Chapter 5

Ashley

I hated him, absolutely fucking hated him. He was an arrogant, conceited asshole who was drop dead gorgeous. I hated that I found him so damn attractive. Years of fantasizing about him in my bed came rushing back. He was the one man who popped into my head every time I went to bed with someone. There had only been a couple of men with whom I’d gotten close enough to have sex, but they had never measured up. None of them had been Brock.

I walked out of his office, looked up and down the street, and decided a piece of pie was what I needed. Chocolate cream pie. It would help settle my nerves, I hoped. Brock had looked so, so, manly, like a real man. The last time I had seen him, he had been a young man, barely old enough to drink. Now he was all hard lines and his chest was much broader than I remembered. I didn’t think people could grow after the age of twenty-two, but he had. I’d felt so small standing in front of him, poking my finger into his chest. I knew it had been ridiculous, but in the moment, I’d felt it was better than wrapping my hands around his neck. As if they would even be able to close around his neck. I had seen the muscles on either side and then the vein popping out that had always been the giveaway when he was angry. At least that was still the same.

I walked into the diner, plopped down in a booth close to the door, and looked around the place. It had been a favorite hangout for the teens back in my day, but that didn’t seem to be the case today. I looked to my left and groaned.

Shit!

My sister held up a finger and told the customer she was waiting on to sit tight for a minute.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be off saving the day or ruining someone’s life?”

“Knock it off, Anna. Get someone else to wait on me. I don’t trust you not to spit in my food.”

“Ha! As if I would ever wait on you. Everyone else bows down the great Ashley, but I do not,” she spat at me before turning to call the other waitress over. “Donna, can you please deal with this customer?”

Donna, who was filling salt shakers, looked up, looked at me, then Anna, and rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I’ll be right there.”

The woman had clearly been a two-pack-a-day smoker for some time judging by her gravelly voice.

Donna made her way over in no big hurry and took my order for coffee and pie. I didn’t get the impression there was any love lost between Donna and my sister, so I wasn’t too worried she would take up the crusade against me and sully my order in some spiteful way.

I stared out the window, looking at the various businesses and watching people walk by. A lot had changed, but the feel of the town was the same. The Starbucks on the corner had been a surprise, but there were still plenty of mom-and-pop joints up and down the road.

A clatter on the table caused me to jerk and turn my gaze back to the restaurant.

“Here’s your damn pie,” Anna sneered, dropping the plate on the table and slamming down a cup before filling it with coffee from the pot she was carrying.

I guess I should have felt lucky she didn’t pour the hot coffee over my head. Small miracles I supposed.

“Where’s your kid?”

I glared up at her. “My son, Jasper, is at home with Dad.”

Her eyes bulged out. “What! You left your kid at home with our sick dad? You get that he has cancer, right? Like, he isn’t well?”

I rolled my eyes. “Uh, duh, yeah. I get it. Jasper isn’t difficult to watch. Dad wanted him to stay. He was feeling good today.”

“Whatever. You are such a spoiled little bitch, always expecting everyone to jump when you say.”

I couldn’t take her anymore. She was toxic.

I reached into my purse, pulled out a ten, and left it on the table. “Keep the fucking change, Anna.”

I walked out of the diner and headed for my rental car. I needed to get out of this town. It was not good for my health. I was going to have high blood pressure by the time this was all settled.

The drive out to the farm was nice. I was glad I was alone. I cranked up the radio and listened to the latest song from Carrie Underwood. The woman was small town but powerful. I admired her. When I pulled up in front of the house, I saw my dad sitting on the porch in his favorite rocking chair. Jasper was in the yard close to the steps, digging in the dirt. The boy loved dirt.

“Hey, guys!” I said, feeling much happier than I had a short thirty minutes ago.

“Hi, Mom! I’ve been taking care of Grandpa and now he is going to take care of me,” Jasper said, standing and rubbing his dirty hands down his shirt.

I groaned. The kid had a way of staining clothes beyond what any laundry detergent could possibly remove.

“Thank you,” I said, hugging him before making my way up to the porch. “How was he?” I asked.

My dad smiled and shook his head. “You’ve done a real good job with that boy, Ash. Really. I am amazed at how smart he is. And caring. He is far wiser than his cousins, but don’t tell Leslie or Hank I said that.”

I laughed. “Your secret is safe with me, Dad.”

