Page 104 of Digging Up Love
She broke away. “Jeez, Simone, yes. I hear you.”
Simone grabbed her again, cradling Alisha’s head on her shoulder. “You can always speak up when you need to, sis. Your desires are important.Youare important.”
Face burrowed into her sister’s perpetually Chanel-scented neck, Alisha hiccupped. “I missed this.”
“What, arguing?”
“No, hugs.”
Simone’s shoulder vibrated under her. “Well, don’t get used to it. I’m still not big on lovey-dovey crap.”
“But the honesty? Can we keep that up?” Alisha sat up, gnawing at her lip. “If I’m hearing you right, you’ve been hiding a lot from me too. For a long time.”
Her sister’s eyes narrowed, and Alisha rushed on. “I’m not blaming you. I get it. You were trying to protect me. And I was trying to protect you. But that’s the whole problem. Neither of us need another parent; we need a sister.” She kept on talking, the words like WD-40 to unused hinges. “I never wanted to move back home or run a restaurant. All I ever wanted was to finish my degree and move to Chicago. Maybe because of Mom. Maybe cuz our best memories were there, I dunno.”
She picked up speed and rattled on, giving free rein to the truth that sped out of her mouth like a runaway horse. No putting it back in the barn now. “Hawksburg has never felt like home. I knew if I ran Honey and Hickory, I’d never be able to leave, but I gave up everything so you could get out. I thought youwantedout.”
Simone shook her head. “All I ever wanted was tostay. I barely remember life in the suburbs. Hawksburg’s always been my home. And Granny and Pops are more my parents than my own. No offense to Momma,” she said, and she traced the sign of the cross over herself. “My whole life was there, until it wasn’t.”
“You know, maybe you should think about moving back,” Alisha said.
“What?”
“Move back. You lost your job. You don’t love it here, right?” Alisha’s head was spinning, but one thing was clear. “Take the restaurant!”
Simone stared at her.
“It’s mine to give now, right? But I know Grandpa would’ve given it to you anyway if he’d known.” She felt like a hot air balloon with the ropes cut. Jubilation hit Alisha like helium, and her voice rose. “Haven’t you been listening, Sim? I don’t want the restaurant. I never have.”
She fished the keys out of her back pocket and pressed them into Simone’s hands, cutting the ropes on the last weight holding her down. “But you do. So take it. Honey and Hickory is yours.” She slammed the words down like a gavel and delivered herself free.
CHAPTER 39
QUENTIN
A heavy knock thudded on Quentin’s office door.
“Come in.” His eyes flicked over, and he almost dropped the book in his hands. “Dad?”
His father hovered at the doorway, a polo stretched across his broad chest, wearing slacks and shined-up loafers, like he’d come for a job interview. “Is this a bad time?” He rubbed a palm over the top of his head, gleaming under the fluorescent lights. “I can go if you’re busy.”
Bad time, yes. Trust his father to show up at work at the very moment he stood to lose everything. But busy? Ha. What he wouldn’t give to be busy right now.
“No, of course not.” He closed the book, using his thumb to hold his place, and scooted around the desk. His knees knocked against the chair in the tight space and sent it clattering against the wall. “Have a seat.” Quentin gestured to the other chair, noting its shabbiness with an internal wince. He suppressed the sudden urge to tidy his desk, muscle memory from eighteen years of his father hollering at him to clean up after himself.
His dad squeezed himself into the chair like a parent at kindergarten teacher conferences, vulnerable and wary. Dad had never once visited campus, let alone set foot in his office. Why now? “Is everything all right? Ma? Is she okay?”
Reggie waved a hand. “Your mother’s fine.” Quentin opened his mouth, but his dad continued. “Hector and the girls too. Everyone’s fine. That’s not why I came by.”
“Oh.” At a loss, he sat.
His dad dropped his eyes. “My phone’s been ringing off the hook since your interview came on.” He leaned back, but the wall brought him up short. “Everyone and their dog calling to congratulate me on my genius son. Not like I didn’t know I had a bright kid. But hearing about your success from other people ...” His cheek bulged where he poked his tongue into it.
“Success? I got kicked off the dig, Dad. You know that.”
Reggie looked up, his brown eyes earnest. “You getting kicked off the dig has no bearing on your success, Q. Fact is, you made a groundbreaking discovery. People are trying to take it away from you, but I’m the one who’s been stealing your achievements all along.” His dad pressed a knuckle to the corner of his eye. “Your own father, tearing you down. I’m ashamed, Q. Ashamed it took someone else knocking you down to make me realize I’ve been doing it all along.”
His father stretched out one leg, and the chair creaked. “It’s not about the money, Q. Never has been. I just had such high hopes for you. Not every day a man fathers a genius. No offense to your brother.”
