by Amy Briggs
Text copyright ©2018 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Rochelle Paige Popovic and Elle Christensen. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Passion, Vows & Babies remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Rochelle Paige Popovic and Elle Christensen, or their affiliates or licensors.
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Pink Sunsets
Amy Briggs
Pink Sunsets
Dedication
Chapter 1 - Fallon
Chapter 2 - Everett
Chapter 3 - Fallon
Chapter 4 - Everett
Chapter 5 - Fallon
Chapter 6 - Everett
Chapter 7 - Fallon
Chapter 8 - Everett
Chapter 9 - Fallon
Chapter 10 - Everett
Chapter 11 - Fallon
Chapter 12 - Everett
Dedication
For the ladies known as Fiona Davenport, thank you for bringing me into your world.
Chapter 1 - Fallon
I’d never made the trip before, but it all looked the same as the rest of the Midwest to me. Golden fields, swaying in the breeze and sparkling in the sun, as far as the eye could see. To some, it was probably a beautiful landscape to take in on the seven hour drive, but for me, it was depressing. Symbolic of the trip itself. I didn’t want to go to Nebraska, but it wasn’t my choice. My luck had run out.
My mother and her husband had run out of patience with me, and while I was certainly old enough at twenty-six to live on my own, I’d pushed my luck letting my mom finance me while I “underachieved,” as she called it. I loved Denver, where I grew up, but it hadn’t loved me back so much, and the ability to get high at my leisure left me with a bit less motivation than needed to successfully hold down a real job after I skated through college. My mother’s hope was that sending me to Nebraska for the summer would not only give her a break from my coming and going, but also a chance to figure out what I was doing with my life. The fact of the matter was, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. However, I wasn’t in a position to argue with the demand that I spend the summer in Nebraska with my cousin, his new wife, and their baby.
I turned the radio off, driving along the interstate and listening to the wind as it roared through the open windows. The sun was already warm, even in early May, and I suspected that a long, hot summer was upon me, whether I liked it or not. While I wasn’t particularly thrilled to spend the summer as a glorified secretary to my cousin’s friend, I didn’t have much else to do, in all honesty. The sweat was forming on the back of my neck, and I threw my long hair into a pile on top of my head while I continued to drive through the plains, with nothing but my thoughts to keep my company.
As I finally neared my cousin Flynn’s house, my irritability grew, creating a pit in my belly. I didn’t have a plan, but I didn’t appreciate being dictated to, and I’d made that quite clear on my way out of Denver. My mother and I weren’t speaking and while it was upsetting, we simply couldn’t stop arguing. Once I pulled up to the enormous house, I drew in a deep breath. It wasn’t Flynn’s fault my mother was exasperated, and I needed to remember not to lash out at him, or his new wife.
I stepped out of the car, and before I made it to the door, it swung open and a beautiful young woman came out to greet me.
“Fallon!” she cried out joyfully, catching me off guard.
Faltering at first, I replied, “Uh, hi.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, unsure of how to act. I’d never met Jacinda before; she and Flynn had eloped, so there was no wedding for the family to attend.
She smiled softly at me. “Fallon. It’s wonderful to have you here. Come inside and get out of the sun.” Waving me toward her, she stepped aside so that I could enter the house.
“Thank you.” The exchange was awkward for me, although she seemed completely at ease. She had a kind face, and was younger than I’d pictured.
I moved inside the large foyer, my hands still stuffed into my pockets. My mother had warned me to be polite, not petulant, and while my irritation with the situation was at the forefront of my mind, Jacinda was welcoming.
“You’ve had a long trip, come in and relax. I’ll have Flynn grab your things when he gets home from work. Can I get you anything?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you.” I glanced around the room. “Where’s the baby?” I asked.
“She’s finally taking a nap. She’s upstairs in her nursery.” Jacinda sighed, and sat down on a large couch, pointing to the furniture around the room. The house was massive. I knew Flynn had built it from the ground up—my mother had told me—but I had no idea how big it was.
“How old is she now?” I tried to small talk. I knew nothing about babies, but the elephant in the room, which was me, wasn’t what I wanted to discuss.
“She’s eight months old now. But let’s talk about you.” She smirked, clearly seeing my desire to avoid the topic.
“What would you like to talk about exactly?” I tried not to sound too snotty, even though I was unable to keep myself from huffing.
I’d seated myself on the chair next to her and slinked deeper into it. I hadn’t realized how embarrassing this situation would be until I faced her in that moment. She leaned in my direction, tucking her feet underneath her comfortably.
“Fallon, I know this isn’t an ideal… arrangement, in your eyes. Your proclivity for getting into trouble is not a problem for me. I think that getting away for the summer will be a relief for you. At least, I hope that it will. I want you to be happy here. Our home is your home, and I hope that you’ll make yourself comfortable.”
