Rough Terrain (Vista Falls #1)

by Cheryl Douglas

  “You know how much I’m going to miss holding you tonight?”

  “I’m going to miss you too.” She sighed. “But it’s only two nights. I think we’ll survive.”

  Wes was relieved she saw things reverting back to their “new normal” when Nick returned home. He didn’t want to spend another night without her if he could help it.

  “So we’ll meet you at the inn for breakfast?” Wes asked.

  “I’ll be there.”

  “I’ll text you good night in a little while.” He jerked his head toward the truck. “Let you know how it went with the kid.”

  Before he could step off the porch, Sage grabbed his arm. “Go easy on him, okay? Try to put yourself in his position. He has every right to feel the way he does.”

  “I know. I’ll be patient and understanding, I promise.” Wes was clueless when it came to being a good parent, but thankfully he’d had the best example. So he just imagined what his old man might have said and done in this situation and planned to do the same.

  “Wes?”

  He turned to face her, heedless of the rain showering him. “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  Wes grinned. “Love you too, baby.”

  ***

  Nick had already jumped in the front seat by the time Wes returned to the truck. “So you two are a couple. Why’d you lie to me?”

  Wes gave him a long hard look before fastening his seat belt. “I didn’t lie to you. It’s a recent development, and I don’t really want to talk about that until we’ve had a chance to talk about your attitude tonight. What’s that all about?”

  Nick wasn’t surprised Wes was calling him out. He could already tell Wes was a no-BS kind of guy. “So I’m supposed to just keep my mouth shut when something’s bothering me? Is that how y’all do things around here?”

  “No, not at all. I want you to talk to me when you have a problem with something, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. I don’t think I have to tell you that what you said tonight really hurt Sage.”

  Nick stared out the window. He’d gotten a bad grade on an English test he’d thought he’d aced, gotten into a fight with his so-called girlfriend when she’d asked him to hit Wes up for some cash, then he’d lost the game ‘cause his head wasn’t in it. After all that, Wes only cared about Sage’s feelings? “So you only care about protecting her? You don’t give a shit about me? Good to know.”

  “I think you know that’s not true.” Wes curled his hand around the steering wheel. “What’s got you in such a pissy mood? Losing the game?”

  “That’s part of it.” Nick slouched, wondering if he could trust Wes with the rest of it.

  “What’s the other part?” Wes asked, giving him a sidelong look.

  “You know how I told you I didn’t have a girlfriend?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, that’s not completely true. There kind of is this girl that I’ve been seeing for a while.”

  “Why didn’t you feel you could tell us that?”

  Nick sighed. “You and Sage were young when you got together and she got pregnant. I guess I didn’t want you two to embarrass me with a lecture about safe sex in the middle of a restaurant.”

  “Fair enough, so long as I can count on you to tell me the truth from now on.”

  Nick nodded, knowing Wes would probably be able to see right through him if he tried to lie.

  “Okay, so what’s she like, this girlfriend of yours?”

  If he’d asked that question a few weeks ago, Nick would have told him she was awesome, but now he wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know. She’s okay, I guess.”

  Wes chuckled. “Not exactly a ringing endorsement. You two having problems?” Nick’s stomach growled, and Wes’s lips twisted as he tried to keep a straight face. “Guess you were hungrier than you thought, huh?”

  “Guess so.” Nick was always hungry. His mother claimed all boys his age were.

  “I have some leftover steak at home,” Wes said. “I’ll make you a sandwich when we get to my place.”

  “Cool.” Nick hoped Wes had picked up some food for him since Wes had asked him what his favorite foods were a few days ago.

  “You were telling me about this girlfriend of yours.”

  “We kind of got into it today.”

  “Ah, I see,” Wes said, nodding. “That explains the bad mood. You want to talk about it?”

