Always Mine (Coming Home To The Grove 1)

We barely get a block down the road, and it’s obvious that Jason is itching to say something. He can barely sit still. Finally, when he can’t stand it anymore, he turns in his seat and asks, “Don’t you want to know what I found out?”

Jason is the youngest of the three Keller brothers, and sometimes I think he is refusing to mature. He’s always goofing off and never seems to take anything seriously. So him sitting here, bouncing up and down in his seat, is nothing new. “No.”

“Even if it’s about Lacy?” Jason asks, dragging out the name of the woman who left town with my heart.

I perk up then and give my younger brother a look that lets him know he’d better talk if he doesn’t want a world of pain. I don’t mess around, especially when it comes to Lacy. I haven’t heard her name in probably a year, but I’ve thought about her every day.

Jason is too pleased with himself to keep quiet anyway. “Lacy came home. She arrived in Forest Grove not two hours ago.”

I can already feel my heart pounding in my chest. My high school sweetheart, the love of my life, the one I pushed away, is back in Forest Grove. “She is visiting her parents?”

Jason pauses for effect, but the look I give him tells him that he’d better spill it, and it better be fast. “She’s back to stay. Lacy’s gonna run the B&B.”

The rest of the ride out to the ranch is filled with Jason yammering on about one thing or another, but I don’t even pay attention. I’ve got my mind set on the fact that Lacy’s back, and it sounds as if she’s back to stay. With more gumption than I’ve felt in a long time, I tell myself I’m not going to screw this up. I’m not going to lose her again.2Lacy“Did you stop by and see your old flame on your way into town?” my mom asks as I unpack my suitcase. She hasn’t stopped since I walked in the door. After the first twenty questions about what I’ve been doing and then to ask about the guy I dumped back in the city, I should have known that my mother would mention Trent. I hadn’t been seeing Craig, the man in the city, long, and I broke up with him before making the choice to come back and take over the B&B when I found out my parents wanted to retire.

I knew that my mom would ask, but I guess I didn’t think it would be in my first fifteen minutes home. I’ve done all I can to forget about Trent. And it’s been hard. I definitely don’t need to be reminded of him at every turn. “I’m not back here to see Trent, Mom. I’m here because I want to take over the family business. I’ve missed this place, the town.”

“The people,” my mom adds.

She’s not going to let up. You would think my mother wouldn’t like Trent. Especially the way he broke up with me and totally devastated my life, turning it completely upside down.

But Mom seems to see it in a different light. She seems to think that whatever problems we had we could work out. Man, if only life and love was really that easy.

I redirect the conversation, asking questions about the B&B and the cruise that my mom and dad are planning to go on.

“So you’ll be gone a month?” I ask.

She lets out a squeal as if she’s a young in-love woman instead of a matured fifty-year-old married woman. “One month cruising the islands with your dad. I can’t wait!”

“You and Dad deserve this,” I tell her honestly. “You both are so good to each other and still in love after all this time. I can only hope that one day I find what you both have.”

My mother wraps her arms around me and squeezes me tight. “Yours is coming, Lacy. I just know it. But you have to be open to it. You know, sometimes you have to forgive old hurts first.”

I barely resist rolling my eyes. Of course my mother is going to play matchmaker. Why can’t she leave Trent out of this?

“Trent and I are not going to happen,” I deadpan, ready for this conversation to be over.

My mom pulls back a little to look into my face. With a twinkle in her eye, she asks, “Who says I was talking about Trent?”

Caught, I roll my eyes.

My mom goes about the room putting things away. “I’m so glad that you’ve come home to take over the family business. In fact, tonight is the Picture in Peach Park event.” Every year the B&B sponsors the Forest Grove Slammers youth baseball team. And every year the team honors us by having the B&B start the movie after the announcements. It seems that no matter how long you are away, some things never change.