"No." I shake my head, getting up now. “It was not meant to be. None of this was meant to be,” I say more to myself. “In a month, I will say goodbye to this town just like I did six years ago." I walk back inside, and I can hear Pops laughing in the distance.
Chapter 17
Reed
"You look like shit," Quinn says, coming into the barn in his workout clothes, looking at me as I get off the treadmill.
"Right back at you,” I say, looking at his bloodshot eyes. “You are even walking hunched over.”
"That’s what happens when you fall asleep in a rocking chair." He closes his eyes. “I should just go and nap over there." He points at the mats in the corner. “No one would know." I laugh at him.
"Why the fuck would you fall asleep in a rocking chair?" I ask, taking a sip of water and smirk at him. “Is it because Willow kicked you out of bed?"
"No," he hisses. “It’s because Grace is teething, and nothing would help her. Except rocking." He puts his head back and rubs his neck. “What’s your excuse?"
"Just thinking,” I say, not sure what to say just yet. Before announcing to everyone I have a daughter, I want to get to know her. "I’m going to head out. Take a nap,” I say, walking out and then turning. “Besides, I heard dad bods are all the rage these days."
"Fuck you,” he says, and I laugh, running back to the house and jumping in the shower. I slip on another pair of jeans and a T-shirt, grabbing the keys to the truck and walking out of the house.
After I spoke with Ethan, the decision was already cemented in my head. I made a list of things that I had to do, and the first step was going to the bank. Walking in, I nod at a couple of people. “How may I help you?" the blonde behind the desk asks when I step up.
“I called Clarence this morning,” I say. “He was going to have an envelope ready for me.” She turns and grabs a stack of envelopes. “It’s for Reed Barnes.” She looks through the white envelopes, finally finding mine.
“Here it is.” She hands it to me, and I grab it, putting it in my back pocket. Walking out, I put my sunglasses on and head over to my grandfather’s barn.
I park the truck in the driveway and walk over through the backyard, the same backyard I met my daughter in for the first time. The same backyard that I want my daughter to grow up running in, but I know that I am getting ahead of myself. I look back at the house to see if my grandmother is there, but I don’t see her. I walk past the fence and into the barn seeing Asher there with my grandfather as they go over something. They both look up at me. “Boy, you look …" I hold up my hand.
"If one more person tells me I look like shit,” I say, shaking my head, and they both laugh.
"If the shoe fits," my grandfather says. “You look like a man on a mission."
"I kind of am,” I say and then look at Asher, who senses I need to speak to my grandfather alone.
"I have to get back home to Amelia,” he says. “She is going to the doctor for her forty-second-week checkup,” he says, and my grandfather chuckles. “Also, she hates me. But I’ve been told it’ll be good once she has the baby."
I roll my lips. “She told me she’s castrating you as soon as she has the baby." His face goes white.
"It’s not my fault that I make big babies." He throws up his hands, turning and walking out.
"Poor son of a bitch," my grandfather says, watching Asher get into the sheriff’s truck. "She is going to eat him alive."
"I think he’ll be fine,” I say, then turn to look at my grandfather, who is just staring at me.
"What’s gotten into you?" he asks.
"I want to buy a horse,” I say, and he just looks at me.
"You have a horse,” he says. “She’s parked in stall three."
"I want to buy another horse,” I say, and I know he’ll have questions.
“So pick a horse,” he says, and then I shake my head.
“I want to pay for it,” I say, and he throws his head back and laughs.
“You aren’t paying for shit, son,” he says. “If I take your money, you know what is going to happen?” I roll my eyes. “One, your grandmother is going to skin my hide alive." He holds up one finger and then another. “Two, your father is going to come over and rip up the check. And three, I’ll just give it back to you when I die."