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“You sound like mom.”
“Well,” I sigh. “She was the sanest out of all of us.”
We are both quiet for a moment, each thinking about the memory of our mother. I moved to Knight’s Ridge not long after she passed. I needed space. I needed to be on my own for once, in a place that people didn’t know me for my last name. For once in my life, I wanted to be just a regular guy with ordinary problems.
“You’ve made your point. You can handle life on your own without us.”
“That’s not what this was about.”
“Well, whatever your reasoning, I’m not kidding about you coming home. Dad is looking to retire, and he wants to put us both in charge.”
Retire? For optics, he "handed" over the reins of the organization to Tegan, but at the end of the day, he was calling the shots if what Tegan wanted went against his wishes.
“How does he figure that’s a good idea?”
“I’ll be the face of the company, doing the day to day running of the organization—officially.” I can hear the annoyance in her voice on that last word. “And you will be the shot caller behind the investments.”
“You are more than capable of doing both.”
“I know that,” she scoffs. “But I think it would be good for the two of us to work together again.”
I smile. “Yes, our lemonade stand empire was the talk of the neighborhood.”
“And we can have that again.”
I shake my head, but she can’t see me. “It’s not the right time for me.” Rachel’s face pops into my mind. Even though I haven't seen her since the day I woke up, I've been counting the minutes until the doctors will release me so that I can find her. I've spent enough time waiting for something to happen between us. My accident taught me that I couldn't keep waiting around for something to happen. I need to make it happen.
“You ready?” Rhodes asks as he walks into my hospital room. He pulls a face when he sees I’m on the phone.
“Tegan, I have to go. We can talk about this later, okay?”
“Don’t you dare hang—”
I push the end call button and shut off my phone. I toss it into the duffle that Rhodes brought me a few days ago. Tegan has given me a lot to think about, but my head still aches a bit, and thinking about having to deal with my father again is enough to do my head in.
“Who was that?”
“My sister.”
Rhodes nods his head in understanding. He knows the truth about my past now. I’m not happy my accident happened, but the aftermath of it helped me realize that it’s okay to let people in. I grew up surrounded by people wanting to get close to me for my family’s name or money, but it’s been clear for a while that my friendship with Rhodes has nothing to do with anything other than us being partners and friends.
He seemed surprised at first, cracking a joke about how his place is bigger than mine, so I must not be that good with money. But after that, we just went back to being who we were before, just two regular small-town guys. Although he did jokingly add that if I wanted to buy him a Lamborghini for saving my ass in the mine, he wouldn’t say no if the offer should present itself. I informed him that he could hold his breath, but it wasn’t going to happen.
Chapter 5
TANNER
Rhodes drives me home, pulling to a stop in front of my dark house. The street is lined with parked cars up, but I figure one of my neighbors are having a party. I just hope they aren’t too loud. My bed is calling my name.
“Thanks for the ride,” I say to Rhodes as I open the door and step out.
He cuts the engine and gets out too.
“The doc said to make sure you were settled before I left you alone.”
He didn't say anything to me, but what do I know about aftercare for head injuries?
We walk up the driveway to the front door, and I unlock the door. For a moment, I swear I see the slight flutter of movement behind the sheer curtain in the front window. I chalk it up to possible side effects of my accident and head inside.
