Page 120 of Tumbleweed Temptation
She stepped back, wanting to wrap her arms around herself as her heart shattered in her chest. “I know that.” She knew that, and yet she’d walked right into his arms, exposed her sheltered heart in a way she’d never allowed herself. So she really didn’t have anyone to blame here but herself. “You know what? There’s just—let’s just put it behind us. Okay? We’re both going to be busy with our own lives now, and we’ll just—we’ll just be friends. I mean, we don’t need to hang out. Just, after we’re done here tonight. We’ll just—do our own things.” And before she could change her mind, she hurried down the street toward the diner, leaving him standing on the cracked sidewalk.
*****
AUSTIN PARKED HIS JEEPon the edge of the road and sat for a moment. He hadn’t been to the cemetery in twelve years, having made one visit the night before he left town.
He heaved the car door open and dropped both feet to the dusty ground, crunched over the rocky ground and pushed the gate open. He wished he’d worn something heavier than the flannel jacket against the wind, but what the hell. A little cold wasn’t going to hurt him any more than that conversation with Ginny had.
He drew in a deep breath and scanned the headstones. His mother’s stone hadn’t been placed when he’d left, so he couldn’t spot her grave right away. And the trees and other shrubs had grown up so much in twelve years, he couldn’t use those as place markers.
So he walked up and down the rows on the right side of the path. He remembered that much. And he remembered that she was toward the back, but the cemetery had grown as well. He found himself fascinated by the dates on the stones, forgetting his purpose for being here, so that when her name crossed his gaze, he jolted.
Someone had been looking after the grave. The headstone was neat, and while the flowers below were fake, they had been recently replaced, because they weren’t faded from the sun. And the gravestone wasn’t as hard to read as some of the others. He wondered who had been looking out for her.
He leaned over and touched the cold stone, his heart squeezing in his chest.
“Hey, Mom. Sorry I haven’t been by. I know you’re not really here, but I thought, you know.” He felt weird standing over the grave, like he was ready to bolt, so after considering his options, he lowered himself to the ground, legs crossed. He picked at a slender-leaved weed growing out of the crack between the edge of the grave and the path. “I’ve been back here for a while, town doctor, just like we planned, but I guess you know that already. It’s harder than I thought, and not for reasons that I thought. I...these are the people I grew up with and I’m watching them get sick and die. If you’d asked me, you know, if I’d be sad to see Mr. McKay suffer, I would have said no, after what he did. But Mom, it’s hard. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and I had to hold all that in, couldn’t tell anyone.” He blew out a laugh. “I should have come to tell you. Even when you were alive, you could keep a secret.
“Anyway, that’s been eating me up. And I didn’t handle it too well. I, ah, there’s a girl. You remember Ginny Scott. She helped me a lot, coming back here. I mean, when I left, she helped a lot, when we sold the house, she helped me clean it up, pack it up, her and Lacey and Poppy, I know you remember them. You really liked them. But Ginny, man. Ginny I think you’d remember. We competed for everything. I brought her to work for me, for a while, but then I messed up, and...I know a lot of the reason my feelings for this town are changing because of her. I dreaded coming out here. I mean, I waited until the last minute, and even when I got here, I put off getting to work as long as I could. I know, I shouldn’t be proud of that. But then I connected with Ginny, and Mom, she’s incredible. You’d love the woman she’s become. She just—I messed up with her. I don’t, you know, I don’t know how to make it up to her. I wish you were here. Of course, if you were here, I wouldn’t have hated coming back. I wouldn’t have reconnected with people like I did, because I would have been back over the years to visit you. And I wouldn’t have left the way I did.”
He took a deep breath, and sat back, bracing his weight on his hands as he looked toward the hills in the distance. “I miss you, Mom. When I was at school, I guess I could push it away, but being back here, I miss you every day. You were the best mom there ever was, and I’d do anything if you could be here with me today, smack me in the back of the head and tell me what to do about this girl.”
He leaned forward and kissed the top of the stone. “I think I know what you’d tell me, so I’m going to go do that. I hope you’re looking down, and that I get it right. Otherwise, go pay attention to something else, okay?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Austin was late. Ofcourse he was. Ginny looked over at Poppy, who stood by the microphone they probably didn’t need to use for this small space, and shrugged.
Poppy turned on the speaker and the entire crowd in the small space winced at the feedback.
“Good evening, ladies, and Patrick,” Poppy said cheerfully in her teacher voice, and everyone winced again. Poppy held up an apologetic hand and turned back to the system, turning the volume knob. “Probably should have tested that one. Welcome tonight to our last competition, the breakfast competition. You know, day in and day out, you’re rushed to get a good breakfast on the table, and while a nice cereal works, we’re hoping the three contestants tonight are going to offer you some options you’ll like.”
The door opened, the bell overhead ringing wildly as Austin stepped through, accompanied by the brisk wind. A few of the ladies by the door exclaimed and huddled against the cold blast.
“Hey, y’all, sorry I’m late. Again.” He edged through the crowd to the microphone, offering Ginny an apologetic smile. “I had a stop to make before I got here. Have we started yet?” He looked back toward the kitchen, where he saw Patrick with his camera phone raised. The older man signaled that nothing had started yet, so Austin turned his attention to Ginny, tucked behind the register. “No? Okay, good, because I’d hate to mess up the momentum, but I have some things I need to say.”
Her pulse picked up when he stood in the middle of the aisle, feet braced apart as he looked at her, addressed her. Oh, no no no no no. They were not going to talk this out in front of the whole town. She was not going to let everyone hear her dirty laundry. As much as she enjoyed the big gesture scenes in romance novels, she was not going to live one. She squeezed past Poppy, intent on grabbing his arm and dragging him out the door, but he’d already started talking.
