Page 5 of Coming Home Country
This was where, as a young girl, I’d watched my father slowly lose his battle with cancer.
This was where my mom and I had found our footing as a new family of two, our bond only strengthening with each passing day.
This was where I’d come home after my first day of kindergarten, excited out of my mind to tell my mama about my new best friend, Aspen.
This was where Aspen and I had more sleepovers than I could count.
This was where I’d experienced my very first kiss on the front porch.
This was where I had spent so many nights, lying awake in bed, picturing my future—a future that would never come to pass.
This was where I’d burst through the front door in tears to pack my bags before never returning.
Until now.
My mama was all I had left in this world besides Aspen, and I hadn’t seen her—outside of video calls—since the day I’d left this town in a cloud of dust. As a single mom after my dad passed, she’d givenme everything, and guilt gnawed at my gut, knowing I hadn’t been the best daughter to her these past few years. She didn’t make much as the church’s secretary, so there hadn’t been funds for her to visit me during the years I’d been in school. When I finally began making decent money in Chicago and could afford to fly her out, she’d balked at the idea, having never been on a plane before, with no desire to see the “big city.” Like most residents of Rust Canyon, my mama was comfortable in the country, the place where she was born and raised.
Once upon a time, I’d felt that way too.
Not anymore.
I had Tucker Grant to thank for that.
God, even allowing myself to think his name after a decade of blocking it out had a shiver rolling down my spine and my chest tightening to the point where it became a struggle to breathe.
We’d been Rust Canyon’s golden couple, even as teens. We fit so well together that people could hardly wait until we made it official and got married.
But he’d had such big dreams that they couldn’t be contained in a small town. When he got accepted into one of the most prestigious medical programs in the country, a thousand miles from home, he almost didn’t go. I was the one who’d talked him into it, convincing him that the sacrifice of spending a few years apart would be worth it in the long run and that it would only be a tiny blip in the course of our life together.
With Tucker being two years older than me, I was still in high school when he left for Baltimore. The long-distance thing sucked, not seeing each other every day like we were used to, but I kept busy enough with my friends that the time flew by.
After graduation, I followed Aspen to LA, not wanting to be left behind by both of the people I was closest to in this world. Growing up, our eldersalways warned us to enjoy our youth because it passed by in a flash, and I was almost counting on it. What kept me going was knowing that by the time I finished my four years of college, Tucker would be a good chunk of the way through medical school, and we’d be one step closer to starting our forever.
Not that he wanted to wait. He’d made it no secret how impatient he was to marry me, but his hands were tied until I turned eighteen. And a proposal wasn’t the only thing he’d been holding back until I became a legal adult. The final threshold in cementing our physical relationship hadn’t been breached either.
When I returned home for Christmas break after the fall semester of my freshman year at SoCal, having celebrated my eighteenth birthday that September, I was more than ready. The anticipation was at an all-time high.Everyoneknewwhat was coming.
But, like some of the tornadoes that ran rampant each spring through our beloved Oklahoma, the destruction came without warning.
My eyes squeezed shut to prevent the tears from leaking out. I had promised myself long ago that I was done crying over that man. Unfortunately, that was damn near impossible to stick to when being back here reminded me of how my life had been picture-perfect one minute, then blown to smithereens the next.
All these years later, I couldn’t help but wonder why.
Chapter 2
Tucker
WalkingintotheWateringHole, I found Mac seated at the bar with his head in his hands. It struck me as odd that he’d texted in the middle of his shift, saying he needed a drink and asking if I’d keep him company.
Suddenly, panic pierced my chest. Oh God, I hoped he wasn’t getting cold feet. The wedding was in eight days.
And I was the absolute last person who should be convincing anyone to get married if they were on the fence.
If only I’d been able to talk myself out of it when the doubts had piled up.
But I could see why I’d be his first call, seeing as I was his best man.
I slid onto the barstool beside him, clapping a hand on his back. “How you hanging in there, bud?”
