AllFreeNovel
Share Us
7
HUNTER
This woman is hurting, and way more than I anticipated. Her mom died, and May said that Beth was divorced. That’s enough on anybody’s plate. And here I am, the shovel that’s digging up the past that had never really been laid to rest.
We eat in silence. There’s too much to say so we say nothing.
Eventually she shifts in her seat and breaks the lengthy silence. “What’s Raiden been up to back in Ashleigh Lake?”
This is safe territory and I’m relieved I have six siblings to discuss in detail with her. “He built a tiny house over the summer for a televised competition.”
“What? Raiden on TV? With his stutter?”
I chuckle. “With the help of an amazing assistant who literally swept him off his feet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they settle permanently in Ashleigh Lake soon. They’ve been in Boston wrapping up a few things. They lived in the boathouse over the summer, but with the weather changing they’ll need to find something for winter.”
“And the TV show? Will it air soon? I need to see this.”
I smile. “You and me both. I’m not sure, but I can keep you posted?”
Beth gives a non-committed shrug. “And Ethan and Liam? Where in the world are they?”
The twins were the reason I couldn’t leave Ashleigh Lake and come to California. Things had been falling apart, and with Raiden already doing pot and who knew what else before hitchhiking the interstate to Boston, I couldn’t risk them going off the rails too. Raiden’s running away had gutted the younger ones. I simply couldn’t leave. “Ethan is in the army and currently deployed in Saudi Arabia. He’s coming home in a couple of weeks’ time on furlough. Liam is doing his medical residency at the Memorial in New York but has signed up for a three-month stint on the Mercy Ships. He’s somewhere off the East African coast right now.”
“A doctor?” Beth’s eyes widen.
“Yes.” Liam hadn’t been put off by the wreck that took our parents’ lives. Nope, it had only spurred him on to a point where he could save lives. As for Ethan—his enlistment came as no surprise. What is surprising is that only one of us has followed in Dad’s footsteps. I didn’t enlist because I got accepted at Stanford and when all that fell through, I focused on my business instead. Raiden probably would have, but he dropped out of school. There was a small timeframe for him to enlist, but he was knee-deep into working for Cash McGraw and learning his trade.
“And Bob?” she asks. “How’s he doing?”
“Bob?” I smile. That Beth can recall Bob is sweet and endearing. We all have a soft spot for him as he watched us all grow up and always looked out for us in his own way. “Still going strong, still refusing a permanent housing arrangement except during the winter months. He’s older, maybe a bit wackier, but still there.”
She nods and looks down at the table and picks at nacho crumbs with her fingertips. “Good to know.”
We’ve worked our way through the starters, the nachos being a portion to share between four. With the table cleared we can move on to the main course, but— “Do you feel like anything else?” I ask. Beth looks like she’s had her fill for the day. Reading between the lines, her work is stressful and on the go all the time.
“No, I’m good, thank you.”
“I’ll get the bill.” With a small wave I indicate to the waitress that we’re done. It isn’t even eight o’clock yet and this mission needs to be aborted. Failure stares me in the face in the form of the girl I loved so much that being ripped away from her almost killed me. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that nobody in my family needed another Logan to move on to the afterlife. And my budding business at that time—ice cream of all things.
Beth makes as if to pay for half the bill, but I brush her off. We stand and walk out of the restaurant in single file. Once we’re out on the sidewalk again, we pause.
“The thing with Collingwood Farm, Hunter, is that Kyle and I both inherited it. I only own fifty percent, and Kyle needs the money for his start-up. To be honest, we both could do with an injection of cash.”
A huge amount of cash. Life-changing cash.
“I know and I understand.” The reality is hard to stomach, but the truth is that Vermont hasn’t crawled one inch closer to California since I arrived in San Francisco. It makes zero sense for them to hang on to a place whose good memories all got wiped out by one bad exit. “I’m sorry that you’re hurting, Beth. With your mom’s passing I know—” I break off. I know the bad space she’s in. It’s been my old friend for years. “The idea hadn’t been to—”
She catches me off guard completely as she steps up and hugs me close, pressing her body flush against mine, my arms dangling like roots from a suddenly torn-up tree.
“It’s been good seeing you, Hunter,” she murmurs in my ear as I wrap my arms around her, unsure and hesitant, my heart crashing about in my chest as if it could escape the confines of my ribcage if it just kept going. “There’ve been times that I tried to find you on social media, wondering what you’ve been up to, but—”
“I’m not on social media.” Because that night she posted about her wedding in Vegas, I’d closed every single account I had. Poison from a distance seeping into my life through a device in the heart of my home? Nope, couldn’t do it.
Beth’s body quivers against mine and it’s an echo of times long gone against my chest. She’s crying and fuck knows it’s going to kill me. “Hey,” I whisper, pushing my nose into her hair. “Are you okay?”
She shakes her head and there’s nothing I can do but hold her on a busy street as cars speed by, buses huff, and rowdy tourists make their way to who knows where. Luckily it’s dark already and to any observer we’re just a couple in an embrace on the street.
Eventually she pulls away, but not before she’s shredded me completely. I’m at a loss. What do I do with this—with us? I refuse to let her slip out of arm’s reach and hold on to her shoulders.
