Give Me The Weekend

by Weston Parker

  I sighed. I couldn’t even say he had surprised me with his less than warm welcome. Why I had even bothered getting up, I didn’t know.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of those people who fell asleep again easily. Since going back to bed wasn’t an option, I took him up on his offer and got some coffee for my damn self.

  The sky was still black as I settled at the kitchen table, taking a seat where I knew I’d be able to see it lighten when the sun rose. It was a while before that happened, but I didn’t mind the quietness or the solitude.

  Light footsteps padding into the kitchen made me turn my head from where the sun had just peeked out above the horizon. My mother’s lips spread into a warm smile.

  “You’re up early.”

  “Yeah, well, I woke up when Dad made his coffee and couldn’t go back to sleep.” I held up the now empty mug to her. “I was just about to get a refill. You want one?”

  “Sure. Thanks, honey.” She walked up to the fridge and started pulling out ingredients for breakfast. “If you want to go grab a shower, use the main bathroom. I’m assuming your dad took off already?”

  “Yep.” My chair scraped lightly as I pushed it back. “Let me get you some coffee. Then I will take you up on your offer.”

  By the time I got back to the kitchen after getting cleaned up, Elsie was awake. She was already helping my mother with breakfast, flipping pancakes while Mom darted around doing a hundred things at once.

  I folded my arms and leaned against the wall, just watching them together for a second. They’d hit it off pretty well last night and seemed to continue to do so this morning.

  Elsie chuckled at something my mother said, her ponytail swinging from side to side between her shoulder blades. Dressed much more casually this morning, she had on a simple pair of jeans and a white T-shirt with flat leather sandals on her feet.

  Her green eyes sparkled with laughter when she shifted and caught sight of me. “Good morning. How did the couch treat you?”

  If my mother hadn’t been in the kitchen with us, I might have responded by telling her how many times during the night I’d wished she was asleep beside me. As it was, however, I merely grinned and walked over to brush the softest of kisses against her cheek.

  “It was fine, thanks. You sleep okay?”

  “I did.” She smiled up at me and I wished more than ever that we were alone. I wanted to kiss those lips properly so badly it hurt, but having my mother see it would just make it weird.

  A sudden buzzing in her pocket had her stepping away from me. She dug her phone out and glanced down at the screen, then held the spatula out to me. “Could you take over for a minute? It’s Beth. If I don’t answer, she might send a rescue party after me.”

  “Sure.” I took the utensil and propped my hip against the counter. “Make sure you tell her you came with me willingly. There’s no need for her to send the cavalry after you.”

  She laughed but lifted her shoulders to give me a little shrug. “We’ll see. If you mess up those beautiful pancakes, we may need a cavalry after all.”

  She winked at me as she lifted the phone to her ear, answered, and quickly disappeared out the back door. My mother didn’t let the opportunity pass her by.

  “Oh, honey, I like her. I’m so glad you brought her to meet us.” The corners of her eyes crinkled on a huge grin as she came closer to take my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “I should have known when you finally found someone, she would be a winner.”

  I tightened my fingers around hers and returned the grin, but inside, I was holding my breath. It was only a matter of time before she asked me if Elsie was the one and if I wanted my grandmother’s ring. Hopefully, that time wasn’t now.

  Thankfully, Riley strode into the kitchen and broke up the moment. “Mornin’.”

  “Morning.” I looked him up and down and realized that he hadn’t been sleeping in. There was mud on his boots and sweat on his brow. “You been out already?”

  He rolled his eyes at me and gave me a good-natured pat on the shoulder. “Of course I have. Do you want to come out with me later?”

  “Sure. Yeah. Let me just check with Elsie and see what she wants to do.”

  “She thinks you should go help your brother out on the farm,” Elsie said as she walked back into the kitchen. “I’ll be perfectly fine here.”

  My mother clapped her hands to get our attention. “Now that’s all sorted. Let’s eat, shall we?”

  We all took our seats after helping Mom move the feast they had prepared to the table. Then we dug in. The mood around the table was surprisingly light and jovial while we ate, and all too soon, our plates were empty, and Riley was chomping at the bit to get back to work.

  “Have fun,” Elsie whispered to me when I gave her a hug goodbye. “Don’t worry about rushing back. I have some assignments to do and a book I’ve been trying to get to for ages.”

  “I’ll have my phone on me. Call if you need anything.” Reluctantly letting her go, I turned to my mother, smiling at me from the sink.

  “Don’t worry about her, sweetheart. I’ll take good care of her.” She waved her hand toward the back door. “Now go. You’re burning daylight.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I gave her a mock salute and followed Riley outside.

  My brother waited for me to catch up with him. “I’m happy you’re here, man. Mom hasn’t smiled this much in a long time.”

  We fell into stride beside one another as we headed out to find Dad. “How are they doing? Really doing, not just this bullshit about how everything is okay.”

  “Everything is not okay,” he said bluntly. “Like I told you the other day, they’re stressed, tired, and strapped. We’ve got no more leeway and nothing lined up to make it better.”

  I frowned, giving him a sidelong glance as our boots crunched the dirt beneath them. “What about Soki?”

