He stares at her for a long moment. Nobody moves. Nobody speaks.
I don’t know what to do. I don’t want him to agree to something he’s against. I don’t want him to do this for me if it’s going to mean living with people and in a place he doesn’t want to be around. He’s done so much for me already.
Sylvia’s eyes fall onto mine with a mocking little smile, as if trying to remind me of our conversation from before.
“Brent—”
“I’ll do it,” he says. “I’ll move back to Virginia. I can open a new practice here. And I’ll visit more often.”
“Good. It’ll be nice to have you around.” She stands. “You may make whatever offer you see fit. Confirm it with your brother before making it final.”
“Jacob?”
“Yes. He controls the money now.” She smiles a little. “And I’ll be watching, of course.”
“Thank you.”
She nods and leaves the room. His father lingers for a second.
“That was… intense,” he says and laughs. “But I hope it works out for you, son. It’ll be nice to have you around.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Brent says.
His father smiles and salutes me with his drink then leaves after his wife.
Brent turns to me. “Okay,” he says.
“Brent.” I stand. “You can’t do this.”
“What?”
“Listen. I can’t ask you to do this for me. I know living away from your family is important. You want a sense of independence, you want to be your own person. I can’t ask you to give that up for me. Please, we can find another way.”
He laughs softly. He steps close and kisses me. “Are you done?”
“Brent.”
“Are you?”
I glare at him. “Yes.”
“Good. Now, let’s go book a flight.”
“Where?”
“Texas. We have a deal to make.”* * *The Texas landscape flits past the window. I feel strange, being back here, so close to my father. Although then again, he’s probably still back in Virginia. We crossed paths, so close, close enough to touch, but now we’ve run and come back here.
Back to Texas, back to my home.
The rented black SUV pulls down a driveway. It’s a familiar driveway although I try not to think about it. We head up to the main house and Brent parks, killing the engine.
“You ready?” he asks me.
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“Come on. It’ll be okay. The worst that can happen is they say no.”
“Or they try to kidnap me and force me to marry Michael.”
He laughs at that. “Okay, or that. But I won’t let them.” He squeezes my hand. “You trust me?”
“I trust you.”
“Come on.”
He climbs out then comes around and helps me down. I limp along on my cane as he helps me along. I refuse his offer to carry me up the steps and manage them on my own, a feat that feels easier every day.
He stops at the door and rings the bell.
After a minute, David answers. He looks surprised to see us, but not changed at all.
“Well now,” he says. “Amber Gibbins. And you must be… Brent Lofthouse.”
“Hello, sir.” Brent puts out his hand.
David shakes. “Welcome to my ranch. I suspect I know why you’re here, son, but let’s go inside and talk.”
Brent nods and we follow him inside.
“Is Michael here?” I ask.
David glances at me. “He’s out back. You wanna go see him?” He grins. “Probably a good idea. You hurt his feelings, you know.”
Brent tenses but I put a hand on his arm. “I’ll go talk to him. It’s okay.”
He nods as I head away from them. I go out the back and find Michael sitting in a chair with headphones on. He looks shocked to see me and sits up straight. He pulls off the headphones and stands.
“Uh, hey,” he says. “You’re… here.”
“I’m here.” I smile at him. “Sorry about all the craziness.”
“Yeah, uh, whatever.” He laughs a little, clearly uncomfortable. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you about… you know.”
He blushes a little. “Yeah. Sure.”
He sits down and I take a chair across from him. He crosses his legs, trying to look casual.
“Michael, you know none of this is about you, right?”
He laughs a little like that was a crazy thing to say. “Uh, right. Yeah. I know that.”
“Do you though?”
He looks away. “I mean… you ran away from marrying me like it was the plague.”
“That’s not what I did.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No.” I lean toward him. “Listen, you seem nice enough. You’ll find a girl that really loves you. But it’s not me, okay? I just don’t want to marry you.”
He shrugs. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Whatever. It was my dad’s idea anyway. Marry you, keep it in the family, make it real. But it’s crazy, right? Really crazy. You can’t just… your dad doesn’t own you.”
“That’s what I think.” I lean back in my chair. “I’m happy to hear you say that.”
“I didn’t think that at first,” he says quietly. “But then your dad’s ads came out… and he was on TV… and I saw some of the comments. Read some articles. I started thinking. You know… you’re a person. You can have a choice. I can too.”