by Erin Wright
He zipped up the duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder, turning to look at his distraught mother. “If you ever want to leave your husband, let me know. I’ll help you walk away. Nothing is worth this, Mom – not the vacations, not the fancy house, not the nice car in the garage.”
“Is that why you think I stay?” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears yet again. “For a car?! I stay for you children, and because—”
“If you’re staying because of me,” he cut her off, not wanting to hear her proclaim her undying love to her bastard of a husband, “then you’ll walk out that door with me right now.”
“I can’t leave right now,” she protested. “Zara is upstairs. She needs me—”
“She needs you to show a backbone. She needs you to get her out of this hellhole. We can all walk out together, right here, right now.”
“And go where?” his mom asked plaintively. “And do what? I have no marketable skills. I have no resumé. I cannot write down, ‘I make beds and do laundry’ on a job application.”
“You can if you were applying to be a maid,” Moose pointed out. At the shocked look on his mother’s face, he let out a painful sigh. “I get it, Mom. It’s scary out there for you. And it’s scary for me. Dad just stole my future from me and I have no idea what I’m going to do with myself now. But I do know that I’m ready to go see what I can make of this world.”
He hugged her hard, kissed her on the cheek, walked up the stairs, waved to his sister, and walked out the front door. For a second time in two days, he’d chosen freedom over security. The choice was scary as hell…
But it also felt like the most euphoric drug on the planet. He was finally his own person.
Chapter 20
Georgia
It was a week since Moose’s father had come storming into her office to yell at the top of his lungs, and…nothing. At first, Georgia had chalked it up to Moose needing to straighten out his relationship with his dad. They would talk to each other, figure things out, and then he could come by and talk to her.
Simple.
Except for the part where he wasn’t coming by to talk to her.
The tiny insidious voice deep down inside of her that began as not even a whisper but rather a hint of a whisper on a breeze, began to grow louder.
Maybe Moose had chosen Tennessee after all. Maybe…maybe Moose finally came to his senses and realized that Georgia was the ugly cousin.
Honestly, it hadn’t made much sense to her that Moose had wanted to date her anyway. She wouldn’t have put it as crudely as Mr. Garrett did, but even in her own mind, Georgia could see the logic of what that man had said. Georgia had the kind of simple beauty that didn’t stop men in the streets. Didn’t leave their tongues hanging out of their mouths when they saw her.
She wasn’t unfortunate, with a nose three times too big for her face and crossed eyes, but…
Well, she sure as hell wasn’t Tennessee.
Moose had had his entire life to realize that, so it seemed a little late to show up to that party, but maybe it was more than that. Maybe it was that plus Moose’s father threatening to disinherit him that finally broke him.
It was a lot to give up on the hope of a relationship with her. She understood…intellectually.
It still broke her heart.
She went running after work each evening, pounding down the running path around the lake on the edge of town. She wanted the burn of her thigh muscles and lungs to remind her that she was still alive. She wanted the clarity of mind that came from pushing her body to the limit.
She wanted Moose.
It was the beginning of day nine that had her starting to question everything she thought she knew about Moose. Surely if he’d decided to stay with Tenny; if he’d decided to marry her and inherit the dealership and continue on the path his parents had laid out for him at birth, he would’ve told her about it.
Right?
Yet hour after hour when he didn’t appear, she began to question that. Her hand moved a thousand times towards her phone, wanting to shoot him a text or an email or a smoke signal or something. Ask him what he was thinking and what he was doing and why was he leaving her hanging here like this?
She always stopped herself though, because she’d told him what needed to happen:
He needed to talk to Tennessee, and then he could come talk to her. He’d obviously done the first part of that equation. She wasn’t going to force him to do the second part.
She thought about asking her mom to ask her sister-in-law about Tennessee and Moose, but pride, plain and simple, stopped her from even doing that. She wasn’t going to beg her mother to talk to Robert or Roberta. It wasn’t fair to her mom, who didn’t like her brother- and sister-in-law any more than Georgia did, and anyway, Georgia didn’t want to admit that she wanted to know that badly.
Moose will come talk to me when he’s ready. When he’s ready. When he’s ready…
Day eleven came, and Georgia noticed a flyer hanging in the foyer of the credit union when she went to open up the front doors at 9 o’clock. It was the first wine tasting and art show of the season in Franklin and would be happening next Monday night – Memorial Day evening.
It could be a fun way to kick off the summer with Moo–with Tripp. She needed to do something more than run in circles every evening and file paperwork all day, and hey, Tripp could scout out a cutie or two to hit on. She could be his wingman. Help him pick a good one out.
Because I obviously have such good taste in people…
She pushed that thought away and instead went in search of Tripp. She found him back in the vault, putting away the paperwork from the opening routine. “Hey, are you busy Monday night?”
* * *
They pushed their way through the crowd, wine glasses in hand as they moseyed on down the main street of Franklin, checking out the paintings on display as they went. There were lots of abstracts and paintings of people’s dogs to look over, and then, they found the motherlode.
