Page 20 of That Reilly Boy
There’s a tightness in her face and body that actually scares me. The conviction in her eyes makes me aware of just how many years have slipped by while I’ve told myself she’d come around. At first, I believed my parents would see their friends downsizing and embrace letting go of the generational debris. That didn’t happen. After my dad passed, I thought in time the grief would fade and take the weight of her promise with it. That also didn’t happen.
At some point, it just became the way it was—Gin in denial and me so busy trying to get through each day, I don’t even think about the future anymore. And now I know she’s never going to change. If I don’t do something, this is going to be how I spend the rest of my life.
“Mom, can you?—”
“Enough, Carolina.” She dries her hands and then tosses the towel on the counter instead of pulling it back through the metal loop screwed into the cabinet door. “I’m going for a walk, and when I get back, I don’t want to hear another word about this. I’m not selling this house. Period. Ever.”
Chapter Fourteen
Hayden
I’m on the highway, heading north out of Boston, when my phone rings. Cara’s name appears on the hands-free screen and even being cut off by a jacked-up truck in a hurry can’t wipe the smile off my face as I hit the button to accept the call.
“Hi, Cara. How’s it going?”
“Gin Gamble is the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met,” she says, clearly frustrated. That’s not a good sign.
Penny lifts her head when she hears Cara’s voice. The dog is clipped into a very comfortable carseat, but she looks around as if Cara magically appeared in the car. Considering how often Penny ignores the business calls I make and accept almost constantly while I’m driving, her reaction is interesting.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy,” I remind Cara.
“We had it out a bit last night and she’s not going to budge, Hayden. She’ll let it fall down around us rather than sell.”
Her voice is heavy with resignation, but I don’t surrender that easily. “I’m on my way back to New Hampshire as we speak. Let’s get together and regroup.”
“I didn’t know you left.”
“I set up a few meetings when I realized it would be a better use of my time than staring at my phone, waiting to hear from you.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I cringe. Hopefully she thinks I’m that invested in buying the property, even though it sounded as if I’ve been pining, just waiting to hear her voice again.
To be honest, it’s a little of both.
“I don’t think it will do any good. She’s not wavering, even after I threw some unpleasant projections for our future at her. And you and I being seen together isn’t going to make her change her mind.”
My mind is racing, trying to work the problem of the Gamble house. Step one is making sure Cara doesn’t give up. Without her, I have almost no chance. “Do you have appointments this afternoon?”
“It was a full day, but one of my clients rescheduled because her baby’s sick—her human baby, I mean—so now I get a lunch break.”
“I’ll be back in town before lunchtime. Is that diner about five miles out of town still open?”
“Last I knew.”
“Gin thinks you’re at work, so if we meet there for a quick lunch, nobody will know.”
When there’s only silence from the other end, but I can see the call timer still running on the screen, I assume she’s getting ready to tell me no—that it’s over.
“Okay.”
Once again, Cara surprises me. She must really want out of that house. I do some quick navigational math. “I can be there for noon, if that works for you.”
“Closer to twelve-thirty would be better. My last client before lunch is a talker and sometimes I have trouble getting her out the door.”
“The dog or the human?”
Her soft laughter comes through my speakers, and if I wasn’t navigating a particularly nasty highway interchange, I’d close my eyes to savor the sound. “The human. She’s single and works from home, so when she gets a chance for live and in-person interaction, she takes it. I won’t have a lot of time, but twelve-thirty at the diner?”
“I’ll be there.”
After we disconnect, I reach over and stroke Penny’s back. I’ve got just enough time to drop her and my bags at my mother’s house before heading to lunch with Cara. Luckily, Mom’s at work, so I won’t have to answer any nosy questions and Penelope will have the house to herself.
