Page 4 of Taurus

I know that apartment well. It was always empty when I was living here because Grandpa didn’t want to rent it out to a stranger with his only granddaughter in the house. I would go down there and just sit in the silence when life got to be too much for my teenage brain. Eventually, it became a place that my friends and I would hang out. As time wore on, Austin and I would hide away down there too, when we were supposed to be doing something else.

“I guess you know why I’m here then?”

He nods again. “I spoke with Lee. He told me to be expecting the new owner to come out. I figured it was you, but like I said, I wondered if you’d actually show up. He said you were here to take over.” He speaks of my grandfather’s attorney, Mr. Lawson, like they are on a first name basis. In Summer’s Grove, that’s probable though.

“And I’m here to make some final decisions about the entire thing. It’s all so much… I’m just overwhelmed by it all, but Mr. Lawson is going to help me manage it when it comes to selling and—”

“Selling?” he interrupts me. “What are you talking about?”

“I have a job and a life back home. I can’t just drop everything and run a vineyard and winery in a different state. That’s crazy.”

“And what about all of the people who work here? What about them? This place is their livelihood,” he says with a tilt of his head.

“I don’t know what you expect from me, Austin, I really don’t. I am going to do the best I can when it comes to finding someone to buy it. I’m going to make sure whoever takes it off my hands understands that it is… was… my grandfather’s pride and joy.”

“He wouldn’t want it sold off to a goddamned stranger like it was anything but his pride and joy. Seems like you really care a lot,” Austin says, pushing away from the counter.

“Whoa, don’t talk to me like I’m doing anything other than what I’m able to, Austin.” I stand from the table, pointing my finger at him. “You don’t get to look at me for the first time in over a decade and judge me and my intentions.”

“Don’t remind me how long it’s been like it has mattered to you.” He walks over and places his mug in the sink, running some water into it, then places his hands on the counter just in front of it with his head down. “You ran away and never looked back. The last thing you would have wanted was to see me again.”

He’s right. The last thing I wanted was to lay my eyes on him, because I know I would have forgiven him instantly.

But I had to keep my pride and my dignity.

“My life changed, and Summer’s Grove had to be a distant memory for me,” I say quietly. “We weren’t good for each other.”

“You and Summer’s Grove or you and me?”

The question lays heavy in the air, and honestly, I don’t even know how to answer that… because if I’m truthful, he and I were electric together, but was that a good thing?

I don’t get to answer though, not before a very loud, very aggressive squawk echoes through the kitchen.

“What the fuck?” I shriek, jumping backward when a very large, orange and white colored chicken comes waddling into the room.

“Easy there, you’ll scare her,” Austin says as he bends over and scoops the chicken into his arms. “She’s delicate, Marjorie. You’ll get used to her,” he says to the chicken before glancing at me with a sly smirk.

“You have a chicken… named Marjorie?”

“I do,” he gives her a tiny scratch on the head, “and we missed breakfast so she’s pretty pissed off at me right now.”

“You have a chicken, named Marjorie, that just lives in the house with you?”

“She uses the doggie door.” He points over to the small flapped door at the bottom of the door that leads out to the backyard.

I can feel that my mouth is actually hanging open.

“Somehow… that makes complete sense to me,” I say to him because it’s the truth.

Austin was always a sucker when it came to animals. It was one of the reasons I think I fell in love with him, once upon a time.

He was, and still is, this tall, dark, handsome man who had such intensity he could bring anyone to their knees and incinerate their panties, but in the same breath, he’d become a softy in front of a kitten or any other little creature.

“Let’s get out of here, Marjorie. Parker is judging us,” Austin says playfully before walking toward the back door just off the kitchen.

“Hey, I wasn’t judging you. I’m just processing. There’s a lot to process here.” I wave my hand around in the air, motioning around the house in general.

“You keep processing then. I’m going to go feed Marjorie and tend to the chores out there,” he pauses for a minute then turns back to me. “You can join me, if you’d like.”

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