Page 76 of Ocotillo Kisses
She picked at the samples of food, which was usually her favorite part, and while she was usually effusive about the different aspects fo a venue, no matter what, she just couldn’t muster any enthusiasm today. Instead, she deferred to her client’s concerns about the size of the bathrooms and the limited parking, where ordinarily she would have countered with solutions. Her heart wasn’t in it. Instead it was back in Broken Wheel with the boy—the man—she’d left behind.
Ridiculous. What could she do out there to make a living? Everyone she knew, other than the McKay ranch, and maybe The Wheel House, was struggling to make a living. What did she have to offer the town? Nothing.
And who was to say anyone wanted her back anyway? She’d upset Poppy, and Sofia, and most importantly, Con before she left. Would she be able to make that up?
No, she was romanticizing her time there. Moving back to Broken Wheel just wasn’t feasible.
But she wished she’d stayed until Ginny’s party.
The following evening her family had a get-together for a late Mother’s Day/early Father’s Day celebration since Britt hadn’t been home for Mother’s Day, and her sister Jenna wouldn’t be home for Father’s Day.
“So how was it?” Britt’s mom asked when they all sat around the big table for dinner. They’d ordered out barbecue so no one had to work too hard. Britt was the only one of her sisters who wasn’t a mother, and was the youngest by several years. At thirty, she was marginally closer in age to her fourteen-year-old niece than to her forty-seven-year-old sister.
“How was what?” Britt asked, helping herself to her the creamed corn. She knew what her mother meant but wanted to narrow her focus.
“Staying with your grandmother, of course. Seeing all your old friends.”
“I didn’t see too many of the people I went to high school with. Most of them live in Kimmel, I guess, or moved away. I saw a lot of—” The survivors, she started to say, but that word sounded so dark. “I saw Con, and Beck, and Austin, and some of the younger ones.”
“So how was it with Con?” her other sister, Dawna, asked. “I know you were really concerned about seeing him again.”
“It was a bumpy ride,” Britt admitted, not in the headspace to elaborate.
“But you said you saw a lot of him,” Jenna said.
“I did. The town asked me to help plan the Fourth of July celebration, so I did some work on that with his mom, so we ran into each other a few times. And we all went out together a few times, Con and his friends, who are, incidentally, also the ones who are planning the celebration. You should definitely go,” she told Jenna. “It’s going to be pretty nice, I think. We did a lot of work on it.”
“I guess we will,” Jenna said, frowning a bit at her husband. “Not like there’s much else to do.”
Britt continued without thinking. “It was kind of nice, though, slowing down like that. I spent a lot of time in the pool, and went horseback riding. And there’s a new owner of The Wheel House, she’s maybe my age, and she’s turned it into a really nice little area. Still a bar, but with picnic tables and games and food. Bands on the weekends.”
“You almost sound like you miss it,” Dawna observed.
Britt’s lips twitched as she dragged the tines of her fork through the creamed corn on her plate. She didn’t intend to let them know she did. “It wasn’t as bad as I expected.”
“I think it’s interesting that you stayed a week longer than you planned, but then were going to stay another week, then came home early.”
“Yes, I was going to stay for Ginny’s birthday party, but then I decided I needed to get home and get to work on those Christmas parties.”
“I just would have thought you’d wanted to come home as soon as possible,” Jenna said. “I know I’ll be ready to come home at the end of the month.”
“It won’t be so bad,” Britt said reassuringly. “The kids will like the pool and the horses.”
“They’re going to miss their friends, though.”
Britt frowned a second. Her sister sounded as if she was trying to get out of going. Britt couldn’t blame her, really, because Britt had tried to defer her own visit, mostly because of Con. But the three of them and her dad had made the decision to stay with her grandmother so she wouldn’t have to give up her house. All of them had known what they’d have to sacrifice, and had planned accordingly. Dawna had taken her family, Britt had learned how to work remotely.
“Can we switch?” Jenna asked her dad.
“I thought you wanted June so you didn’t have to take your kids out of school,” Britt said.
“Yes, but now they don’t want to miss out on swimming lessons and camp and time with their friends.”
“They’ll be back the middle of July. There’s still plenty of summer left,” her father said.
“Not with band camp and cheer camp, and prep for their AP courses.”
“Look, no one wants to go to West Texas in the summer,” her dad said. “But this is the schedule we agreed to.”