  The Asian company was the biggest client of most of the farms around here, but my mention of them made Riley tighten his jaw. “The entire industry has taken a hit, but it’s because of companies like Soki. They just pulled out. No warning, nothing.”

  “Shit.” I whistled between my teeth. It was no wonder things were so tense around here. Soki had been a big player in keeping our farm going. Without them and having had no time to prepare for it, things were about to get really bumpy. “What can I do to help?”

  “Nothing.” He blew out a breath. “Dad will tell you to come home and weather the storm with us. But at this point, doing it would be foolish. You’re doing well. He shouldn’t make you feel guilty about not wanting to give up a successful company for a failing farm.”

  I screwed my eyes shut as we walked, filling my lungs with the clean morning air to clear my head. “Failing farm? It’s worse than I thought then.”

  Riley snorted. “Dude, it’s so much worse than you can imagine. There are loans we took out—”

  “It’s about time you two got your lazy asses out here,” our father barked when we neared him. He stood with his arms crossed and his feet planted a foot apart as he waited for us to approach. “Riley, it’s time for you to stop gossiping and get back to work.”

  He flicked a disapproving glance at me. “I suppose you can help him while you’re here. Unless you’re too fancy for manual labor now.”

  “I came out with Riley so I could help. What do you need from me?” I half wished he’d just say he needed the money I’d come here to offer him, but I knew it wasn’t even worth wasting a full wish on.

  His dark eyes tracked Riley as he nodded and took off, then narrowed when he looked back at me. “Are you serious about wanting to help?”

  “Yes. Dad, Riley told me about Sok—”

  “I knew you were here for the wrong reasons,” he spat at me. A vein throbbed on his forehead and his fingers curled into fists as he lowered his arms to his sides. “If you really want to help in a meaningful way, go find your brother. If I’m right, and I think I am, just take your little girlfriend and get the hell out
of here. We don’t have time to waste arguing about charity right now.”

  Steel hardened his tone and his eyes might as well have turned into flamethrowers as he glared at me. Then he spun around and stalked off. For the second time in one morning, my first time back home, I watched him march away from me.

  Another heavy sigh fell from my lips as I gripped the back of my neck and tried to figure out my next move. Nothing I did made my father happy. It had always been that way. Now, even with the survival of the family farm on the line, he wouldn’t so much as talk to me about it.

  Maybe it was time I changed tactics. It was definitely something I had to consider if I couldn’t get him to listen to reason very, very soon.

  Chapter 35

  Elsie

  Taydom and Riley let the screen door swing shut behind them, leaving me alone with Gwen. She wiped her hands with a dishcloth and hung it neatly over the faucet.

  “What do you say we finish cleaning up later? I’m in the mood for a walk. Would you like to join me?”

  I nodded. “Sure. I’d like to see more of the farm.”

  “Let’s go then.” She smiled and led me to the entrance hall where she grabbed two faded ball caps from a stand. “Can’t go out there without one of these if you don’t want to look like you’re a hundred years old when you reach my age.”

  “Thank you.” I took the cap she held out to me. It was so well used that the Velcro barely cracked when I undid it to fit it to my head. How well-worn it was made it comfortable, though. I also had a feeling I was going to be grateful for it later.

  Gwen twisted the doorknob and motioned me out ahead of her after she put her cap on. We started walking, and her hazel eyes were warm when she looked at me.

  “Did he tell you that you’re the first woman he’s brought home to meet us?” she asked.

  Had he? Honestly, my brain had been on the fritz since my doctor’s appointment and I really couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned it. On the other hand, it wasn’t like I was here as his girlfriend.

  Despite how much we’d been touching and kissing and acting like we were together, technically, we were nothing more than friends. It felt like we were a lot more than that, though.

  I had to choose my words carefully to answer her question. With the way we’d acted in front of her, it was natural for her to assume we were in a relationship. I didn’t want her feeling like I had lied to her if I denied flat out that we were together. What made it a little trickier was that I didn’t want Taydom to feel like I’d lied to his mother by saying that we were in a relationship either.

  “I’m glad he brought me. I’ve been wondering about his family and it’s great to get to meet you all.” I breathed an internal sigh of relief. There. No lies told.

  “It’s great to get to meet you, too. We know so precious little about Taydom’s life in Dallas. Don’t get me wrong. I know the news people report on him and all that, but it doesn’t seem right to read about him.”

  “I completely agree.” Sometimes, I thought about how creepy it must be to have random strangers knowing so much about your life. Worse than that, women he’d never met speculated about the size of his dick on public forums. It was beyond weird. “He handles it well, though. In all the time I’ve known him, he’s barely even mentioned it.”

  “He always has been very good at compartmentalizing. Knowing Taydom, he’s so focused on his work that he’s just gone and shoved all that other stuff into a box in the back of his mind.”

  I hummed my agreement and we lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few minutes as we continued strolling down the dirt path that led away from their house. The trees that surrounded us provided shade for now, but the air was thick with humidity and already hot.

  “I’ve always loved taking walks in the morning,” Gwen said finally, dipping her head but sending me a sly smile. “With three men in the house, it’s been my secret escape for years. They’ve always worked hard, and they’re not actually even inside the house all that often, but all that testosterone still gets suffocating sometimes.”

