Page 10 of All For You
His mother turned the corner, still wearing her Crawford Bed-and-Breakfast polo shirt, and dashed over to her son. Feeling like I would witness a private moment, I shuffled out of the kitchen toward the library.
Thankfully, Autumn and Colton had the same idea, and we found ourselves hiding out amongst the stacks of novels.
“Well, this is awkward,” Autumn murmured as she rested against one of the bookshelves. “Owen didn’t look too happy to see his mom.”
“I’m not so sure he has the best relationship with her… and most definitely not the town,” I replied.
Colton chimed in, “So, it’s likely he has no idea his mom sold you their land.”
“From what I gathered, he doesn’t even know she works here,” I pointed out.
Autumn’s mouth transformed into a guileful grin as her arms crossed against her chest. “So… Owen drove you over here?”
“Don’t,” I pleaded. “It was nothing.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. You and Owen being civil to one another for longer than five minutes is notnothing.”
“Autumn, don’t read into it.”
“Hm. Colton, make sure we have bags packed somewhere.”
He looked alarmed, eyes darting up and down between Autumn’s face and belly. “Is it the baby?”
She laughed loudly. “No, silly. It’s worse. The end of the world may happen sometime soon.” Colton’s face scrunched, and Autumn explained, “Because Aspen and Owen have been hating on each other since they were in elementary school. We’ve never had a single moment where they could be in a room together without something going awry.”
My eyes rolled at her description, though she wasn’t too far off. Of course, she left out the fact that Owen started our rivalry with that stupid nickname. But I couldn’t expect anyone in my family to remember small details like that. I was merely the little shadow who tagged along everywhere. The afterthought.
Glancing over at my sister, I saw her husband was gently rubbing circles on her lower back as she turned toward him. They were in their own little world.
Feeling like a voyeur, I ducked out of the library, slinking along the hallway wall as to not disrupt whatever was going on with Owen and Beverly.
I caught sight of a couple of the guests milling around the living room area just as Owen stomped out of the kitchen toward me, but it was clear he had tunnel vision. I wasn’t sure if I should follow him, but I did anyway.
“Owen!” I shouted as we made it outside.
“I… I can’t talk to you right now,” he said as he yanked open the driver-side door of his car.
I wasn’t privy to the discussion he and Beverly had, but it was clear he was upset about something. I could only imagine some of the things that had come to light. And not that Iwantedto blame him for ignoring calls from his mother, since I learned about his childhood, but all fingers pointed in his direction as the reason he was uninformed.
“Not that I care, but maybe you should let your mom explain.”
Leaning against the car, resting his folded arms on the roof, he chastised me. “Look, cricket, in all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never asked for your advice. Why would I follow it, especially unsolicited, now?”
“You don’t have to be an asshole to me just because you’re angry.”
“Go home to your perfect life, cricket. Don’t worry about me.”
Without another word, he slunk down onto his seat and started the car. Within seconds, he was kicking up dust and dirt as he left the B&B.
From behind me, I felt a presence and turned to find Beverly standing just behind the threshold of the door, her face crestfallen.
“Well, that didn’t quite go as expected.”
“What did you tell him exactly?” I asked.
“That I’ve been working here for the last year and the house was condemned.”
“So, he doesn’t even know yet that you sold the land?”
