Well, that didn’t go over as badly as he thought it would. She was still sitting there across from him in the restaurant.
She hadn’t screamed at him.
She wasn’t crying.
There wasn’t any food dumped on him anywhere.
He’d take it as a win.
“Excuse me?” she finally said.
“Last week I talked to your mother about buying Granny’s. We have a verbal agreement. I didn’t know who you were. She said her daughter Allison would be upset over it, but it was her decision to make in the end. That was it. Then I met you in the bar last Saturday and I just didn’t put Ali Rogers with Allison Rogers.”
“How could you not?” she asked.
“I just didn’t. I’ll admit the last name caught my attention, but it’s not that uncommon of a name. I was too interested in learning about you to think of anything else.”
“And when you talked to your lawyer on Monday, what did he say? How did he know?”
She was still calm, but he could see her shoulders were tighter than spandex on a sumo wrestler. “Like most people in this area, he knew your mother and you. He called you Ali and then it confirmed it to me. You never said a word to me about it when we were talking about our jobs. Why wouldn’t you?”
“Because most people know who I am.”
“Exactly,” he said. “But I didn’t. I moved here when I was fourteen. I was only in school a few years, then went to college and came back. I don’t know the community quite like most people do who have lived here their whole lives.”
“But you know about the farm. My mother told me that you always went there as a kid and that you really wanted the bakery for your mother. That’s what my mother runs.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know what to think. You didn’t call me again because you thought I’d be mad at you?”
“Mad, hurt, upset, maybe blame me?”
She laughed, not a funny sound. “Blame you because my mother and I can’t keep it together? We can’t manage to carry on my grandfather’s name?”
Her eyes were filling with tears now and he knew he was losing her. “I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know what to say. And when I finally realized you were going to know when you saw me around, I knew I just had to do it and stop hiding it. But by then almost a week had gone by and it didn’t feel right to just call you for a date as if I blew you off.”
“If I didn’t text you, you wouldn’t have?” she asked.
“I wanted to. I just didn’t know what to say. Your text just proved what I’ve been feeling all along.”
“What’s that?” she asked. She was one tough chick fighting back the tears on him.
“That I felt something for you when you bumped into me over a week ago. I did again in the bar. I feel horrible that I might be the one ending your family dream.”
“I want to be mad and annoyed, but the truth is, if it’s not you, it’d be someone else. I appreciate you telling me. I appreciate that you were trying to spare my feelings.” She pushed her chair back and stood up. “I’m sorry to cut the night short, but I need to go think on this.”
He stood up too, but couldn’t leave because the bill hadn’t come yet. “What’s there to think about?”
“I guess I had some hope my mother and I would be able to keep it in the family. That whoever was going to buy it would back out, but meeting you and knowing what I do about you and why you want it, I know you won’t back out.”
“No, I won’t, Ali. I’m sorry. It means a lot to me to buy it.”
“It means a lot to me to keep it in the family, but we can’t always get what we want in life.”
She walked away from him and he had no choice but to let her go at the moment. He’d see her again. He had to. There was no way she could avoid him.
***
“That was a rotten thing to do, Ali. I’m disappointed in you.”
Not again, Ali thought, blinking the sleep from her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was going to be woken up a second time by mysterious voices.
“Who’s there?” she asked, turning the light on and reaching down to grab the bat by her bed. She was prepared this time.
Her grandfather laughed at her. “You know darn well who it is and put that bat away. You can’t hurt a dead man.”
She had to be dreaming. Her grandfather didn’t just tell her he was dead, did he? She pinched herself and it hurt like hell. Not good. Maybe if she humored him he’d go away.
“Fine, it’s my dear old grandfather come to give me a lecture. Talk away.”
He laughed at her again, just like he always did when she was being a wiseass. “Never change on me, Ali.”
She crossed her arms. “What is it that you’re disappointed in?” Might as well get this over with. It’s not like she’d had that wonderful of a night as it was.
“Don’t blame Liam for wanting to buy the farm. It’s not his fault. And you were right when you said if it wasn’t him, it’d be someone else. Be happy it’s someone who wants it as much as him.”
How was it possible her grandfather knew she’d said that to Liam? It wasn’t possible, which was why she knew she had to be imagining this whole conversation. “How can I be happy that it’s no longer going to be in our family?” she asked.
“That’s not for me to say right now. What you need to do is think about everything and realize that things happen for a reason. That sometimes fate lands in your lap.”
She snorted. “Yep, it’s fate that Mom and I can’t handle what you did on your own for so long.”
Her grandfather frowned at her. She didn’t think ghosts were supposed to show emotion, but here he was laughing and frowning. Then he pointed his finger like he used to do too. “Ali, open your eyes. The farm is not what you thought it was. It’s not meant for everyone.”
“But I love it there,” she said stubbornly. “It’s what my memories of you are.”
He reached his hand out and she felt it on hers. Oh my God, she was trying not to hyperventilate right now. “Take a deep breath, Ali. My memories are always going to be with you. I’d prefer you didn’t remember me as a workhorse my whole life, but rather someone that taught you better lessons in life.”
“I remember everything,” she argued.
“Stop contradicting yourself. And if you remember everything, then you’ll remember this conversation in the morning. But just in case you don’t, this will make you think.”
She looked down and saw he’d put a plastic apple in her hand. Just a refrigerator magnet that used to be at the farm when she was a kid.
“Can I go back to sleep now?” she asked, forcing some confidence in her voice, praying she wasn’t going insane because she felt his hand and there was no way she could unless she was losing her mind.
“Sure, Ali. Get some sleep and think about what I said. Then cut Liam some slack. If you play your cards right, things will work out the way you always dreamed.”
She shook her head, turned the light off and lay back down hoping the stress wasn’t getting to her. Or maybe it was just stress and she could will that away easier than insanity.
When her alarm clock went off the next morning she went to slap it off and something flew out of her hand. She got up to see what landed across the room and picked up the little red plastic apple, then sank down on the floor and burst into tears.