  “I can’t even imagine that. Taydom is the only man I’ve really been in close contact with for an extended period of time for years. I honestly don’t know how it would be to have three of them running around.”

  She chuckled. “I always hoped for a little girl to balance us out a bit, but it never happened.”

  I nearly stopped dead in my tracks. I felt comfortable with Gwen, and we’d hit it off last night pretty much instantly, but that was a very personal fact for her to have shared.

  “I’m sorry,” I said because I didn’t have the first clue what else to say to that. “In our house, it was the opposite. It was only my mother and I. No men in sight.”

  “Was?” she asked, slowing down to put a hand on my forearm. “Where is she now?”

  Unexpected tears burned the backs of my eyes and my throat tightened with emotion. I really hadn’t thought we’d venture into territory as personal as this so soon, and I wasn’t prepared for it, but something about Gwen reminded me of my mother. It made me want to confide in her, even though I’d barely known her for twelve hours.

  “She passed away a few months ago.”

  A soft gasp drew my attention away from the leaves on the ground. Gwen’s face was a mask of sadness and understanding. Before I knew it, she had wrapped me up in a hug.

  “I’m so sorry, honey.” She enveloped me in her arms and stroked my hair in that motherly way that just couldn’t be replicated. “I’ve lost both my parents as well. It’s just awful.”

  “Yeah.” My voice cracked. “It really is. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. It came out of nowhere.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” She hugged me tighter. “I wish I could tell you something that would make it hurt less, but there’s nothing anyone can say that will do that. I can listen if you’d like to talk about her, though.”

  I sniffed and gave her a last squeeze before letting her go. “I think I would like to.”

  “Well, then.” She gave me a sad smile and looped her arm through mine as we began to walk again. “Tell me about your mom, dear. Were you two close?”

  I nodded and found myself glad she was holding me so close to her side. It was comforting in a way few things had been since I’d gotten that fateful call. “She was my best friend. It feels like my whole world turned upside down the day she died. I’m doing things that are so out of character for me, my brain doesn’t seem to be functioning at full capacity. I don’t know what I would have done if Taydom hadn’t come into my life. Beth, my friend, and Taydom have been my rocks to lean on.”

  Her brows swept up. “Taydom, as in, my son, Taydom?”

  “The one and only.” I let out a deep breath. “He’s meant so much to me these last few months. Thank you for raising him to have such a good heart.”

  “I’m surprised to hear all this.” Her eyes widened and she waved her free hand. “I don’t mean that I’m surprised to hear he has a good heart. He really does. What I am surprised to hear is that he’s allowed you to see it. He doesn’t let people in easily.”

  “So I’ve heard. He’s never been that way with me, though.”

  She flexed her elbow to hold me tighter. “You must be very special to him.”

  “I don’t know.” I tugged the inside of my upper lip between my teeth. “I do know that he’s very special to me.”

  There. I said it out loud.

  A burst of energy ran through me at the words, sending my heart into a sprint. It was true, though. He was very special to me. I just had to figure out what to do about it.

  After I receive that call later.

  I couldn’t believe I’d almost forgotten about the call, but I had. I nearly planted my face in my hands, but that might have raised some questions from Gwen.

  Discreetly checking my back pocket to make sure I had my phone on me, I did my best to focus on the conversation with Taydom’s mother, even as I devised strategies about how I was goin
g to get away from her if the call came while we were on our walk.

  Gwen was so sweet to me for the rest of the morning. We walked for a long time before heading back to the house to get started on making lunch. I helped her make a chicken salad and freshly baked bread, but my pulse was racing, and I kept checking my phone to make sure I hadn’t missed the call.

  “I love that you’re here, sweetheart,” she said as she pulled the tray with the bread on it out of the oven and transferred it to a cooling rack. “I had to wait so long for my Taydom to bring a woman home to meet me, but now that he has, I’m glad it’s you.”

  “Thank you.” A soft, genuine smile touched the corners of my lips just as my phone started ringing. My heart jumped into my throat when I recognized the number for the health center. “Excuse me. I need to take this. It’s school.”

  Technically, that wasn’t a lie either. The student health center was at my school. It just wasn’t schoolwork they were calling about.

  Gwen nodded and carried on with the preparations for lunch, and I dashed out of the kitchen before answering. “Hello?”

  Even with just that one word, even I could hear how breathless I sounded. I blamed it on my heart, which seemed to have taken up residence where my airways used to be.

  “Hi, Elsie? It’s Dr. April. I just got your results back. Can you talk?”

  “Yes,” I croaked out as I took the stairs two at a time. I needed to be in my room for this. Taydom’s old room. Whatever. “What is it, April? What do the results say?”

  I closed the door behind me and immediately leaned against it. Blood rushed in my ears, and my head suddenly felt warm and three times its size, but I still heard April’s voice loud and clear.

  “The test confirmed that you are pregnant.”

  My head landed on the wooden paneling of the door with a thump. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” she said gently. “I made them run it again, just in case. Everything else came back negative. The pregnancy test came back positive three times.”