“Exactly what I said. You and your good friend, your ‘girlfriend,’” she says, making use of those air quotes once again, “make a cute couple, you know.”
I can feel the heat of embarrassment in my cheeks. “She is my friend. Not my girlfriend.”
“She is a girl who is your friend.” She holds her mug in the air, punctuating her words. “Therefore a girlfriend.”
“I’m not going to argue with you about this.”
A voice pipes up behind us. “Who’s arguing and what’s it about?”
Spinning on my heel, I turn around and find Austin standing on the porch with his hands over his eyes, shielding them from the sun.
“How did you get up here so fast?” I ask, pointing back to the fields. “You were just out there.”
“I can move quickly when I want to, big brother. Better than you some days. Probs why my contract has already been extended for next year,” he says, a teasing lilt to his voice. My brother also plays in the NFL, he’s a tight end, but for oneof my opposing teams, the Tampa Bay Thunderbolts. “How’s Duncan today?”
I shrug. “The same.”
Austin walks over and pats my shoulder before throwing himself into one of the Adirondack chairs on the porch. “Once he gets used to us, to this place, he’ll come around.”
“I hope so,” I say, parking in a chair beside him. “But in the meantime, where do we go from here?”
“What do you mean?” Mom asks, tilting her to one side.
“I think in order to quell any issues Lorna may have, I need to put some plans into motion that show I’m serious about taking care of him. Show her, visibly somehow, that I’m prepared to be a more present figure in his life.”
“Dude, you were taken by surprise last year and you guys really did need to go slow to make sure you didn’t rock his foundation more than it was already. What else can you do?” Austin queries, his eyes narrowing with understanding. “Wait. You’re not thinking of moving are you?”
I nod my head slowly. “I am. I think getting a place that is just his and mine would be a good start.”
“What about playing football?” Austin asks as I shrug.
“Don’t know right now. I’ve not signed anything because…” I throw my hands in the air. “I need to make a decision based on what’s best for Duncan. That may mean it’s time to step down from the team.”
“But have you—”
I hold up a hand to cut him off. “I’m not prepared to talk about it right now, but I will. When I have time to think about what I want to do and see what’s best for Duncan, then I’ll know.”
I knew Austin would have an opinion about this, and I half-expected my brother’s reaction to be bigger, like he’d want to talk me out of stepping away from football, but instead henods his head in silent understanding. “I get it, but does it really mean you need to leave the farm?”
“What your brother said. I understand why you’re rethinking your career, but we’re your family.” My mother doesn’t even try to hide her disappointment. “If you’re here, we can chip in and help.”
“I know, but there has to be some independence in it.” I look around the farmland surrounding the house. “We’re not that close to Sweetkiss Creek, and I think it may be good for him to have more stimulation as he gets used to being here. He wasn’t communicative while at Lorna’s, but he did seem to like living in town.”
“He’s a city boy, grew up in New York, right?” Austin asks as I nod.
“Well, I don’t see why the farm would be a bad palace for him to be,” Mom huffs my way, disgruntled.
“I want him to come out here to the farm. I think living out here is the best thing ever, but maybe we live in town for a year or two first so he can make friends and have easy access to things, like he did in New York.”
“He could also get in trouble.” Mom glances at Austin. “Georgie caught him shoplifting in her store last night.”
As Austin’s eyes widen, I groan. “Mom. I don’t want everyone knowing about this. It’ll embarrass him.”
“Maybe he needs to be.” Austin chuckles. “What kind of book did he take anyway? I bet it was the Victoria’s Secret anniversary edition of their top runway looks over the years…”
I roll my eyes. My brother, all class. “A cookbook.”
“That’s not even interesting.” Austin snickers. “How did your girlfriend handle it?”
