The Butterfly Effect (Boggy Creek Valley 1)

Hitting the number, I held my breath.

“Hey, this is Claire. I can’t speak with you at the moment. Leave me a message, and I’ll do my best to get back to you.”

I exhaled and hit End and tossed my phone onto the bed.

A light knock on the door caused me to look up. A part of me wanted to ignore it. I stood and walked over, opening it slightly and letting in the bright sun of the morning.

“It’s about goddamn time you woke up,” my grandfather said as he pushed his way into the cabin.

“Good morning to you, Granddad.”

“Morning? It’s damn near three in the afternoon. How much did you drink last night?” he asked as he took a survey of the room.

“Nothing,” I answered as I made my way over to the small kitchen area. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes before I started making some coffee.

A loud noise made me jump and turn toward him.

He raised a brow and pointed to the chair he had moved and set down. “Same thing used to happen to me after the war,” he stated.

I remember my father saying how different he had been when he got home from the Korean War. How he hadn’t been the same man for the longest time.

“What triggered you?” I asked.

“Loud noises. Backfiring cars. It reminded me of the war. Took me a while to move past it, but your grandmother was my saving grace.”

I turned away from him and focused on the coffee. “You talked to Willa, I take it?”

“No. Should I?”

My chin nearly touched my shoulder as I glanced back at him. “Figured she told you what happened.”

“You mean last week at the orchard?” he asked.

I turned and faced him this time. I felt my brows pull in with confusion. “Last week?”

He nodded. “You’ve been holed up in this cabin for a week, son.”

I tried not to let the shock show on my face. How in the hell had I been here for a week already?

“How are you feeling, Granddad?” I asked as I folded my arms over my chest, trying to avoid any more talk of loud noises or how long I had been up here.

“I’ve had better days. Tucker’s been in a mood. He finally came to talk to me in my office yesterday. Demanded to know where you’d gone off to.”

I huffed. “Did you tell him to mind his own fucking business?”

He grinned. “No, I told him you were out of pocket for a few days. But I’ll be up front with you, Aiden.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“I won’t cover for you. I’m sick, and I can’t deal with the business anymore. This company has meant the world to me, like it did to your father. If you’re not interested in it, tell me now and I’ll sell it to Tucker. Lord knows he’s worked for it, and just because he doesn’t hold the O’Hara name doesn’t mean he wouldn’t do right by it.”

I pushed off the counter, my arms dropping to my sides. I let out a disbelieving laugh. “You’d sell it to him, just like that? Give up something that has been in our family for generations?”

He shrugged. “If you don’t want it, I don’t see any other option. I won’t—I cannot—live out the rest of my life taking on the stress of the construction company. Boggy Creek may still be a small town, but the valley is growing, and with it, the company. And we’re doing more and more business in Boston these days.”

I felt my jaw ache and realized I’d been clenching it. “Do you need a project manager in Boston?” I asked.

Granddad raised a brow. “That is something I’ve been thinking about. Of course, your mother had hoped you would stay here in Boggy Creek, but if Boston is what you want, I’ll support that. Tucker can keep doing his duties here and take on more of the business side of things.”

I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant at all, Granddad.”

His face was hopeful, but I could tell his guard was still up. “What did you mean then, Aiden?”

Clearing my throat, I said, “Send Tucker to Boston to head up that division of the company. I’m sure we can find a small office for him that can house a meeting room for clients and a front desk area for an assistant. I’ve been going through the finances this week.”

He lifted a brow at my admission of actually paying attention to the company instead of completely wallowing in self-pity.

“I haven’t just been sitting in this cabin drinking myself under the table. I had Tim send everything over to me. The company is making a nice profit, and with the new business we’re gaining in the Boston area, it makes sense to have a satellite office there.”