Page 2 of Broken Dreams
She shrugs. “I’m not as quick with the insults, I suppose.”
“It would seem not.” I put Jett down. “Go get your shoes and your lunch bag.”
He runs off, and Brynn hands me my coffee tumbler. “Here. Are you going to Rowan’s this morning?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’ll drop the menace off and head there, work with the two new horses and then go fly. Easy day.”
“I’m sorry I can’t drop him off for you today, seems stupid for you to drive there to just drive back here, but I have court today and I won’t be able to leave early if you need me either.”
I nod. “I’ll see if Asher can, if needed. I have a flight today around two, but I should be back to get him before they close.”
Every one of my siblings live on the same land. My great-grandparents bought over two hundred acres and farmed here for a long time. Asher, my oldest brother, inherited it when our mother died, and he divided everything equally. The issue is that my acreage is nothing but trees. I did that because both Brynn and Rowan wanted to live here, and that gave them housing options as well. We had a holdup with the permits, something about drainage issues, so what was going to be about six months of living with Brynn is looking much longer.
“Sounds good,” Brynn says as she takes a sip. “Any word from the builder?”
“Theybelievethey’ll have the permits next month. Then I need the builder to get going, but until we have those, everyone’s hands are tied.”
“You know you can stay here as long as you want. There’s no rush for you guys to move out.”
I would move into a rental, but so far, my new company has only secured one client and I have no money. I’m trying to get my business off the ground—pun intended—but it’s been a hard go so far.
In the meantime, I’m also doing a courier service for the insanely wealthy or big companies when they require small items within a very short time. Some bigwig in New York City is having me shuffle paperwork that has to be signed and witnessed. It allows them to receive it in minutes versus hours. I think it’s crazy, but they pay the money and I need a lot of it since my brother isn’t paying me, not that I’d take it anyway.
I smile at my sister and her big heart. “I do. I appreciate that.”
“But I’m driving you nuts...”
“It’s not you, Brynn, it’s that I want to get Jett settled. I need to be his father full-time now and that means a home I can raise him in.”
The entire reason I gave up my lifelong dream of being a pilot was for him. To give my son the life his mother wanted him to have. One where he can run and play, be around horses, give him a family life like I had growing up. I would do anything for my son and to honor my late wife’s memory.
“Well, I love having you both here and you are raising Jett now, Grady. We all need a little help from family.”
And really, it’s been great having Brynn around too. She’s amazing with Jett and he adores her.
My wife died when Jett was four weeks old. It was the worst thing that ever happened and I was lost. I had just under four years left on my commission, which I finished out, but during that time, I was a part-time dad.
Shortly after his birth, the navy was sending me overseas for six months, Lisa and I knew it was coming, we were prepared. What I wasn’t prepared for was to be without her and moving Jett to live in Oklahoma with his grandparents. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the reality of our situation.
When I got back, he was happy there. He had fun with his nana and pop, playing on the farm his mother grew up on, and we agreed that while I was finishing out my commission, they’d keep him there and we’d have regular visits.
Now I have him, and I want all the time back that I missed.
I smile at my sister and nod. “It’s not like any of us will be far from each other once I move out.”
“True. Don’t forget, tomorrow we have dinner with the family to celebrate Rowan’s big news.”
“The one where we pretend we don’t know he just bought another two-hundred acres?”
She grins. “That one.”
“Why the hell did he pay that much for it?”
“Because he was in a bidding war with Charlotte Sullivan.”
I roll my eyes. “So he paid way over what he should’ve just to win?”
Brynn laughs softly. “You said the magic words—he won. That’s all that matters when it comes to her and that entire family.”
