"Oh, I want to come.”
There's innuendo in that word, and we both know it.
"Yeah? How bad do you want to come?" he asks, his voice lowering.
"Oh, I want to come so bad. So, so bad."
"Well, maybe if you finish your work early tonight, we could talk," he says. "I mean, if it wouldn't be too much of a distraction."
"Maybe we could do more than talk. Maybe we could video chat?"
His voice perks up. "You mean that?"
I nod. "I mean, I'm game if you're game."
He chuckles. "Damn, Story. You call me as soon as you fucking can."
11
Truett
Waiting three days to see her again is killer. But it gives me enough time to clear my head and to think things through. To remember the reason why I left, the reason why I stayed away so long.
The vision of Story cradled in my arms gives me the strength I need to get through the hours until I see her again. I'm lost in her fucking fantasy, knowing it's not too long before the car will pull up with the girl of my goddamn dreams, when my phone rings.
I chuckle, seeing it's my parents. I answer the call, and they insist on doing a video chat. I won't deny them, after all they've done for me.
"Hey guys," I say, "how's it going?"
"It's going pretty good," my dad says, "actually, we have some big news."
"News?" I say. "What do you mean?"
My dad laughs, "What? You don't think we ever have anything going on?"
"I didn't say that," I tell him. "It's just," I shrug, "you guys have been doing the same thing for the last 25 years. No offense."
"None taken," my dad says, chuckling, "but we put the house up for sale," he says, panning the camera of his phone over to a ‘for sale’ sign on the cabin.
My heart pounds. "What?" I say. "You're moving from our house?"
"It's not your house," Mom says, "it's your dad’s and my place. Remember, you're all grown up now, Truett. You live on Big Bear Mountain, far away from us, and we're here all alone. And since you're not married and we don't have any grandkids, we're not really locked down here for much. All our friends are retiring and moving on. We got a lot of land out here to maintain by ourselves. So we've made the decision."
I swallow. "Wow," I say, "you're really leaving your old homestead? I never thought..."
Dad smiles, "It's time for a change. Just like you. We’re moving on. Moving on and up."
My eyebrows raise. "What do you know about me?"
Mom smiles, "Sorry, Tru. I told Dad you met a girl. That you've fallen, hard."
I laugh, "God, news travels fast in this family."
Dad laughs too, "Well, the family's pretty small."
"Fair enough," I say. "So, I'm assuming your place is going to sell pretty damn fast. The market's hot. And that's a pretty special piece of heaven you've got out there. So where do you plan on heading?"
Mom and Dad share a look. "We haven't decided exactly," Mom says. "We'll let you know when we do. We're going to see how much we make from the property. And then we'll decide where we want to plant our feet. Maybe we'll get an RV and hit the open road."
"Really?" I say, "Mom, I don't know if I can imagine you living anywhere without a garden. And Dad, well, I guess I can imagine that. You can go fishing anywhere."
He grins, his arm wrapped around my mom. "That's true. As long as I got my girl by my side, I'll be good. What about you, Tru? Are you good?"
I nod, "I'm great. Story's coming out this afternoon. And she's staying here for a few days."
"You worried about that?" he asks me. "Moving too fast with the girl you just met?"
I shake my head. "No. Helena – you know, you've heard about her over the years – she's told me a lot about Story. And Story and I've been talking every day since we met."
Mom chimes in, "Which was only, what, four days ago?"
I nod, "Yeah, but a lot can happen in four days. It's not like you and Dad had this long-term romance before you got married, if I remember correctly."
"That's true," she says, "your dad and I fell in love at first sight."
I grin. "Yeah. It's kind of what's happened for me."
Mom and Dad both pause, holding something back. "What?" I say. "Tell me what you're thinking."
"Look, Tru," my dad says, "if that's truly how you feel, you better let this girl know, because it's not fair to hold back from her. You spent the last few years holing up out in the woods alone. But if you want a life with someone, you got to go all in. I know you like to protect yourself, and you're scared of going in too deep and getting yourself in trouble again, getting lost, becoming someone you weren't. But the thing about love is, if you have the right person at your side, it's impossible to get lost. Because with the right person, you've already been found."