  Nick wasn’t sure he had the guts to tell Wes that Maggie thought he should get in good with Wes because she wanted a handout. “She and I just don’t always see eye to eye on things. She, uh, kind of thinks it’s okay to take advantage of people, and I don’t.”

  “I see.”

  “My dad worked real hard. He was an electrician. And he always tried to teach me that there was no shame in an honest day’s work, even if it didn’t make you rich.”

  “Your dad sounds like my kind of man,” Wes said. “I wish I’d gotten to meet him.”

  “I do too.” Nick knew his dad would have respected Wes for coming from nothing and making something of himself. How could he not admire Wes for that? “Anyways, Maggie just doesn’t see things the way I do. Her parents have always been flat broke, taking on extra jobs every month to pay the bills. I think she’s always been embarrassed that her dad had to drive cab and her mama works in the school cafeteria.”

  “I don’t think there’s any shame in working for a living, keeping a roof over your kids’ heads and food in their bellies any way you can. What do you think?”

  “I agree.”

  “Listen, my folks didn’t have much when I was growing up either, but we made it just fine. Your friend Maggie is young. She probably just wants things the other girls have, like fancy clothes and stuff like that. Does she have a job?”

  “Yeah, she works at the local convenience store after school and on weekends, but she hates it.”

  Wes chuckled. “I worked plenty of jobs I hated too. It taught me to appreciate that I get to do what I love now.”

  “Is that part of the reason you got into this?” Nick asked. “Because you grew up with nothing?”

  “No, son. I never really thought much about making a lot of money, if you wanna know the truth. All I knew was that I had to make a living doing something. So why not something I enjoy, right?”

  “Yeah.” Nick wondered if Wes got to test all the cool products they sold. Probably not, since there were thousands on their website and in their catalogue.

  “Something specific happen to set Maggie off today?”

  “She knew I was coming here, and she, uh…” Nick could feel his face burning as he looked out the window. He forced himself to rush on before he lost his nerve. “Wanted me to ask you for some money. We’ve got this stupid junior prom coming up. She wants me to take her, and she found this really expensive dress and shoes she wants.” Who spends a thousand bucks on a dress and shoes they only plan to wear once?

  “I see.”

  The steely edge in Wes’s voice prompted Nick to add, “Don’t worry. I wasn’t gonna ask you for it. I don’t need anything from you.” He realized how that came off, so he added, “You know what I mean. I don’t need money and stuff.”

  “Yeah,” Wes said with a slight smile.

  They pulled up a long gravel drive, and Nick saw a lake come into view. Tucked away in the trees was a two-story log home with wraparound porch. It didn’t look huge, but it was exactly the kind of home Nick would have expected Wes to have. “Nice place.”

  “Thanks.” Wes cut the engine before turning to face Nick, his hand on the headrest of the passenger’s seat. “So here’s the deal, kid. I make a lot of money. I know that’s no secret. And I earned every dime the old-fashioned way. But do I give some of it away? Sure, I do.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, you wanna know why?” When Nick nodded, Wes said, “Because when I was growing up, my parents would take me to church every Sunday. One week, I saw my old man put his last five bucks in the
collection plate. He didn’t have enough to buy milk and bread on the way home.”

  “Why’d he do that?” Nick asked, frowning.

  “He said that while that five bucks might mean we’d have to sacrifice a few things, it would be worth it ‘cause it would give someone who wouldn’t have a meal a chance to eat. I didn’t know it then, but they were trying to raise money for a single mom with a couple of kids. They were living in her car out by the railroad tracks.”

  “Wow.” Nick suddenly wished he could have met his grandfather. A man who’d give his last five bucks to a total stranger must have been a pretty cool guy.

  “Yeah. So you see, that was the kind of influence I had growing up. My parents taught me that you do what you can. Now, I can do a lot, so I do.” He gestured to the house. “This is all I really need to make me happy. A little land with a boat slip, a place to lay my head, a boat to get me out there doing what I love, a rod and reel, and a few good lures.” He smiled, slamming a palm on his steering wheel. “Oh, and a good truck. Other than that, I’m good.”

