Page 19 of Sunny Skies Ahead
I let out a long sigh, kicking at a piece of stray gravel on the ground.
“You sure you’re still okay to manage both the homestead and the store while I focus on renovations and figuring out what the hell I’m doing going forward?” I asked. “It’s a lot for one person to handle. I know you’ll have help from the FFA kids, but. . .”
Kevin gestured for me to give him the keys. I narrowed my eyes and cautiously handed them over.
“I’ve got this. The farm is in excellent hands.”
“If you need something over the next two days, please call me,” I said. “I mean it. Don’t try to figure it out by yourself. I promise I won’t make fun of you.”
Kevin’s raised eyebrows told me he didn’t believe me.
“I’m planning to be back on Thursday morning.”
“Take your time,” Kevin said. I didn’t miss his smirk. I put one hand on my hip and pointed the other in his direction.
“What’s your deal?”
Kevin shrugged, tossing the keys up in the air before catching them again.
“I should ask you the same.”
I tamped down the urge to stomp my foot and demand, for the thousandth time, that people stay out of my business.
“It’s a special opportunity,” I said. Kevin shrugged.
“It is.”
“Spit it out, Kev.”
Kevin sighed, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans once more.
“You deserve good things, Imogen.”
Kevin’s words, and the sincerity with which he spoke them, momentarily surprised me.
“Okay,” I said, scrunching my nose in confusion.
“This is an excellent opportunity. It’s one Kameron and the other guys made specifically for you. You’re smart, and talented, and you should know that.”
I sniffled. Kevin rolled his eyes.
“Think whatever you want,” Kevin said as he opened the driver’s side door of his truck. “Doesn’t change the facts.”
“What’s that?”
“That you can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to your family.”
My heart twisted as Kevin closed the door behind him, cranking the truck engine to life.
I stood in my driveway long after the dust had settled, mulling things over.
You can’t lie to your family.
I had to assume he was talking about himself and Cassie.
The insinuation that our family might also include the Winding Road trio was too much for me to take in.
I realized when I pulled out of my driveway the next morning that this was the first time I was traveling to Winding Road by myself. I’d only been a handful of times, but even then, those visits had been in a wedding capacity.
