Lone Star Holiday Proposal

“I guess it mattered to me more.”

His father continued to look at him in much the same way he had back when Nolan was a kid and had done something wrong. Howard knew that silence was a very effective weapon.

“I met someone. Someone who reminded me of what it’s like to feel.” Nolan heard his mother’s gasp of surprise, but he kept going. “Someone who potentially was going to be put at a major disadvantage both financially and emotionally if things had continued the way they were. Regrettably, I withheld information from her. I abused her trust. I don’t like the man who did that and I don’t want to be that person anymore.”

“Good to hear, son. So who do you want to be now?” Howard said quietly.

“The man who makes things right again.”

Nolan watched his father take a sip of his wine and set the glass carefully back down on his mother’s crisp white linen tablecloth.

His father sighed and looked up at him again. “And if you can’t?”

Nolan shook his head. Failure wasn’t an option. He wouldn’t be his father’s son if it was. “I will succeed. It won’t be easy, but I’ll get there.”

“Does she know about your old life here?”

“No, and I need to address that. She deserves to hear it from me. It’s just...not easy talking about them.”

“You’ll find the right time, son, and the right words,” his father said encouragingly.

“Does this mean you’re moving back to Royal for good?” his mom asked while she gathered up the plates from the table.

“I hope so,” Nolan answered. “No, I know so. LA isn’t the right place for me. Not anymore. It was a good place to run to. It let me grieve at my own pace and in private. But I’m back now.”

Howard shifted in his seat. “You planning to set up a property law practice here?”

Nolan shook his head. “No. In fact, I think I’m ready to go back to my roots, to family law.” He gave his father a half smile. “Do you know anyone looking for a lawyer?”

His father’s smile was slow to come but when it did, it shone with a world of approval and joy. “I think I might know of a space. You’d have to brush up a bit, jump through a few hoops, untie some red tape.”

“Oh, Howard, stop teasing the boy,” Nolan’s mom protested. “You know you need him back at the practice. It hasn’t been the same since he left.”

Nolan met his dad’s gaze and stood as Howard rose to his feet. The older man extended his hand across the table and Nolan grasped it firmly, exactly the way his father had taught him more years ago than he could even remember.

“Then, welcome back aboard, son. We’ve missed you.”

“It’s good to be back, Dad. Thank you.”

And Nolan knew the words were more than just that. Inside he felt as if everything had clicked back into place. Almost everything, he corrected himself. There was still some rebuilding to do, if that was even possible. But, like he’d reminded himself before, failure wasn’t an option.

* * *

Number withheld. Raina stared at her cell phone screen and debated taking the call. It was quiet in the store; she had no reason not to take it, and yet there was a knot in her stomach that made her hesitate. She knew it wasn’t Nolan. He’d been leaving messages every day since Saturday asking her to call him. She wished she had the courage to call him back and tell him to stop calling her, or even had the courage to block his number, but something always held her back. That same perverse something that gave her a quiet thrill of attraction every time she heard his voice.

Her phone went silent in her hand and a few seconds later the icon popped up telling her she had a voice message. With a sigh of frustration, Raina checked it. And there it was, she thought as she listened. Yet another call from Jeb. She’d already told him how much money she could give him but he insisted on more. Telling her his life depended on it. When she’d pressed him for details, he’d explained about the gambling debts he’d incurred in New Mexico. The loans he’d taken out with some guy who was now impatient to be repaid. The sum had staggered her. Surely Jeb couldn’t have gambled it all away?

She had the impression that for all the things he’d told her, he was still holding something back. She decided it was time to get to the root of it and dialed the number he’d given her in his message.

“Rai, about time,” he growled in her ear.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Raina demanded, not wasting any time on pleasantries.