Page 38 of Almost True
He nodded but stepped back to the edge of the porch. “I can relate to that feeling—the sense that something is missing.”
I took up position next to him, our elbows brushing when he shifted. He’d given me facts about his life, but I felt farther from him now than I had months ago when all I had to go on was the fantasy of our singular evening together. “What is it for you?”
He squinted out at the sky, though it wasn’t bright anymore. “Similar as you, I think. I’d probably add freedom.”
I straightened, my brows high on my forehead. He saw it and continued without my having to ask.
“I’ve been stuck a long time. Everything I told you that night about the obligations to family is true. The tree farm is my wife’s family business. But what her parents don’t know is that she was going to suggest they sell. She’d made up a packet of information, had a sales plan and even a few potential buyers identified.”
My throat tightened, guessing what came next.
“She died a few weeks before she planned to present them with the information. And in the wake of their loss, I’ve stepped in. Even more so since my father-in-law had some health issues a few years back. It’s taken over, and I can’t leave, but more every day, I feel like I can’t stay.”
While I didn’t have parents-in-law, I knew the sense of obligation well. “I’m sorry. Is there any chance you can convince them to sell it?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been working on that. We’re supposed to be showing it in July, actually. I have a sales agent and everything worked up, but my father-in-law is dragging his feet. I don’t know…” He ran a hand over his beard again.
The desire to touch his face gripped me in a tight, unrelenting fist. I shoved the impulse out of my mind. “Hopefully, he’ll rally. Maybe he’ll get excited when the time comes—that flexibility of true retirement?”
His face betrayed his doubt. “Maybe.”
“And you’d work more on your own business if you didn’t need to do so much for them?”
He nodded. “I’ve missed it. Your place is the first larger project I’ve had in almost a year. I know it’s selfish. I owe them. It’s not hurting me to manage things for them. They deserve—”
I set a hand on his where it rested on the blond wood of the deck railing. “How do you owe them?”
His eyes focused on where we touched. “I can’t explain it, but I do. They lost so much.”
“And you?”
His serious gaze shifted to meet mine. “I did, too. She was…” He trailed off but shook his head.
My heart clutched. We weren’t romantically involved, but a desperate little voice shouted,What was she!?Was she the love of his life and that’s why he wasn’t interested?
He shifted gears after a beat. “But it’s not the same. I’ve got my whole life ahead of me.” He shook his head again, even as he said it. “And at the same time, I feel like I’ve been losing time. I hate that I feel this way, but I’m starting to resent the obligation. I’m not that man—I shouldn’t feel that way.”
“You can feel however you need to,” I said, parroting something my therapist had said to me just last week.
A soft laugh emerged. “John says the same thing to me.”
“Your cousin?”
He gave me a half-smile. “Yes. I’m sure you’ll meet him. I’m surprised he didn’t track you down today to introduce himself because he’s about the most outgoing person you’ll meet, but I’m assuming he’s going to wait for me to do it.”
Something fluttered in my chest. They’d talked about me. Such a silly thought considering how many people had talked about me in a hundred different contexts, and yet knowing this man had discussed me with his cousin and best friend?Sigh.“I’d like to meet him. Maybe you can both come to the little garden party next week when the yard’s done?”
He made an uncertain face. “I don’t normally attend things with clients.”
“You wouldn’t be here as Aidan Wallace, landscape architect. You’d be here as my friend. The first person I really met in Silverton.”
His gaze hooked into mine. “Guess I better make sure we meet that deadline, then.”
I grinned. “Guess you better.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Aidan