Tripp’s eyes lit up as he spotted Austin Bishop’s face on an oil painting outside of Once Upon a Trinket. “I heard about this,” Tripp said, laughing, to Georgia. “Ivy McLain, Iris’ younger sister, started painting these when Austin broke up with her.” He grabbed Georgia’s hand and pulled her over to the arranged paintings.
The feeling of laughter quickly faded, though, as they took in the art in front of them.
“Wow,” Georgia breathed. “I had no idea Ivy was so talented. These are amazing. No wonder Austin took her back.” Everyone had heard by now about the…overblown nature of Ivy’s stories about her success in California, but the paintings in front of them said all that Georgia needed to know: The people of California were blind as bats if they didn’t recognize her talents.
They began browsing the paintings, Austin everywhere she turned, and Georgia began imagining Moose’s face on all of these. Could she hire Ivy to do a painting of Moose? Without him knowing it? And then she could hide it underneath the bed and only pull it out at night?
Okay, I officially need to adopt a cat. Or seven. This is out of control.
Finally, they’d finished looking through every Austin painting in the bunch, and they began to wander further down the street. Georgia pulled her coat tighter around herself, shivering against the light evening breeze blowing through. They were on the cusp of summer, but it was still cold in the evenings up here in the mountains, especially without Moose there to keep her warm—
Stop it. Just stop it.
But then, as if her thoughts had conjured him up, there he was, standing in front of them.
“Oh hi!” Moose exclaimed, just as startled as they were to run into each other. He smiled warmly at Georgia, his eyes crinkling up just a little in the corner as he took her in. “You’re looking good. How are you?”
Georgia just stared at him. He was acting like nothing had happened; that everything was fine.
Her mind broke a little, trying to take that in.
And then…
“You’d know how I was if you’d ever called,” she snapped. “Or came by the credit union!” She wanted to scream and yell and beat him about the head with something heavy and most of all, she wanted to throw herself into his arms and hug him close…
Which just frustrated her even more. I don’t need him. I don’t. I really don’t.
And she was totally going to believe herself any minute now. Any minute at all.
Chapter 21
Moose
Every pleasure center in Moose’s brain lit up like the 4th of July when he spotted Georgia. He was coming out of the corner store after picking up a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread for tomorrow’s breakfast, and was also doing his best to avoid all of the traffic from the wine tasting and art walk.
His landlord had warned him that it would be starting Memorial Day weekend, and not to drive his truck anywhere after five, because his parking spot would be gone as soon as he pulled out. Moose had figured his landlord probably knew what he was talking about after living through years of these art and wine tasting events, so he’d walked the three blocks down to the corner store to get the milk.
He spent the walking time worrying through everything that he still needed to do. Life had changed so drastically, it was a little hard to wrap his mind around everything on his to-do list. He needed to get his oil changed on his truck, and do a full grocery run in the next couple of days, and then—
None of his internal mumblings and worry about what to do and when to do it seemed important, though, as soon as he saw Georgia. He hadn’t planned on talking to her yet – he was trying to be a good boy and not talk to her until he’d earned it – but almost running over her in the crowd…he just couldn’t walk away.
He was strong, but not that strong.
But instead of her face lighting up with pleasure and excitement like he was sure his was, Georgia seemed…distinctly pissed off.
What is going on here?
“I haven’t had a chance to come by yet,” he said slowly, confused about where the anger was coming from. “I’ve been busy moving.”
“Moving? Are you and Tennessee getting married that quickly, then? Moving in together right away?” Her arms were folded across her chest and she was staring up at him, her eyes flashing with hurt and pain, and then Tripp was standing in front of her.
“Maybe you two should talk some other time,” Tripp said, his arms also folded across his chest. “That is, if Georgia wants to.”
Moose’s gaze skittered up and down the muscle-bound man in front of him, trying to decide if he could take him out with one punch or if it’d need two, when Georgia pushed her way back between the two of them. “Tripp, I appreciate it, but I’ve got this.” She turned back to Moose. “You disappeared without a word. I told you to talk to Tenny and then call me, and…that was the last of it. The night of the interview down at the fire station, you hadn’t talked to her yet, and then your father comes storming into the office, yelling his head off and trying to intimidate me, and you just up and disappear on me!” She poked him in the chest. “You can’t pull that kind of stunt!”
“My father came down and talked to you?” Moose asked, stunned. He watched as Tripp draped his arm around Georgia’s shoulders possessively. His eyes bounced between the two of them. Georgia had always claimed that they were nothing but friends, and Moose had always believed her, but watching him now…he sure was acting like more than just a friend to her.
“Yes,” Georgia said impatiently. “Right after you told him that I ordered you to break up with Tennessee. Which, need I remind you, I never actually said that, nor would I.”
“I never told him that!” Moose exclaimed, his world tilting a little to the side as he tried to grasp what Georgia was telling him. “Why would I? You told me that it was important to talk to Tennessee; you didn’t order me to break up with her.”