  Sounded like a pretty damn good life to Nick. He’d have been happy to have half as much at Wes’s age.

  “So if somebody needs something, I’m inclined to give it. But there’s a big difference between needing something and wanting it. You need an education. For that, I’d cut a check no problem. You had a medical bill that needed to be paid? Done. But I will not buy your little girlfriend a dress so she can feel good about herself and gloat to all of her friends.”

  Nick was reeling over Wes’s claim that he would pay for his education. “I’d never ask you to do that. That’s what I told her, so she’s pissed at me.”

  Wes smirked. “Do you really care?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Good. Now let’s get inside and get you something to eat.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Wes watched Nick scarf down his second piece of Wes’s mom’s homemade apple pie before he asked, “You feeling better?”

  “Yeah.” Nick took a drink of milk before he said, “Sorry about what I said to Sage. I’ll apologize to her when I see her tomorrow.”

  “That’d be nice,” Wes said, taking a forkful of the remaining pie from the pan. “But she understands that you’ve got a lot of questions. You can feel free to ask anything you want, you know. Of me or her.” He may have been opening a can of worms with an offer like that, but if he’d been in Nick’s position, he’d have wanted to know more and would probably have been afraid to ask.

  “What are they really like? Sage’s parents.”

  Wes paused with his lips wrapped around the fork, wondering how the hell to answer that question. “What are they like? Well, they’re different than my parents, that’s for sure.” He knew that wasn’t really an answer, but it was the nicest thing he could think to say about two people who had made it their mission to make his life a living hell when he was Nick’s age.

  “Is everything she said in her book true?”

  Wes couldn’t speak to what she’d been thinking then or what had happened between her and her parents behind closed doors, but he had no doubt that every word in that book was the truth. “Yeah.”

  “So they thought I’d ruin her life… and yours?”

  “I can promise you they already thought I was going nowhere, so they didn’t care much about my life. But they were concerned about her.” Sage’s parents may have had a lot of faults, but he’d never doubted they loved her and were only trying to do what they thought was best for her.

  Nick forked crumbs up from his plate, his gaze locked on the table. “I’m grateful to my parents for adopting me, but it’s tough to grow up thinking you were someone’s mistake.”

  Wes felt those words like a compound bow shot through the heart shattering the vital organ irreparably. He breathed in slowly, to see whether he still could, before he straightened, his back resting against the bar-height chair at the breakfast bar. His voice was gruff, bleeding with emotion, when he said, “You were never a mistake, Nick. Neither Sage nor I looked at her pregnancy that way.”

  “But you didn’t want me any more than she did. She said in her book that you left Vista Falls right after you signed the papers.”

  “That’s true. I did.” Wes cleared his throat, wondering how to convey what it felt like to have your heart broken. “But only because I was a wreck and I knew Sage was too. Her parents were sending her away to have you, so she wasn’t going to be here. I had a chance to go to college, and my father convinced me to take it.”

  “Did you ever think about asking her not to go through with the adoption?”

  “Every minute of every day until it was too late,” Wes whispered, looking at Nick. He wondered what Nick had looked like at one, learning to walk; at four, learning to ride a bike; at six, throwing a football for the first time. He’d missed those days. But he hoped he would be there for graduations, wedding days, and babies’ christenings in the future.

  “Why did it take you so long to contact me?”

  Wes had been expecting that question, was even surprised that it had taken Nick so long to ask it. “I was scared. Scared you’d hate me, reject me. Then I’d have to live with that the rest of my life. I’m not proud to admit it, but I was a coward.”

  “I know it wasn’t easy for you guys,” Nick said, pushing his empty plate aside. “My mom always said you guys were so selfless for doing what you did. She said she’ll always be grateful to you for letting me come into their lives.”

