be fierce. I hoped my hometown advantage would be enough to persuade them to choose my offer.
Chapter 27
Ashley
It had been a long time since I made a dinner big enough to feed the entire family. I had first requested and then demanded that Hank, Leslie, and Anna all come over for dinner tonight. It was an old tradition that I hoped to reinstate. We had all gone our separate ways a long time ago. It had taken several years away and our dad’s illness for me to realize how important family was. At least I had realized it, and I hoped they would as well. I wanted Jasper to know his aunts, uncles, and cousins.
I was not exactly holding my breath about Anna showing up. She may, or she may not. Sadly, I was almost hoping she didn’t. She always stirred up so much drama and made get-togethers so uncomfortable. I wanted a nice dinner with no drama. I knew my dad was tickled by the idea. He wanted his kids all together under one roof and getting along. I was willing to set aside our differences to do that. I knew Hank was a little pissed that I had essentially bought the farm, but it was none of his damn business. He’d had his chance to save it. He hadn’t wanted to, and in fact hadn’t lifted a finger to help. But I had. I had made it happen.
“Mom, Grandpa says to ask you if you need any help,” Jasper said, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“I’m good in here, but it would be nice if you two could clean off the table.”
“Okay.”
The spaghetti sauce I was making was one of my mom’s recipes. I had used tomatoes from the farm to make it. We were also going to be having green beans from the farm. I wanted the family to see how important all that food was, and how good it was. I had been snacking on the beans earlier today as I snapped off the ends. They were crunchy and sweet and would be perfect with the homemade spaghetti and meatballs.
“I can’t remember the last time I ate a meal in that dining room,” my dad said.
He walked over, took a long whiff of the sauce, and gave me a thumbs-up.
“It did look like it became more of an office than a place to eat. I got most of the stuff cleaned up. You and Jasper put the rest in a corner and we can go through it later,” I told him.
He nodded and headed back out to finish his chore.
Jasper came back into the kitchen. “Grandpa wants to know if you know where the tablecloth is.”
“Tell him it’s in the hutch.”
“What’s a hutch?”
“Tell Grandpa and he will show you.”
Jasper sighed and headed out of the kitchen. He was very put out that he had to be the go-between instead of playing with his rocks or digging in the dirt.
Dinner was almost done. I put the bread in the oven and grabbed a stack of plates to carry into the dining room.
“Wow! This looks amazing!” I said, taking in the clean dining room. All the chairs were lined up and the tablecloth in place made it look completely different than it had just a few short hours ago.
“I helped,” Jasper said.
“Good. Now it’s time to set the table. Can you put a plate at each spot? I’m going to get the silverware. Dad, can you grab the napkins?”
A commotion out front told me
someone had arrived. It was Hank and his kids. His wife, Teresa, was not able to get off work. The boys came racing into the dining room and were quickly scolded by Grandpa to take their wild selves outside.
Hank came into the dining room and looked around. “Been a long time since I’ve been in this room.”
I nodded. “Yes, it has. I’m hoping we can start our Friday night family dinner tradition again.”
He shrugged. “We’re all busy, Ashley.”
“It’s only a couple hours a week, Hank.”
“We’ll see.”
“I think when we were young we were far busier. We managed to make the time then, even if we had dates and parties to go to,” I reminded him.
He chuckled. “I never went to parties. You must have me confused with someone else.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re right. It must have been my other big brother.”
“Hello?” Leslie called out from the living room.
“In here!” I yelled back.
Her eyes widened when she saw the table set. “Holy cow! This certainly brings back some memories. I think I forgot this room even existed.”
We all laughed. It had been a long time.
Leslie’s husband, Jason, came in with the twins behind him. “This looks nice. Good job, Ashley.”
“Oh, I can’t take the credit for this. Dad did it.”
All eyes turned to him, and he was beaming with pride. “Under Ashley’s strict supervision that is.”
“What can I do to help?” Leslie asked.
“You can grab the food—”
I stopped when I looked out the window and saw a familiar vehicle pulling up in front of the house. My stomach dropped as I blinked. It couldn’t be.
It was. Brock’s long legs stepped out of his truck. I watched as he smoothed down his shirt and leaned back in to pull out a bouquet of flowers.