Page 76 of Eternal Hoptimist

“I hope they get back soon with our lunch. I’m hungry.” His stomach growled as if on cue.

Parker and Austin had run out to get us food while we prepped for the day. I’d met a guy who not only liked me, but my friends too, and willingly hung out with them solo.

I smiled, thinking about him staying with me last night. We didn’t have the same privacy and were teased mercilessly for noise this morning, but I didn’t mind. It showed that the guys were making a real effort to include Parker without censoring their personalities as they had before. They’d accepted Parker as we’d all accepted Caleb. They acted like they trusted we were serious and worth investing their time in. It meant the world to me.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I wiped off my hands and pulled it out to see Rosie’s smiling face. “It’s Rosie. Back in a few.” Seth waved me off and took over cheese-cutting duties.

“Hey, you. How’s it going?”

“Same ole. Bones are creakin’ and heart’s still beatin’. You got a few minutes?”

“Of course.” I let myself into our office and sat in Dom’s chair.

Rosie’s voice had a serious tone that set my teeth on edge. I braced myself for more bad news about the house.

“I’ve decided to sell,” she said bluntly.

My ears rang as I tried to process her words.“Are you okay? Did they threaten you?”

“Nothing so dramatic. The land is too much to maintain, and it’s not where I want to be anymore.” Her words shocked me into silence. “I’ve been thinking about doing the snowbird thing, and I could come visit you too. Selling will give me money to travel. I know you love the place, honey, but Parker and I worked out a plan. We’ll still be able to visit the land.”

Parker?How was he involved? I thought he’d finished the wetlands research a couple of weeks ago.

“He knows how much the area means to me and how George loved it. He put in so much time to help me make my demands to the developers.” She laughed. “You shoulda seen them squirm on my porch when I told them what it would take for me to sell without a fuss. Thanks for asking him to help.”

“What were your demands?”

“They agreed to shift their plans so our property becomes a park and nature reserve. That was Parker’s idea. There’s going to be a rose garden, expanded from what I have now, with a bench dedicated to George and his family.” She spoke quickly—not like she was trying to hurry and get the words out, but out of excitement.

Excitement to leave her home? The place she’d lived for a half-century?

What the hell did Parker do? Why hadn’t he told me?Nausea rolled through me worse than when I’d gone deep-sea fishing.

“I thought you wanted to stay,” I said weakly.

“I know you wanted me to, dear. I love this place. I do.” She was silent for a moment. “Before George got sick, we talked about selling.”

I rested my forehead against the edge of the desk—barely gripping the phone. “You did?” I couldn’t imagine George leaving that land. Ever since I was a kid, he joked that he would die on the land, and we would have to spread his ashes on it. Which, sadly, was what happened.

“We wanted to get a place in Arizona. One of those places with a private pool and a golf cart to get over to shuffleboard and Bingo. It would be a shorter flight to visit you too.”

My eyes stung at that future I would never get.

“But then he got sick.” Her voice cracked as it did whenever she talked about her husband. Even nearly ten years after he passed.

“If you sell, you’ll have the money to do that,” I said.

“Exactly. It’s scared me to travel, but I’m too old for that nonsense now. Life’s too short to let my fear win when there’re good things in my grasp.”

The words struck something in me, but I was too upset to let it sink in.

“I didn’t want to upset you until I’d decided. Parker made all the difference. I didn’t know I could sell and make requirements so they can’t build on this land. Parker’s a good man.”

I knew she said that to make me proud of him, but how could I be? He’d withheld it from me. He’d been working behind my back to help Rosie sell the only place in Kansas where I ever belonged. I rubbed my fist against my chest. Somewhere deep within me, I knew my reaction was silly and irrational. I’daskedParker to help Rosie, and he’d done it.

But why hadn’t he talked to me? Was he trying to protect my feelings, or did he think I couldn’t handle it? Would he always keep things from me if he thought they would hurt me, only for me to find out later and be even more hurt? Did he think he knew better what I needed than I did? Like my grandfather and parents.

I didn’t need to bemanaged. I wanted a partner and an equal. Someone who trusted that I knew myself.

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