Page 64 of Buried Dreams

“I gave her the money,” Oliver finally confesses.

My mother turns to face him, her hair whips her in her own face. “I’m sorry. What?”

“The construction was already underway,” he starts, “and to stop it and wait for whatever they were going to say was a waste of time.”

“A waste of time,” my mother repeats his words. “You paid for this?”

“Not just me”—he points at his chest—“Everleigh took out a loan.”

“You what?” My mother turns to me, her voice so loud I squint.

“Okay, before you freak out, can you listen, please?”

“No, you are going to go back to the bank, and we are going to cancel that loan. I’ll take a second mortgage on the house if I have to.”

“You will not do that,” I snap. “This is as much mine as it is yours.” I open my arms to the bakery. “If something happens to you, this, all of this, is my legacy.”

“It’s not your legacy if you pay for it.” She throws her hands up in the air. “A legacy is something that you inherit. Debt is not that.”

“Mom, now that you have more space to prepare things, think of the endless possibilities,” I say. “You can do breakfast and lunch. I’m not saying for you to start cooking. But you can offer bagels, you have a great recipe.” She just stares at me. “You can prepare sandwiches in the morning, and when they sell out, they sell out. There is also the food truck.”

“What am I going to do with that?” She points at the food truck.

“Well—” I smile at her. “We can go to county fairs with it. We can do business events. The possibilities are endless. I even spoke with someone about having it at wedding receptions at night, offering donuts and cupcakes.”

“I can’t do all of that.” She looks up. “I’m not equipped for that.”

“I know you can’t, but I can.” I let out a big exhale as her eyes look at me, shocked. “I know, I know, it was supposed to be temporary.” I put my hand to my stomach, suddenly nervous that I’m making this declaration out loud instead of just playing with the idea in my head. “But what if I want to make this a permanent thing? What if I want to get a slew of food trucks?” I hold up my hand. “That’s not my plan, but who knows. If it takes off, we can have food trucks all over.”

“It’s the big craze these days,” Oliver states with a lightness in his eyes. “I think even one of the big actor guys was caught cooking in the one he bought in New York.” He inhales. “I don’t know about your mom, but I’d like for you to be closer to home.”

My mother looks at him, then back at me. “What about your job?” she asks, and I shrug.

“What if I like doing this more? Creating the donuts was so much fun. Some people might hate working in the food truck, but it was so good to see the same faces over and over again. To ask them how their families were doing. I don’t know, it just made me feel settled.”

“You used to hate that about living here,” she reminds me.

“Yeah, but when you don’t have it anymore, you miss it,” I say the truth. “It was good not having it, but then when you get it back, you realize how much you missed it.”

“Does this have anything to do with Brock?” she asks, and I can answer her with all the certainty in me.

“Part of it, yes.” I smile. “The other part is just me wanting to be here.”

“Does he know?” she asks, and I shake my head. “You two should give communication classes.”

“You are one to talk,” I counter back at her. “It took you, what… fifty years to declare your love for Oliver.”

“I did not declare my love for him.” She holds up her finger. “I said I liked him and we were together.”

“She loves me.” He puts his arm around her shoulders and pulls her to him. “She just has trouble saying the words.” That makes us both laugh.

“We are going to pay you back.” She looks up at him. “No matter what.”

“What difference does it make when we get married? You get half of everything I have anyway.” I put my hand in front of my mouth. “Now that you are starting to work and have the energy, you can plan the wedding.”

“Oh, snap.” I snicker, and my mother just shakes her head, but to everyone’s surprise, she doesn’t say no. “Now that you’ve seen the place, you can get out of my hair.”

“We need to hire more people,” my mother says, and I nod.

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