Page 5 of Break My Heart
Dick Carson and his wife used to live next to my parents’ orchard. They moved into a nursing home a few months ago and sold their house and land to my parents. The house needs a lot of work but our cousin Nash agreed to fix the place up. He lives in Chicago and works for his dad’s construction and remodeling company.
‘I’m not sure I want to live that close to Mom and Dad,’ Nick says. ‘I love them, but Lyndsay and I need our space.’
‘Have Mom and Dad said anything about staying in the house?’ Brody asks Nick.
‘What house?’
‘Theirs, the one we grew up in. Maybe they’d give it to you and Lyndsay since you took over the orchard.’
Nick shakes his head. ‘I’m not taking their house. And if they ever decide to move, that house belongs to the four of us, not just me.’
‘We’d give it to you,’ I say. ‘For taking over the orchard. Keeping it in the family. There’s no way I could’ve done that.’
‘Me either,’ Brody says. ‘I liked growing up there, but I didn’t want to run the place.’
‘I love it,’ Nick says, his face beaming. ‘I go out there every morning, breathe in the fresh air, look out at the fields. It’s a hell of a lot better than living in a crowded city and sitting at a desk allday, dealing with angry clients. Just wish I’d figured that out sooner.’
I’m relieved he figured it out at all. I thought Nick would live in New York forever. It took our dad’s heart attack for him to figure out he was unhappy and wanted a different life.
‘What’s going on?’ Jason asks as he comes in the brewery. ‘Why is everyone here?’
‘Why areyouhere?’ I ask. ‘I thought you had a teacher conference today.’
‘That’s next week.’ He walks up to the bar. ‘I just stopped by to ask if I could reserve a table for Saturday. I was telling some of the other teachers about this place and we decided to meet here Saturday night.’
‘You don’t need to reserve a table,’ I tell him. ‘You can take whatever table you want. I’m sure this place will be just as dead on Saturday as it is now.’
Jason looks back at all the empty tables. ‘What’s going on? Are you opening at five now?’
‘I open at four, but nobody showed up except you three.’
‘You should try the stout,’ Brody tells him. ‘It’s one of the new ones.’
‘I can’t. I’m coaching a kid at five.’
Nick turns to Jason. ‘You’re doing private coaching now?’
‘I’m trying it out. One of the middle school dads asked if I’d coach his kid so he’ll be good enough to make the team next year. I told him I would, but I’m not sure if I’ll do it for anyone else.’
‘Why wouldn’t you?’ Nick asks. ‘It’s extra money and it’s the off season. You have the time.’
‘Yeah, but I might want that time to go out and meet people.’
‘Are we talking girls?’ Nick asks with a smile.
Jason smiles back. ‘Maybe. You know how long it’s been since—actually, forget that. I’m not telling you guys. You’ll just make fun of me.’
Brody puts his arm around Jason’s shoulder. ‘It’s okay. We all go through a dry spell now and then. It’s just that ours are only a month or two and yours go on for years.’
Jason shoves him away. ‘It hasn’t been years, asshole. It’s been .?.?. too long. I’ll leave it at that. Anyway, why are you all here?’
‘I just wanted a free beer,’ Brody says.
‘And I was just stopping by to see how business is going,’ Nick says.
‘So what happened?’ Jason asks me. ‘Where is everyone?’
‘Apparently they’d rather support an outsider than a townie,’ I say, annoyed.
