Page 57 of Higher Ground
“I saw him at the supermarket, but he took one look at me and turned the other way.”
Sounds like Jaxon, running off instead of facing his problems. Byron was surprised he’d managed to make it to the farmhouse at all.
“When was this?”
“Yesterday, late afternoon.”
Hm, made sense.
Byron squared his shoulders, dropping the end of a shovel to the ground to lean on the handle. “He came here. Don’t think he was happy with what he saw.”
“Oh, God, Dad, what did he see?”
“Nothing bad. But he didn’t like that Emory was here. With me. Apparently, when he kicked her out of the cottage, he failed to consider that there wouldn’t be many other places in town for her to go.”
Tucker got to work unhooking the trailer from the tractor, thick metal chains clattering to the ground as he unscrewed the pins. For a second, Byron thought Tucker had moved on from the conversation, but as the last chain fell, he stood up. One foot hitched up on the A-frame of the trailer, he leant forward to rest his forearm on his knee.
“You know Jaxon best out of all of us. Do you really think he thought about where Emory would go?”
“Of course not. He was only thinking about himself. It’s all he ever does.”
“Did you stop to think aboutwhyhe might be kicking her out of the cottage?”
Byron rocked one shoulder up in a shrug. “Em said he mentioned his money had run dry. I suspect he had nowhere else to go.”
Tucker ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it off his face before he continued. “He needed somewhere to fall back to. The last thing on his mind was where his ex was going to go, but I doubt it ever would have crossed his mind that she’d come here. You and Emory are adults, and I’m just happy to see you smiling again, Dad. But she’s his ex, and you’re his dad. It was never going to be an easy conversation.”
Tucker was right, and Byron’s shoulders sank forward. Jaxon might have done some shitty things but then again, lately, so had Byron. He should have known that his relationship with Emory would drive a bigger wedge between himself and his son. Hell, hehadknown. He’d been fighting this attraction with Emory from the moment he met her, and Byron knew deep in his bones that Jaxon’s disapproval wasn’t going to change how he felt. But it was still going to sting a little. There was probably a better way for Jaxon to find out, though.
With a sigh, he grabbed the last of the tools from the trailer and set them against the wall of the large shed. His back and knees ached after the day’s labour, but now his heart felt heavy too. His whole plan counted on Jaxon still choosing to be completely out of the picture. He’d been naïve, or maybe hopeful, to think Jaxon wouldn’t come back. That thought did more than sting; it was a knife to the throat and made Byron choke on his sharp inhale. Had he really wanted Jaxon to stay out of the picture forever?
No, he hadn’t wanted it, he was sure of that. He’d just expected it, and as a result, he’d come to count on it.
“Thanks for your help today.” He turned to face Tucker, trying to change the subject. To forget about his impossible decision and the worry of the future, for a moment at least. Heknew that one look at Emory would make everything feel right again. He just needed to get to her.
Tucker shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, brow furrowed as he glared at Byron. “You really think you can just kick me out when you realise how fucked you are?”
“Sometimes I think you forget I’m your father.”
“Ha. So do you, apparently.” He took a few steps towards Byron, stopping short a few feet away to run a hand along his face. “Look, Jaxon is Jaxon. But Emory is Emory. I can see what she’s done for you, and that’s not worth giving up. Jaxon is either going to get over it and stick around, or he’ll fuck off again, and the only thing that will change is you being happy instead of being a grumpy old fucker all the time.”
“There might be more that changes, though. She handed in her last assignment.”
“I figured.” Tucker stepped forward and wrapped an arm over Byron’s shoulders. He pulled Byron into the closest thing to resemble a hug the two had shared in a long time. He patted his fist against Byron’s back a few times before pulling back.
“You have a lot more cleaning up to do before I agree to anything, though.”
Chapter 29
Emory
Emory’s phone buzzed on the corner of the bench as she poured two mugs of tea. In a third—plastic—cup, she added a dash of hot water to Clayton’s milk. After her own tea had brewed, she dropped the bag into his drink for a short second before pulling it out and dropping it into the sink.
“Do you have biscuits too?” Mya called out from the living room.
Emory held back her smile as she picked up the packet she’d already pulled from the pantry. There was nothing Mya loved more than dipping a crumbling biscuit into her tea, and even though Emory found the thought gag-worthy, she wasn’t about to deny her friend.
With the lid snapped onto Clayton’s sippy cup, she tucked it and the biscuits under her arm and balanced a mug in each hand. Her phone still vibrated along the counter, but she was ignoring it for a reason.