  Wes was grateful for the picture Nick’s mom had tried to paint of them, but a boy who’d lost two fathers in his young life would probably see it differently. “Sometimes when you’re young, you do really stupid things. Things that you regret when you’re older and have a little life experience under your belt. Not fighting harder for the chance to raise you is one of the things I’ll regret for the rest of my life.”

  Nick laced his hands, pressing the pad of his thumb into his palm. “You, uh, think you and Sage will get married and have more kids someday?”

  “We haven’t talked about it yet, but I sure hope so.”

  Nick nodded, looking as though he was struggling with Wes’s response.

  “Would that bother you?”

  “I loved my dad, don’t get me wrong.” Nick’s eyes filled with tears. “He was a great guy, and I really miss him. But…”

  Wes placed his hand on Nick’s back. “But what? You can say anything. I won’t judge you. I promise.”

  “But if I had a choice, I would have chosen you.” He scraped a hand over his face, looking more world-weary than any teenager should. “I know that makes me sound like an ingrate, but it’s true. It’s not fair that some other kid is going to get you and Sage for parents when I didn’t.”

  Wow. Wes wasn’t even sure how to respond. “Sage and I reached out to you because, more than anything, we want to be in your life. If we have other children together, sometime in the future, that’s not going to change how we feel about you at all.”

  “How do you feel about me?” he asked, tipping his head as he looked at Wes.

  “I love you.” Wes curled his hand around the back of Nick’s neck and squeezed. “And while I have no right to be, I’m proud of you. I can already see that you’re an amazing kid, and to think that I played even a small part in that makes me happy.”

  Nick gave him a grudging smile. “When my mom saw your picture online, she said I looked just like you.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” Wes joked, messing with his short dark hair.

  Nick chuckled. “It’s not such a bad thing. The girls don’t seem to mind.”

  Wes threw his head back laughing, thinking how good this kid made him feel. “On that note, let me show you to your room. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

  ***

  Sage wasn’t sure what to expect when Wes and Nick picked her up the next morning. She’d planned to meet them at the inn, but Wes had called and said Nick wanted a few minutes alone w
ith her. She wasn’t too surprised when Nick came to the door to get her, leaving Wes in the truck.

  “Hey,” he said, not quite meeting her eyes.

  “Did you sleep well?” She stopped just short of asking him whether he’d had a good meal after the game last night, knowing that sounded way too maternal.

  “Yeah, the mattress on that bed was sick.”

  Sage smiled as she reached for her purse. “That’s good.”

  “Um, could I talk to you for a minute before we head out?”

  “Of course,” she said, stepping back for him to enter. “Come on in.”

  “Thanks.” He looked into the living room on the left and the small dining room on the right. “Nice place.”

  “Thank you. Can I get you some lemonade or sweet tea, maybe?”

  “No, thanks, I told Wes we’d only be a minute.”

  “Okay.” Sage gestured to the living room. “Do you want to sit down while we talk?”

  “No, it’s okay.” He heaved a sigh. “I just kind of want to get this out there. I’m sorry for the way I talked to you last night, the things I said about your parents. I don’t even know them, and I was out of line for asking—”

  “No, you weren’t,” Sage said, touching his shoulder. “You weren’t out of line for asking questions. You have every right to do that. If I were you, I’d want to know everything.”

  “Thanks.” He gave her the same crooked grin that Wes sometimes sported. “For letting me off the hook, I mean. Wes said the same thing about it being cool if I wanted to ask you guys questions.”

  “I’d love it if you do,” she said, hoping he could sense her sincerity. “How else are we going to get to know each other, right?”

  “You’re right.”

  ***

  Sage loved spending time with Wes’s mother. She was so kind and gentle but strong-willed at the same time. She seemed to radiate positivity, something Sage knew Nick could sense since he seemed to gravitate to Sharon from that first hug they shared. Their meeting made Sage wish that her parents were different so they could be here to share this special moment with their grandson too.