Jasper went back to digging in the dirt. His little box of special rocks sat off to the side. I smiled while watching him dig with an old garden tool. He was really in his element.

“So, how’s the farm business been going?”

He shrugged. “Last year was great. This year I just don’t know. I haven’t been out there to check the fields. I had a hired hand help get the seeds in the ground, but it’s been sorely neglected since.”

“I’m sorry, Dad. I’ll take a look out there today. How’ve you been feeling?”

“It comes and goes. The first round was worse, I think because I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t feel sick so I kept up with my chores. Toward the end of the round, I wasn’t doing well at all. I just overdid it. I’ve been a little smarter this time around,” he said with a grin. “I’ve got all my kids around to do the heavy lifting, and I’m letting them do it.”

“We are all here for you. I’m here to help, too.”

“Oh, Ash, I wish you didn’t have to pick up and come running back here. Losing the farm wasn’t my plan, but if it happens, it won’t be the end of the world,” he said in a soft voice.

“Dad,” I said, not willing to accept his defeat, “we can fight this. We’ll figure out a way to keep the farm. You’ll recover from the cancer and life will go back to normal.”

He laughed. “Normal for you. We don’t need this big ol’ farm anymore. I’m getting old, Ashley. I don’t need to spend my days planting and harvesting, worrying about how much rain we get. It’s time to retire and enjoy my remaining years. I want to have free time to visit you and spend time with all my grandkids.”

“But, Dad, this is our home,” I argued.

He shook his head. “It hasn’t been a home in a long time. Hank and Leslie have their own homes and families. You live in New York, and I expect with your rising-star status, you’ll buy your own home real soon.”

“Dad, this is your home,” I stressed.

“I don’t need a house this big. It’s just more work for me.”

“Anna still lives here, doesn’t she? Make her help out.”

“Anna,” he shook his head. “Well, Anna’s new boyfriend will want her to move in with him now that she’s pregnant.”

“What!?” I blurted out. I’d had no idea she was pregnant. That explained the increase in hostility. She had been extra bitchy since I’d been home. Maybe she was pissed she was pregnant. She was twenty-seven though. If she didn’t want to be pregnant, she should know how to prevent it by now.

“Yep. She’s only a couple months along, but I suspect she’ll be moving in with that boy real soon.”

He didn’t look pleased about Anna’s new boyfriend, but with three daughters, my dad had been through a lot of boyfriends. He always told us he didn’t bother getting to know them all that well because we would end up dumping them anyway. He was usually right. Despite his automatic disapproval of the boys my sisters and I brought home, he was always polite. He was gruff and tough, but never overly rude.

“I can’t believe she’s pregnant,” I said in disbelief.

He laughed. “I would think you’d understand how that all works.”

I rolled my eyes. “I meant I’m surprised she is. She has never struck me as the maternal kind.”

“No one is until it happens.”

I smiled. He was right—again. I had certainly not been the maternal kind, but the moment Jasper was in my arms, I’d known I was meant to be his mom. That maternal instinct had kicked in and, despite being all alone, far away from my family, I had figured it out.

“Well, I’m not ready to give up on this farm yet, and I think we can save it. I think deep down you want to save it too. I want to be able to come back and visit, and, Dad, I want Jasper to know this place,” I said, meaning every word.

It had taken me a long time to realize how much I wanted to be here—at least to visit. It was a home base, and now that I had pulled the scab off the wound by returning home and seeing Brock, I was ready to heal the right way. I needed my family, and I needed Jasper to know them.

I stood up, brushed off my butt, then looked at my dad and said, “I won’t let him win, Dad. I promise you that.”

He smirked. “Lord have mercy on that man. He has no idea what’s coming his way. I admire you for trying, Ashley, but I don’t think it’s worth all this effort.”

I laughed. “He sure as hell doesn’t, but I will make him very sorry for messing with my family, and that will definitely be worth the effort.”

I headed inside to the table where the files were still sitting. I was going to go over them with a fine-tooth comb and find a way to stop Brock. I wasn’t rich by any means, but I had some money put away. I hoped it would be enough to pay the back taxes and the amount due on the mortgage. Brock needed to back off.

Leslie had said she hadn’t really had time to look over the paperwork. That irritated me to no end. She was right in the same town and couldn’t make the time to check on Dad? To make sure the mortgage got paid on time or check on his health in general? I guessed I would just have to do it.