Chapter One
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Logan Westfall was home.
For fourteen years, he’d limited his visits to twice a year in spite of his mother’s unrelenting schemes to get him back more often. He loved his family, but his demanding work schedule rarely allowed for days off.
Now that he was home for good, Enid Westfall was ecstatic. Of course that enthusiasm was dampened considerably by the fact that his father’s triple bypass was the reason for his return.
The doctors tending to his father insisted that he make some serious lifestyle changes. No more heavy lifting, working out in the heat all day, or spending 12 hours on his feet during the summer months. And most importantly, no stress of any kind, even the non-physical kind. Considering Darren Westfall owned and operated one of the largest landscaping businesses in the county, his only options were to sell, close it down, or have one of his sons take over.
Though he wasn’t the oldest, the family assumed Logan would be the one to step into his father’s shoes. He was the only one who ever showed an interest in the family business, working for his father every summer and enjoying it.
Grant, at thirty-eight, was footloose and fancy-free, traveling the world and working odd jobs to pay his way. Grant was the eldest son, born to Darren and his first wife, Glenda, who died in a car accident when he was only two years old.
Darren met and fell in love with Enid Kressler three years later. After a whirlwind courtship, they eloped and had Logan the following year. Two years after that, his younger brother Brayden was born. As a resident physician at the local hospital, Brayden was already fully committed to a career he loved. Medicine was his calling, his passion.
No one in the family asked Logan to step up. He just did it. Like everything else in his life, when Logan Westfall made a decision about something, he didn’t hesitate, procrastinate, or question. He dove right in to the deep end.
However, he wasn’t impulsive. Every move he made was well thought out and well planned. It was what made him so successful as vice-president of finance at the Fortune 500 Company he worked for in Dallas. Well, used to work for. Within a week of his father’s heart attack, surgery, and instructions to completely overhaul his entire way of life, Logan had packed up his condo and begun the process of looking for a place to live in his hometown.
While it wasn’t as large as the Dallas area, Diamond, Texas had around forty thousand residents. When he was a teenager, Logan couldn’t wait to escape the city that felt more like a small town.
Now it appeared he had come full circle.
He pulled up in front of his parents’ house, noticing that the yard looked pristine and well kept as usual. Logan hoped his father hadn’t harassed his employees too much when they took over the job he typically handled.
Bounding up the front steps, he knocked on the door of his childhood home before walking inside.
“Mom, why is the front door unlocked?” he called out. “It’s not the 1950’s anymore.”
“It’s unlocked because I was expecting you,” she retorted, walking out of the living room. “And your father is being a pain in the ass, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to answer the door.”
Darren Westfall’s voice drifted out of the living room. “I heard that.”
“I meant for you to,” Enid answered. “Please go in there and distract that miserable man. He’s not used to being cooped up and he’s driving me nuts.”
Grinning, Logan nodded and left his mother in the front hall.
“So I hear you’re doing your best to send Mom to the funny farm,” he quipped.
His father muted the television and tilted his head back from his position in his recliner. “Yeah, it’s kinda fun to torture her now that I’m home all the time. Reminds me why I married her.”
Confused, Logan frowned. “What?”
“She’s feisty.”
Shaking his head, Logan sat down on the couch, leaning back against the cushions and throwing an arm along the back.
“How’s the new place?” Darren asked.
“Not bad. It’s on the outskirts of town, so it’s nice and quiet.”
“So I guess you’re still determined to throw away everything you’ve built so you can take over my dream.”
With a sigh, Logan answered, “It’s not just your dream, Dad.”
“Then why didn’t you work with me after you graduated college. You know I would have given you a job.”
“I needed to leave this place, at least for a while. Everyone knows everyone else’s business and I felt like I was suffocating all the time.” Logan chuckled. “Plus there were Mom’s crazy attempts to set me up with an ‘appropriate’ girl.”
His father grinned. “And you don’t think any of that will bother you now?” he asked. “You know that’ll be the first thing she does as soon as I’m back on my feet.”
Logan shook his head. “Nope. I’ll tell her I’m more than capable of picking out my own dates and I don’t care who gossips about me.”
“You’re dating?” Enid asked as she swept into the living room. “When can I meet her?”
Logan’s father leaned back in his recliner and laughed. Then he flinched. “Damn, don’t make me laugh. I’m still sore.”
“I don’t understand why that’s funny,” Enid stated.
“I’m not dating, Mom. I was just telling Dad that I’m capable of picking my own dates.”
“Oh, was your father trying to set you up with someone?”
Darren snorted, but didn’t say anything.
“No, Mom. We were talking about your, uh, tendency to try to find me a girlfriend.”
“I haven’t said a word,” she sniffed. After a short pause, Enid asked, “Have you seen Phoebe St. John yet? I know y’all used to be close in high school. And, bless her heart, she’s just getting over a nasty divorce.”
Logan shook his head again as Darren guffawed before choking back his laugh to put a hand to his chest.
“Woman, don’t make me laugh! It hurts!” he complained.
“Oh, you’re fine, you big baby.”
Pointing at his wife, Darren asked Logan, “Do you see how she talks to me? I just had major surgery.” His voice lowered to a grumble, “When I was out of the house all day every day, she never spoke to me like this.”
Logan stood up. “I’m not getting in the middle of this,” he muttered. “Dad, I’ll swing by tomorrow afternoon. Make me a list of everything that needs to be handled immediately and I’ll get started at the office on Monday.”
Darren waved a hand. “Griselda has all that. That girl has really stepped up to the plate since all this happened.” He paused. “Actually, what you need to do is give her a raise. The only reason she needs you is because she can’t run the office and manage the crews at the same time.”
“Ouch. I see where I rate,” Logan answered with a smirk. “And Griselda is only ten years younger than you, so I don’t think she would appreciate you calling her a girl.”
“Whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. You should stay for dinner and protect me from the Dragon Lady.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Enid offered, smacking her husband’s shoulder lightly as she walked by. “You behave.”
Darren grunted, picking up the remote to turn the volume up on the television.
Enid followed Logan out onto the front porch, pulling the door shut behind her.
“You know your father really appreciates what you’re doing, right?” she asked.
“I want to do it, Mom. I was getting sick of the rut I was in while I was in Dallas. I needed a change.”
Pulling him down for a hug, Enid stated, “Well, I’m glad you’re home. I’ve missed you.”
He squeezed her back. “I missed you, too.”
“Now, you come for dinner tomorrow. And bring some white wine,” his mother suggested. “Not the cheap stuff from the grocery store. We have a wine bar and shop in town, The Wild Vine. They sell local wines and a few others.”
“Yes, ma’am. Where is it?”
“Downtown, on the square. You’ll see it. It’s usually pretty busy.” She glanced at her watch. “If you head over there now, you can grab a bottle before they get too full with their evening crowd.”
“Crowd?”
“Yeah, they serve tapas and wine by the glass, flight, or bottle in the evenings. It gets pretty hectic on the weekends.”
“Sounds nice.”
His mom grinned slyly. “It is the date night place in town.”
“And on that note, it’s time for me to leave. I’ll go pick up a bottle of wine and see you tomorrow.”
“White wine.”
“Yes, ma’am. White wine,” he answered with a smirk.
“Don’t be a smartass. Bye.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and stepped back into the house.
Logan headed to his truck. It looked like he had an errand to run before he drove home and unpacked a few more boxes.