Page 129 of Love in Riverbend
Four of the doors access bedrooms and the fifth is to a bathroom. When plumbing was installed, a wall was taken down and a small bathroom was added in what is now Mom and Dad’s room. The renovation made their bedroom larger than the rest. The other three rooms are all about the same size. Ricky had his own bathroom until I came along.
Mom opens the door to my room. Her brown eyes, the color of my own, are on me. The lavender walls I’ve had for as long as I can remember are gone, now painted a pale peach color. One wall, the one with the windows, is a few shades darker. The tall windows have light, wispy white drapes over plantation style blinds. The woodwork is painted a shiny white, a great contrast to the darker wall.
“I love it,” I say, giving Mom a hug.
“I have another surprise.”
“Another?” I follow her into the hallway and down to the last room on the right.
When she opens the door, I see the same colors as my bedroom. “Where is your craft table and supplies?”
“I figured a teacher, especially a first-year teacher, will need someplace to work when she’s not at school.”
“Mom, you didn’t need to give up your room.”
She’s shaking her head. “My eyes aren’t good enough for cross-stitch, and my days of scrapbooking are done. Mostly, this room had become a catchall. You gave me a reason to clean it all out.”
A smile breaks out over my lips. “Thank you. I will definitely help you plant flowers.”
The sound of Dad’s truck can be heard through the open windows.
“If Justin is here,” Mom says, “he can help Ricky bring your desk up to your office.”
My office.
That thought fades with the realization that I need a shower. And then I remember how hard Dad, Ricky, and Justin worked. We all need showers.
“Mom, they worked all day. My desk can wait.” Out the window of my new home office, I see Dad pull his truck in, the trailer in tow. From high above, I can watch without being seen. Ricky gets out of the passenger side. It takes a minute, but Dad is the next to get out. They’re both walking toward the house.
Mom is peering over my shoulder. “Oh, it looks like Justin couldn’t make it.”
I shouldn’t be disappointed, but I am.
Spinning, I meet my mom’s gaze. “Do you mind if I take a quick shower before dinner?”
“You go ahead.”
I brush her cheek with a kiss. “Thank you for both rooms. I love the colors.”
Mom’s eyes light up. “I’m glad you’re home.”
Chapter 13
Justin
Banging the heel of my hand on the steering wheel, I ask myself for the hundredth time why I couldn’t have said no. I could have. I should have. I didn’t.
Jack Dunn took me home. He’d picked me up early in the morning so Dad would have my truck if he needed it. I should have said good night. Instead, when he said Janet, Ricky’s mom, made chili and would like to have me over for dinner, the word yes came out of my mouth. I wasn’t exactly sure where it came from. I recognized my own voice, but damn. I’d just spent the entire day with the Dunns. A shower and relaxing at home would be the usual end to my day. There is probably even a baseball game on. If the Cardinals are playing, Dad and I could sit and yell at the umpires all night.
Instead, I gave my mom a thirty-second explanation on why I was eating with Ricky, ran upstairs and stripped out of my sweaty clothes, took a fast shower, and here I am, driving back to the Dunns’ farm with wet hair, fresh clothes, and feeling like a teenager, not a thirty-two-year-old man.
I slow my truck as I’m rounding a bend. In the stream of my headlights, I see the overgrown brush. The white petals of wild daisies catch my eye. For a moment in time, I consider stopping, picking a bouquet for Devan.
As soon as the thought comes, I dismiss it. Looking up at the growing dark sky, I shake my head. “Therapy. Intervention. Shit, I need something.”
The response to my own statement comes to me.
“I’m talking to myself,” I say aloud. “It’s official. I’m losing it.” I slam on the brakes and pull off to the side of the road. The Dunn farm is only two miles away. On these dark roads, I could be there in less than five minutes. Glancing to my right, I see my phone in its holder. Picking it up, I type out a text.
