Page 55 of Cherry Picked
Hawk nodded. “That sounds like your mom. Positive attitude, always looking for the silver linings.”
“Mostly, yeah. So after I came along, my dad did every job imaginable. He delivered newspapers before the sun rose—sometimes he’d even take me along. He worked at a chemical plant during the day. My mom did data entry at night. They didn’t have time to build much of a social network, but that was okay because we were tight. A unit. They relied on each other, and I relied on both of them, and it worked. We never had a lot, but we were happy.” I paused. “And then he got sick.”
Hawk made a wounded noise because he knew how this part of the story ended, but he didn’t interrupt or offer me empty platitudes. He just clung to my hand like he wanted me to know I wasn’t alone, and I felt an overwhelming rush of affection for him.
“It was pretty typical movie-of-the-week stuff, looking back,” I said with an eye roll. “And a lot of it I didn’t really understand until I was older. Our health insurance was the cheap kind that young, healthy people get because they don’t realize they need better coverage until it’s too late. There was no life insurance either—who had money to pay premiums when someone always needed new shoes? We never had a lot, but things got worse pretty quickly.”
“Fuck,” Hawk breathed.
“Yeah. It was a scary time. When I was young, my mom tried to shield me from the financial stuff as much as she could, but the worst part for me was… was seeing what happened toher. She was tired and strained all the time. Like the life had just been sucked out of her. And as an adult, I look back and think…shit. She lost her best friend, her lover, her partner, her anchor, her safety net… all in one fell swoop. Her happiness had been tied with his.” I pressed the fingertips of both hands together like the pointy roof of a house. “And when he was gone…” I removed one of my hands, and the other toppled. Hawk flinched, and I searched his gaze intently. “It’s scary to imagine building something with someone when I know how easily I could lose it.”
“I had no idea,” Hawk whispered.
“How could you?” I shrugged. “It turned out okay. My mom is afighter—you know that. She got public assistance for a while to keep some food on the table. They helped her find a full-time job at a place that paid for her to get her degree at night. I started working, too, when I was old enough. We paid off dad’s medical bills and saved as much as we could. We only really got our feet under us financially maybe ten years ago now—”
“Ten years? So you spent most of your childhood…? God, Jack. No wonder you’re a workaholic.” Hawk propped his chin on the back of his hands, which were resting on my chest. “You’ve experienced true scarcity.”
I shrugged again. “I never want my mom or me to get back in that place.”
He pushed himself up until the sleeping bag fell off him. “That’s why you’re not fighting the development.”
“Yeah.” I rubbed a hand over my face. “It’d be nice to believe that no one in the Hollow has to do without, but that’s not real life. The town could really use a steady influx of tourist cash—ideally in a way that doesn’t destroy the beauty of the place the tourists are coming to see. I’m all for coming up with an alternate plan, for making sure there’s plenty of oversight, all of that. But I don’t wanna lose our chance either. And I sure as fuck am not gonna be the guy coming up with a brilliant idea that marries both needs—”
“Especially since you’re a little busy trying to keep the diner afloat during the summer rush when you’re missing your most dedicated employee?” Hawk smiled wryly.
“Exactly.”
He nodded. “Thank you. For explaining that. For trusting me with it. I understand where you’re coming from now.”
“Maybe I should have explained it fully before. I just…” I blew out a breath.
Hawk shook his head. “It’s okay. You don’t owe me those stories, Jack. And it’s my fault, too. I was so frustrated and my thoughts were so tangled I felt like you weren’t listening to my very important reasons for feeling the way I did. I didn’t stop to consider that you had your own reasons that were just as important.”
I felt worn-out, stripped and bare, vulnerable in a way I’d never made myself before. “So… what happens next? Now that we’re, you know… doing the relationship thing.”
Hawk blinked at me, all innocence. “I sort of imagined we’d follow the traditional Little Pippin Hollow relationship protocol. Official meeting with Mayor York to declare our relationship intentions. Get our blood tests and star charts done. Register the date of our consummation with the town’s Anniversary Committee. Do the public claiming ritual on the common—conveniently for us, the Pye Day Potluck is already happening today, so we won’t need to wait for them to organize anything special. And, if we’re very lucky, we’ll get a commemorative scroll,” he finished matter-of-factly.
I stared at him. “You’re joking.”
He laughed out loud. “Of course I’m joking. I mean, not about Pye Day, because that’s actually today. But about the rest…”
“After what happened with Luke and Webb, you never know,” I said darkly.
“True. Look, the real answer is…” Hawk shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know what happens now. Don’t forget, I don’t have any more experience with relationships than you do. So maybe we write our own rules in a way that works for us. Okay?”
Me and Hawk, figuring things out together? “Yeah. That sounds pretty perfect.”
“Good.” He gave me a peck on the lips, but when I reached up to thread my hands into his hair and turn that kiss into something deeper and hotter, he pushed away with evident reluctance. “I can’t. Not right now. The Environmental Committee is cobbling itself back together as of two days ago, and I promised I’d meet a few of the others up on Glassy Ridge at nine for a strategy and information session if the storm didn’t mess everything up. I’ve gotta get ready. Besides, aren’t you helping your mom bring stuff to the potluck?”
I groaned. “Yeahhhh. With everything else happening, I might have completely forgotten about that. I’ll need to go call her and sort it out.”
Hawk unzipped the tent so he could stand and began to pull on his warm clothes. I hated seeing his delicious form disappear under thick layers, but I wasn’t about to take my eyes off him for a moment and risk missing part of the show.
“I suppose if I were to suggest that you abandon the protest for a morning and that I blow off the whole Pye Day thing, and that both of us go back to my house, take a nice, hot shower, and get naked in my bed… that wouldn’t be a goodboyfriendlything to do?” I asked, trying out the new word. It sounded strange… and strangelyright.
Hawk bit his lip against a smile. “It really wouldn’t. You’d be run out of town if you forgot about Pye Day. And I refuse to abandon the protest. There’s only two weeks to the vote, and I’m finally starting to get traction thanks to Instagram.” He rolled his eyes. “Hawk Sunday talks about stopping the resort development for months and months, and everyone’s all, ‘That’s nice, dear.’ I get forty thousand Instagram followers thanks to a post going viral, and suddenly they’re all, ‘Wait, there’s a protest? About a resort? First I’ve heard of it.’ I can’t miss a chance to educate people during prime hiking time. Not even to have sex with the great Jack Wy—uh.”
I sighed and flipped the sleeping bag off myself so I could find my own clothes, and Hawk stopped talking abruptly, his eyes widening as he stared at me, laid out in my boxers and T-shirt.
