Page 60 of Reclaimed Roots

I parked on the street outside Choi Accounting. Taking a deep breath, I released my death-grip on the steering wheel and climbed out of the truck. I made my way to the office door, squinting against the morning sun.

The bell chimed as I stepped inside, and the cool air-conditioning chased away the summer heat. Whenever I came here, I was transported back in time to countless afternoons spent sprawled on the floor of this very office, doing homework while Ed worked. Even after Nat left, I'd often stopped by on my way from the apartment to the orchard, just to say 'hi.'Fuck, I miss him.

Natalie looked up from her desk, a bright smile spreading across her face. "Jasper! I wasn't expecting you so..." Her words trailed off and her smile faded as she took in my expression.

"Hey, Nat," I managed, my voice sounding thin and strained. "Thanks for seeing me on such short notice."

She stood, smoothing down her skirt—a nervous gesture I recognized all too well. "Of course. What's going on? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Might have been easier if I had." I clasped my hands behind my neck and stared at the ceiling, trying to find the right words. "It's... it's about the orchard. The books. Something's not adding up."

Natalie's face paled, her eyes widening almostimperceptibly. If I hadn't known her so well, I might have missed it. That look confirmed the sinking feeling in my gut.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice carefully neutral.

I pulled out the folder I'd brought with me, spreading its contents across her desk. "Look," I said, pointing to the columns of figures on the printout. "These numbers here, and here. They're off. Not by much, but when you add it all up..."

Natalie leaned over the desk, her brow furrowed as she studied the papers. I caught a whiff of her perfume—the same one she'd worn since high school. My favorite smell in the whole world.

With some effort, I forced my attention back to the matter at hand.

"I-I don't..." Natalie stammered, her fingers tracing the lines of numbers. She looked up at me, her eyes wide and conflicted. "Jasper, I?—"

"You know, don't you?" The words came out with unexpected force. The toxic stew of fear and betrayal that had been seeping into me since I first noticed the discrepancies stoked my anger.

Natalie flinched. She took a step back, knotting her fingers together. "I was going to tell you. I swear, I was just trying to figure out how to?—"

"How long?" I interrupted, my voice trembling. "How long have you known about this, Nat?"

She closed her eyes and a pained expression crossed her face. When she opened them again, they were filled with unshedtears. "A few weeks," she admitted. "I noticed some irregularities when I was first going through things, but I wanted to be sure before I said anything."

The room tilted around me. The floor suddenly felt unsteady beneath my feet. A few weeks. She'd known for weeks and didn't say anything. The betrayal cut deep, reopening old wounds that had just begun to heal.

"Why didn't you come to me?" I asked, hating how vulnerable I sounded. "We could have figured this out together."

"I was scared. I didn't want to believe it was true. And I didn't want to be the one to tell you that?—"

"That what?" I snapped. "That my family's legacy—our livelihood—is going down the fucking drain? That everything we've worked for is falling apart?" My voice rose with each word, filling the small office.

Natalie stepped toward me, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Jasper, please. I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me? By keeping me in the dark? By lying to my face every time we talked about the orchard?"

"I wasn't lying," she protested, a hint of defiance creeping into her voice. "I just... needed time to figure out a plan. I thought I could fix this without worrying your family."

"Fix it? Natalie, this isn't some spreadsheet error you can correct with the click of a mouse. This is our lives. Our future."

"Don't you think I know that? I've been working day and night trying to come up with a solution."

"A solution you didn't think to share with me. Whathappened to 'we're in this together?' Or was that just another lie?"

Her eyes flashed with anger. "That's not fair, Jasper. I was trying to help. I didn't want to burden you with this until I had a solid plan."

"Burden me? I'm not some fragile child you needed to coddle, Nat. I'm your partner. Or at least, I thought I was."

My words were followed by a ringing silence. We both knew I had just turned the conversation down a bumpy road we couldn't back out of. Natalie's face crumpled, and for a moment, I wanted to take her in my arms and make this all go away. But the seething anger in my gut wouldn't let me.

"But here you go, making decisions for the both of us again," I said, my voice hard and relentless. "You know best, right? Doesn't matter what the rest of us think or want or feel."

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