Page 264 of Love in Riverbend
My lips curl. “No, Mom. They’re right.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“Justin is what’s wrong.”
Mom pulls me out into the hallway. “Honey, he’ll get better.”
I lift my chin toward Marilyn. “Look at her. She’s beautiful and so damn smart. We’re interested in the same things. She knows what she wants and has worked hard for it.”
“She sounds like a wonderful woman.”
“She is,” I admit.
“Then tell me what’s wrong.”
I inhale. “Marilyn doesn’t deserve to be with someone stuck in Riverbend. She deserves someone who lives where she wants to live, someone who doesn’t have dirt permanently under his fingernails.”
“You left Riverbend.”
I exhale, my nostrils flaring. “I got a job offer today.”
Mom’s eyes open wide. “You did? That’s fantastic.”
I nod. “It’s with the firm I really wanted.” I turn and look into my mom’s eyes. “I applied for an entry level, but that wasn’t what they offered me.”
“I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m going to turn it down.”
Mom’s lips gape open. “Richard John, tell me why.”
“Because I’m not going to let Justin lose the farm.”
“That’s very noble of you, but I don’t?—”
“Stop, please, Mom.” I work to not raise my voice. “We may have sold the farm to Justin and Devan, but I can’t turn my back now. He’ll need help. Hell, I graduated a semester early. I can look for a job after this year’s crop is harvested.”
“What about Marilyn?” Mom asks.
As a lump forms in the back of my throat, I look over at her. She says she will support me, no matter my decision, but I can’t do that to her. I’m not dragging her back to Riverbend. “I don’t know,” I reply.
“Ricky, don’t make life-changing decisions when everything is in chaos. Devan told me how happy you two were the other weekend.”
“Marilyn deserves better.”
“Shouldn’t that be her decision?”
I lift my hand, point at Marilyn, and curl my finger, beckoning her to us.
Her blue eyes open wide as she looks around in all directions before gesturing to herself. “Me?” she mouths.
I nod, unable to hold back my grin.
Damn, it’s painful watching her come toward us, knowing that soon I won’t be holding her in my arms. Tonight was supposed to be our celebration. I push those thoughts away as she comes closer. Once she’s standing before us, I say, “I know you know each other, but Marilyn, this is Mom. Mom, this is Marilyn.”
My mother smiles. “I’ve only known Marilyn since she and Devan were in the same Sunday school class, wearing diapers.”
Marilyn’s cheeks glow with a rosy hue. “Janet, it’s good to see you.”
