Page 35 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“Yes,” her friend said firmly. “This place is run-down and needs work. Winter will be here before you know it, and even you, the most stubborn person I know who doesn’t have Duke as a surname, can’t get it in shape by then.”
“I don’t need help,” Leah said, sharper than she intended, as panic tightened in her chest. Pride rose right alongside it, that old familiar feeling she’d carried for years. She didn’t want anyone’s help, didn’t want their pity. But hadn’t she promised herself she’d swallow both if it meant something better for Hudson? The thought clawed at her, leaving her torn between what she wanted for herself and what she needed to do for him.
“Too bad,” Sawyer said, coming to join his girl. “Hey, bud, how you doing?” He held out a hand, and Hudson slapped it. “Tell your aunt to go lock herself in the bedroom if she’s not on board with us, because we have work to do.”
Hudson looked up at her. “Why don’t you want their help when you’re always saying the house will fall down around us soon?”
Out of the mouths of babes,Leah thought.
“I can get what needs doing done, and if I can’t, then I’ll call for help,” Leah gritted out.
Dan Duke got out of his brother Brody’s pickup. With him was Ally. “I call BS. Sorry, Hudson,” he said, moving closer. Clearly having heard her words.
“You don’t get any say in this,” Leah hissed, feeling cornered.Control,she thought. She needed to always be in control because for so long, she had none.
Dan walked until he was standing beside Sawyer. He then smiled down at Hudson. “I’m Dan Duke, and I used to be good friends with your mom and aunt. Nice to meet you.”
He held out his hand, and Hudson slapped it too.
“What do you think needs doing around this place, Hudson? Because we’re here to help,” Dan said with a gentle smile that notched Leah’s anger up more.
“We don’t?—”
“Aunt Leah needs her shade house fixed so we can grow stuff. I’m growing carrots. Then there’s the hole in the roof over the bathroom. Plus, that board that the wind whistles through in the kitchen.”
He was recounting word perfect the things she’d written on the list that Leah had put on the fridge door two days ago.
“Okay, well, they’re all good places to start. What else you got?” Dan said.
“There’s a list on the fridge,” Hudson said, suddenly helpful—and talkative, which he rarely was. “We’re going to grow our own vegetables.”
“Yeah, that could be fun, right?” Dan said while Leah stood there, fuming. “Growing your own food is healthy, from what I gather.”
Hudson nodded. “My teacher, Miss Trout, said that.”
“She’s still teaching there? Wow. I had her,” Dan said. “Ally, did you have Miss Trout?” Dan called to his niece.
“Yes!” came the reply.
“I don’t need this, Sawyer,” Leah said softly.
“Now that’s too bad because it’s the Lyntacky way to look after our own, and you’re that, even if you don’t want to be,” he told her, then went back to his pickup with Birdie on his heels.
“You can either direct us, or we’ll just do whatever the hell we want, and the things you think need doing that we don’t see may not get done.”
The words had come from Dan, who she was now left alone with because Hudson was running with Ally in the direction of the shade house.
“I don’t want you here.”
He studied her. “I was sure when you grew up, you’d realize why I did what I did. Seems I was wrong.”
“Don’t you dare blame me for what happened back then.”
He sighed. “Look, let’s just get on with living in the same town, okay? I’ve apologized for the conclusions I leapt to, and there will be a conversation between us, but I’m not having that with my family listening in.”
“Damn. I thought the show was starting early,” Zoe said, walking by them with a bag of tools.
Leah stood there as Dan went to help his brothers unload timber and other supplies. They then wandered off in different directions while she grappled with the emotions inside her.
