Page 4 of Noel I Won’t
“Excited?”
“Noel called!”
“Oh.”
The prodigal son returns…a phone call. He couldn’t be bothered to come home for his dad’s hospital stay, so I wasn’t sure why Maggie was so impressed. Calling was the least he could do. The very least.
“He has some time off over the holidays, he said.” She beamed a huge smile. “My baby boy is coming to visit!”
Well, shit. I tried to summon a smile for her sake. A mother was entitled to be happy to see her son.
“That’s great.”
She didn’t notice my lack of enthusiasm. “It really is. After Ed’s scare, we just keep thinking about how short life is. It’ll be really nice to spend some time with family.Andhe wants to make us Thanksgiving dinner, isn’t that wonderful? He’s such a fancy chef, and we get him all to ourselves! Oh, I have to call Marilyn and Paula. They’re going to be so jealous!”
My throat tightened. It wasn’t two minutes ago that Lula was lumping me in with the Grisold family. Now, it appeared I didn’t rate for much, not compared toNoel.
He hadn’t been home in four years. I was the one who was there for Maggie and Ed when they needed help with the farm. When they needed an emergency ride to the hospital. When they needed help maintaining their eighteenth-century farmhouse.
“We’ll need to get a room ready for him. You don’t mind changing rooms while he’s here, do you, dear? It’s just that the room you’re in was always his, and I don’t want him to feel like we’ve replaced him.”
There were plenty of rooms in the house. I’d only ended up in Noel’s old room because it was empty other than the bed and dresser set he’d left behind. The other rooms had been closed off to save on the heating bill and were now cluttered with storage. I could deal with that for a few days.
It wasn’t sleeping in a different room that got to me. It was Maggie’s concern about replacing him when he was the one who’d left. It was her hurry to move me to make room for him.
Because he’s her son. You’re not. Don’t forget that.
What I did here wasn’t just a job. At least, I’d never seen it that way. I hadn’t thought the Grisolds did either.
We were family, even if we weren’t linked by blood.
But with the promise of Noel’s return, I suddenly felt like the odd man out.
CHAPTER 3
NOEL
My seat beltkept rubbing against the side of my neck. I plucked at it with two fingers, grumbling as I nearly missed my turn onto the two-lane blacktop that would take me home.
Home. Such an odd word.
I hadn’t lived in Nebraska in a decade, and yet the wide-open sky, the golden fields of wheat and corn, and the highway that seemed to roll out into the distance, straight and unbending—like so many of the people here—were like looking into a mirror.
My chest tightened.
This isn’t who you are anymore. You’re Noel Grisold, talented chef, rising to new heights?—
And crashing so hard you just ran home to Nebraska.
I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter as I passed the sign that read Granville 30 miles. I was nearly there now.
My neck ached from the long, stressful drive from the Omaha airport. The headrest that pushed forward just a little too far in my economy rental didn’t help matters. Neither did the fact that I hadn’t driven regularly in at least five years. In Chicago, I’d taken the L everywhere, preferring to travel by train.
Between navigating O’Hare, dealing with flight delays, and driving home, I’d exhausted my enthusiasm for this trip. Mychest continued to constrict, reminding me of why I hadn’t come back in four years.
I didn’t belong here. I hadn’t in a long time. Hell, I hadn’t even belonged when I lived here. Thank god, that wasn’t the case anymore.
I’d spend Thanksgiving weekend and make sure Dad really was recovering okay and Mom hadn’t downplayed his health concerns. Maybe talk to my parents about retiring for good. We could sell the place, use the money to set them up for a comfortable life. Maybe they’d like to come back to Chicago, even. I missed them, and if they were closer, it’d be easier to balance work and family.