“I, uh…” I stammered again. Jacinda’s kindness was appreciated, but I was feeling a lot of pressure, a weight on my chest, almost immediately.
“We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.”
“No, I’m sorry, Jacinda. I appreciate the generosity of you, and of Flynn. I just… I’m not sure what else to say. Things at home are a mess, but I didn’t want to come here. It’s not personal. I don’t even know you.”
I may get into some trouble. Drink a little too much sometimes. Smoke a bit of weed, which is legal where I live. I don’t particularly enjoy working. But I did feel some remorse once Jacinda’s smile faded from her face.
“I understand,” she replied.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize. I do understand feeling alone, like you’ve got no one to turn to. I hope that in time, you will see that Flynn and I care about you, and that we opened our home to you because we’d like to get to know you, and we want to help you however we can.” She paused. “But, in the meantime, let me show you to your room. I’m sure you’d like to rest.”
I simply nodded, feeling like an asshole. I didn’t have anywhere else to go, and I owed them some gratitude, but I am who I am, and I couldn’t pretend that I wanted to be there. I was serving a sentence, handed down to me from my mother, and I couldn’t consider it anything else.
Chapter 2 - Everett
My favorite part of living in the plains has always been the sunsets. Once the days begin to grow longer, I’m able to stop, only for a moment, to enjoy them. There is such calm in watching the sun turn pink as it falls toward the horizon, casting a gold hue over the fields. It may not sound like much to many, but I always loved it. Every day is filled with work and studying, and it brings the perfect pause to most days, especi
ally as summer begins.
I sat on the back of my pickup truck, enjoying a cold beer after the long workday, watching as the sun began to drop below the horizon. The days were getting warm, and the brief moment with the ice cold beverage was the perfect end to a long day in the sun. I still had school work to do when I got home, but taking the time for a short break after a day of laboring was part of my routine.
I’d been working for Flynn Healy, the best local contractor in town, for several years. He brought me onto his team as a construction laborer when I was unskilled and needed a job in my early twenties, and over the years I’d become one of his foremen. I loved working in construction and while I started out as the low guy on the totem pole, Flynn and I had become good friends. While he was about ten years older than me, he treated me like a younger brother of sorts, and counseled me in ways that filled the void my parents had left.
My parents were good people, and after their deaths, I was a little lost. Without any other family, Flynn took me under his wing and helped keep me busy while I sorted through my feelings. As the sun began to disappear, I reflected on how I came to be where I was. I didn’t have a lot of friends, I wasn’t a social guy. It was never important to me because I was always working. If it weren’t for Flynn giving a shit about a kid who was practically a stranger, who knows where I’d be. Even with our age difference, we’d become close and he’d told me about his cousin who was coming to stay, and his concerns surrounding her visit.
Fallon Fitzgerald. Ever since Flynn mentioned her in conversation, there was something about it that stuck with me. Besides the fact it was a beautiful name I found myself whispering out loud more than once that day, the way he described her made me want to meet her. Nebraska is widespread; known for our farms and fields, of course, but not for our active social scene. Not that I was looking to meet a girl… a woman; I was intrigued nonetheless.
Flynn explained why he’d offered to take her in for the summer, and it piqued my interest even further. A twenty-six year old being sent out to the boonies to ‘get her mind right’ was how he described it.
“So, she’s going to work for Wyatt for the summer?” I asked.
Flynn sanded a mantel that we’d just installed, smoothing out the rough wood. “Yeah, she needs to work, according to my cousin, and it’s not like there’s a ton of work here for people passing through. Wyatt set up an internship for her, so she’ll do office work for him to keep her out of trouble.” He didn’t seem convinced that was the right choice.
“You seem worried?” I questioned.
He sighed, and ran his hand along the smooth wood. “Well, I don’t know what exactly is going on at home with my cousin and Fallon, but it seems that they can’t communicate, and need a break from each other. I’m not sure that coming here from Denver, where there’s plenty to do, is going to fix anything though. I’m happy to have her with us, and I know that Jacinda is looking forward to entertaining for the summer, but I have a suspicion that her visit will be more disruptive to my quiet life than I’ve been led to believe by the women in my life.” He grinned. “Let that be a lesson to you, Everett.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“That the women rule the roost, my friend. ‘Happy wife, happy life,’ they say.”
“Well, I’m pretty far off from that.”
“Yes, let’s discuss your dating life, Everett. Why aren’t you out there having fun? Seeing women? Finding yourself someone to come home to. You’ve got yourself a beautiful home, and you should be sharing it with someone.”
