Page 163 of Love in Riverbend
“What happened to your grandfather?”
As the group laughs and banters back and forth, Cory sits to Ricky’s side and leans forward. “Seriously, I’m glad you two are okay.”
Ricky looks at me and shrugs. “We are now, but I know I’ve got a great crew here. They’ll have my back.”
Cory’s focus is on me. “I thought about what you said. Devan is an adult. The parents of her students will need to see her that way.”
“It’s Riverbend,” Ricky says. “It will take some time, but they’ll come around.”
“Seriously,” I say, proud of my girl, “check out her classroom. She’s been working her ass off.”
“You’ve seen it?” Ricky asks.
“Yeah. Go look at it. She’s proud of all the work she’s done.”
Ricky stands. “Next pitcher is on me.” He laughs. “No, it’s on Justin.”
The table cheers.
Once Ricky is gone, I turn to Cory. “I don’t want to be a negative influence on Devan. I’d never do that.”
“No,” he sighs. “You’re not. I was worried you were…” He grins and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I was wrong, and now the entire fucking county knows about the two of you.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s made national news by now.”
When I climb into bed, my final thoughts for the day are of Devan. Lying there, I realize that as much as I like her, I have been worried about Ricky and his parents. Yesterday, that concern spread to Cory and others in Riverbend. Tonight, the weight is off my shoulders.
The entire world knows that Devan Dunn is my girl.
As I drift off to sleep, I’m not thinking about what-ifs.
I’m thinking about now-whats.
What can I do or say to convince Devan she’s meant for me and I’m for her?
After breakfast at the diner, I head back to the farm. Not every day is spent in the sun, dirt, and fresh air. Days like today are spent in Dad’s office working on profit and loss, budgets, making allowances for the increased price of seed and fertilizer. Even though I’ve modernized our books, I spend a lot of time flipping through old paper spreadsheets.
You can learn from the past. If you don’t, you’ll suffer the same setbacks.
I’m on my fourth cup of coffee when Dad steps in.
“What is it?” I ask, seeing his expression.
“Jack just called. That developer upped his offer.”
“Fuck,” I growl, leaning back in the worn office chair. “We can’t compete.”
Dad takes the seat on the other side of his own desk. “I met with Jeffrey Murphy, the lawyer.”
“Yeah, I know who Jeffrey Murphy is. Why not talk to Dax?” He’s an attorney too.
“I wanted a less biased opinion.”
“And what did he say?” I ask.
“He said if we mortgage our land, with today’s prices, we can buy the Dunns’ farm, all of it.”
“All of it? You mean the house and barns too?”
