I let her words sink in. This was the second time someone had pointed out that maybe Abby hadn’t been in her right mind.
Mom went on. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to give the girl a few minutes of my time if she’s finally ready to tackle that burden she’s been carrying.”
“Burden?”
My mother’s face softened. “You have so much anger inside of you, Bishop, and I don’t blame you. All I’m saying is, if you want to unload your own burden—your hurt and anger—then you need to talk to her. If you never want to speak to her again, that’s your choice and your right. But until you make peace with it, until you both make peace with each other, you’ll never be able to move on.”
I dropped my head forward and massaged my temples. I knew she was right. A part of me needed to hear what Abby had to say. I had begged her to tell me once, so why was I so unwilling to hear it now?
My father cleared his throat from behind us. “Ken went to go cut down two trees. Here are the stands you wanted, sweetheart.”
Pointing to the corner, Mom said, “Let’s put one there and one in the middle of the shop, like always.”
It felt as if something twisted in my chest while I stared at the dead center of the shop. Abby used to love decorating the tree we put in the middle of the floor. The first year after she left, I didn’t put up a tree at all, even though my mother had wanted to. I’d barely made it through that first season alone, truth be told. I’d walked around like a zombie. If it hadn’t been for my folks and my friends, I wasn’t sure I would have opened the store at all.
As I stared at the spot where my father placed the tree stand, my mother’s words filled my head again.
“You know Abby better than any of us. Does that sound like a woman who was in her right mind? To up and leave everyone and everything she loved?”
Bryce walked into the store and looked around until he spotted me. “Bishop, Willa and Aiden are here.”
“Thanks, Bryce,” I said, heading back out of the shop. Aiden was helping Willa out of the truck, then he reached into the back and pulled out Ben. I smiled, watching Aiden with his son. Willa’s first husband, Brian, was a deadbeat father who didn’t care less if Ben was around or not. Willa always said it was love at first sight between Aiden and Ben, and you could see it now just by looking at them.
As I headed their way, I smiled at Willa. She had a beautiful glow in her cheeks and she drew in a deep breath, settling her hand on her swollen stomach.
“Willa, you are the most beautiful woman in Boggy Creek,” I said with a wink.
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Forever the flirt, even with an almost eight-month-pregnant whale.”
Aiden scowled. “You are not a whale; you’re perfect in every way. Isn’t she, Ben? Mommy is beautiful, just like Uncle Bishop said.”
Ben laughed and then stretched out his arms for me. I swept him up and did a little airplane action before turning him to look at all the trees. “Ben, you get first pick of the trees this year, buddy.”
He squealed in delight and pointed to the farm. “Twees!”
“That’s right, buddy. Christmas trees.”
Laughing, he buried his face in my chest and that familiar pull of longing hit me once again.
“We still doing Thanksgiving night?” Willa asked.
I tore my eyes away from Ben. “Heck yeah, we are. That is one tradition that will never stop.”
Aiden smiled. “I’m glad to be back home for it.”
Ever since I’d bought Wonderland Farms, I had invited friends and family to come out for Thanksgiving night. They picked out their trees, and we sat around the firepit and drank hot cider or hot chocolate, roasted marshmallows, and enjoyed the stillness before the crazy set in on Black Friday, the day the farm officially opened.
Looking at Aiden, who had been one of my best friends for as long as I could remember, I said, “I’m glad you’re home, too, Aiden.”
To say I was proud of Aiden was an understatement. He’d battled his demons and figured out a way to help others fight theirs as well.
Aiden looked at Ben and Willa and then back at me. “So am I, dude. So am I.”
“We brought you the apple cider,” Willa said as she walked by, careful not to slip in the snow. “I tried something new with it this year.”
I stopped walking. “Wait! You know how much I love your cider, Willa. Why would you mess it up like that?”
She stopped right before she got to the entrance of the shop. Turning, she shot me a look that should have dropped me to my knees.