Page 79 of No Place Like Home
That made me laugh.
Tonya’s narrowed eyes turned to me. “Is something funny, Summer?”
“Listening to y’all bicker reminds me of how Kora, Darlene, and I argue. I swear we’ve said the same exact words sitting at Jerry’s Pub. I know I’ve called them bitches at least a dozen times over the years.”
“Wait till your friendship hits more than thirty years. A dozen will seem like a drop in a bucket,” Tonya said, giving a weak smile.
“All joking aside, T,” Diane said, her smile fading a bit, “you do look better. You scared us.”
“Hell yeah, you did,” Kaye agreed.
Ruth stepped forward and squeezed Tonya’s hand. “You need to suck it up and be ready to do whatever they tell you to, and if it’s staying overnight, then you stay overnight. We need you around a bunch more years.”
Tonya let out a breath. “Fine, Ruthie. I’ll try my best to be good. But it won’t be fun.”
“Of course it won’t,” Ruth agreed. “But do it, anyway.”
Just then a nurse came in. “Gotta check your vitals.”
“Didn’t you just do that?” Tonya asked with an eyeroll.
Kaye, Diane, and Ruth laughed. Kaye patted Tonya’s shoulder. “We’ll let you be. We have phone calls to make.”
“Yep,” Ruth said. “We need to get the Orlinda Valley message line going with an update.”
“They will all be happy to know you’re here to annoy everyone for a while more,” Diane added with a laugh.
I started to follow the other women out of the room, but Tonya said, “Summer, can you hang out a bit? I want to talk with you.”
I raised a brow and waited against the wall while the nurse did whatever she was doing and typed notes into a computer. The nurse nodded and said, “I’ll let you two be, and I’ll see you again in a bit, Mrs. McKendry. Everything looks good, and they’re waiting to get you a bed.”
“Great. Just what I need.”
“She means ‘thank you’,” I said to the nurse, since Tonya wasn’t being cordial. As soon as the nurse was gone and the door had closed, Tonya gestured me closer.
“Summer.” She pushed herself higher in the bed and patted the mattress next to her for me to sit—so I sat. “I know you and I don’t always see eye-to-eye, but we’ve known each other a long time. You’ve always been important in the lives of Rowan and Kora, and it seems like you’ve become more important to Rowan than I realized.”
I had no clue where she was going with this talk, but when she got to the part about me and Rowan, I stood. I didn’t like her tone, which sounded increasingly rude and abrasive the more she spoke.
“Summer, stop. I’m sorry. My tone sounded harsh. Look, I know your mother wasn’t worth a penny, and your dad was worth even less, so I tried to be there for you. I opened our door and invited you in as a part of my family. Hell, you even spent the night in Rowan’s room on occasion.”
I raised my brow.
“I’ve ignored his feelings for you over the years, and hoped he would find someone else eventually and move on.”
“Where the hell is this going, Tonya?”
She put her hand up. “No, Summer, I’m sorry. It’s coming out all wrong. Please hear me out.”
I puffed out a breath and cocked my head to listen. I didn’t know why the hell I gave her the time.
“I know he has feelings for you, and I don’t know where you fall in a relationship, but I want you to know that I would love for you both to be together. It was a bit of a shock at first when I saw you at the wedding, but I also saw a light in Rowan that’s been missing for so long. You make him happy, and that’s all a mother wants for her sons—women who make them happy. Whatever’s going on now, please figure it out. He’s not going to stay here if he doesn’t have you.”
I sat straight. “What are you talking about?”
“That job in Texas. He might take it. He’s not going to stay in Orlinda Valley, or even Tennessee, if you aren’t in his life.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