Flynn was giving me the exact advice that had been given to him, time and time again before he met Jacinda. He was a proclaimed bachelor, the guy who was never going to get married. Now he had a wife and a baby, all in the same year. Part of me was completely jealous, and part of me felt like maybe he’d given up his freedom. I think truthfully though, I liked having him as my role model for bachelorhood. I figured it would save me from the conversation we were having in that very moment. But alas, here we were, having the conversation anyway.
“Oh, now you’re giving advice on the topic of women?” I teased.
“I’ll admit it. I’m the last guy I thought would ever marry someone, let alone have kids.”
“Kids? You only have one. Are you already planning for more?” I was stunned.
“Once you look into your child’s eyes, Everett, once you see them smile at you, it’s all you’ll ever care about. I’m obsessed with my family. My whole life is different. But you already know that.”
“I do. You’re definitely not the guy anyone ever thought would be the family man you are now. But it’s nice. You’re happy. But that doesn’t mean it’s for all of us, you know.”
“I used to say that too.”
My discomfort with the topic was becoming evident, as I looked around the room for something that had to be done. Picking up some of our tools and putting them away, I replied, “Flynn, I like my life. It’s quiet. The girls here are alright, but I’m just not interested in pursuing someone. I have other things I care about, and my time is valuable. It’s just not a priority.”
Ensuring that would end the discussion, I took the tools out to the truck, as the work day was coming to an end. But I couldn’t help myself from whispering her name. Fallon Fitzgerald.
I suspected it was going to be an odd summer.
Chapter 3 - Fallon
The day after I arrived, Flynn took the morning off to hang out with me and his family. He wanted to get to know me, I suppose, and I couldn’t really blame him. We weren’t particularly close, and while he was my mom’s cousin, they were about ten years apart in age, which made he and I relatively close in age.
“So, tell me what’s going on with Erin.” Flynn sat down at the kitchen table, handing me a coffee cup.
“What do you want to know?” I wished that people would just ask more specific questions instead of dropping vague topics for discussion. It was irritating.
“What’s your version of how you’re spending the summer?” He looked at me, clearly irked by my answer.
“Well, my mother and I need a break from each other. We can’t seem to get along these days, and it seems that she and her boyfriend have had enough of my... shenanigans, shall we say?” I smirked because I thought it was funny. Flynn, apparently, did not.
“You’re twenty six years old, Fallon. What the fuck are you still doing living there anyway?”
“I don’t know!” I snapped at him.
“Look, your mother is my cousin, and I care about you both. But the deal I made with her is that I’d talk to you about what you’re doing with your life. So, what are you doing with your life?”
“Flynn, I have absolutely no idea. If this is a problem for you, why did you agree to let me come here?”
“It’s not a problem for me, Fallon. In fact, I think it will be nice to have you here for the summer. It’ll give you a chance to do something new, to get out of the city for awhile, clear your head. But you mother is worried about you. Which makes me worried about you. Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on, really.” His exasperation was evident, and while I wanted to say the right thing, I didn’t know what that was.
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Well, I think you need to spend some time figuring it out. I’m going to take you to meet Wyatt tomorrow, and then next week, you’ll start working for him. In the meantime, do you think you can stay out of trouble?”
“Is there even any trouble to find in this little town?” I replied sarcastically.
“Oh, you’d be surprised. Just because it’s not the big city, there’s plenty to do.”
I knew that was a lie, and it was why my mother arranged for me to go to the boondocks of Nebraska in the first place. I’d become pretty notorious for late nights, sleeping in, not working—all the things a girl in her early twenties could get away with. Not ideal for someone pushing their thirties though. I was determined that I’d find something f
un to do there, while not totally pushing my luck. If it didn’t work out at Flynn and Jacinda’s, I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I couldn’t go back to my mother’s house so soon; we were barely speaking, since my last late night ended with her thinking something had happened to me because I never told anyone I wasn't coming home. Needless to say, she called the police, and even though it was too soon for a missing person’s report to be filed or anything, it was still unnerving for her, and infuriating for me. It was the last straw for both of us. I was an adult, and felt like I should be able to come and go as I pleased; however I wasn’t exactly footing all of my bills either.
“If you’re asking me if I’m going to be staying out all night, I cannot imagine a scenario here, in lovely Nebraska, where that would happen.” I replied, trying not to sound as sarcastic as the comment itself.
“Mmhmm,” he uttered. “Look, I don’t mean to sound like I’m trying to be your dad. I just want you to use your time here wisely; to figure things out, and we’re here to help you in any way possible. It’s not jail. You can do what you want here, as long as you stick to your end of the deal too. Which is, go to work, and not get in trouble. The rest is up to you.”