“So, are you calling your father a liar?” Georgia demanded, one eyebrow raised as she stared at him defiantly.
“Yes. Are you calling me a liar?”
She shifted from foot to foot, clearly debating what she should say in response to that. Tripp squeezed her shoulders, whispered into her ear, and Moose watched as she nodded, whispered back, and then Tripp disappeared into the crowds.
“Your date going home?” Moose asked acidly. Watching the two of them together…it hurt. It hurt in a way that even his father hadn’t been able to hurt him.
“At least he doesn’t pull a disappearing act on me whenever his father scares him into submission,” Georgia shot back.
It was right on his tongue to fight back, to say something sarcastic and cutting, but he stopped himself. Something was off here. What she was saying wasn’t adding up, and he needed to take a deep breath and ask questions. Then he could be sarcastic all he wanted.
He held out his jug of milk and loaf of bread. “I was just grabbing a few things to eat. I’d like to go home and put them away in the fridge. Will you walk with me?”
“To your truck?” she asked, confused.
“No, to my apartment,” he said. “It’s just up and over a couple of blocks.”
“You moved to Franklin?”
He noticed she hadn’t moved an inch.
“Of course. What did you think I’d been doing for the last two weeks?” he practically growled.
“I don’t know – getting married to Tennessee! Starting your own John Deere Dealership! Moving to New York City to become a Broadway actor! How the hell am I supposed to know? You didn’t call me to tell me anything!”
Oh.
Oh.
Ohhhhhh…
Shit, Moose, you really are stupid some days.
His anger drained away as they locked eyes, just staring at each other on the streets of Franklin, every passerby an audience to it all.
He reached up to stroke Georgia’s cheek and ended up whacking her instead in the shoulder with the loaf of bread. “Sorry!” he yelped, yanking the bread back. They both froze for a minute, each trying to decide what to say and where their relationship was going and what the other person was thinking, and then Moose whispered, “Just walk with me.” It was almost begging – it was begging – but Georgia was worth losing a little of his pride over. “It’s just a few blocks over, I promise. Then I’ll walk you back to your car. Or did Tripp drive you here?”
He ignored the burst of jealousy at the thought. You’ve screwed this up too badly to be jealous. If she chose to move on, that was her right to do so.
It didn’t mean it felt good, though.
“He did drive us here,” Georgia acknowledged, “but he’s headed back to Sawyer already. I’ll call a cab to drive me back when we’re done talking.”
Tripp really was giving them the space to talk without hanging on as a third wheel. Moose was grateful, if not more than a little confused. If Tripp was in love with Georgia, he sure had a funny way of showing it.
“Let’s head to my place then,” Moose said as Georgia hunted for an official return spot to put her empty wine glass. She finally spotted one, trotted over to put it down, and then rejoined him. Moose couldn’t help following her every step with hungry eyes. She looked better than he’d remembered…
And he wouldn’t have believed that could be possible.
They started down the street together, quickly leaving the majority of the crowds behind, Moose’s groceries swinging with each step.
“I’m not sure what my father told you,” Moose said finally, after turning the situation over and over in his mind, trying to figure out how to best tackle this. He couldn’t screw it up. There was something completely wrong here, and he had to be sure not to make things even worse with the slip of the tongue or one wrong statement. “Whatever it was that he said, I’m sure it wasn’t complimentary. So let me tell you what really happened, and you can make a decision for yourself on what you think.”
He started the retelling with the evening that he talked to Tennessee, going home to
an angry father afterwards, his father suddenly “wanting some time to get used to the idea,” and then the conversation the next day when he’d told Moose he would inherit nothing.
“I’m guessing he used that time the next day to go over and talk to you. I’d stupidly taken him at his word and had honestly thought he was trying to get used to the idea that his son would care about who he married, but instead, he was trying to intimidate you into helping to force Tennessee and me back together. I didn’t know, I promise.”
Georgia didn’t say anything, and so he hurried on, happy for the chance to tell her what really happened; worried that he was too late and it didn’t matter.
“I left that night and drove over to Levi’s. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I may’ve hated being under my father’s thumb all this time, but honestly, it’s a little scary outside of it, too. I’ve never rented my own apartment, set up my own utilities, worried about my credit, tried to find a job…all of the things that come along with adulthood, I’ve skipped it all. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do with myself. Was I going to go to work the next morning? I had no idea.”
He took a deep breath, letting it puff out in a cloud of moisture in the cold night air as they walked. His fingers were aching from gripping the handle of the milk jug, but he wasn’t about to complain. He needed to use this time to make his case to Georgia. He couldn’t waste it on anything else.
“Levi let me sleep on his couch, no questions asked. The next day, he went to work while I stayed on the couch, trying to decide what I was doing with my life. I’d thought that I was prepared to lose the dealership; I’d thought that I’d made my brain and soul realize that something I was working for my entire life might be gone in the blink of an eye. But until it really happened…”
