He’s quiet again, and I brace myself for a lecture on wise decisions—to which I’ll argue the point that he’s one to talk after purchasing a whole town. Instead, Dad is choked up when he speaks again. “If that’s the case, then I want you to have your mother’s ring.”
I’m so shocked, I stop and lean on a nearby fence post, a wave of emotion hitting me. I grip the rough wood, closing my eyes and swaying slightly.
“Dad, I can’t take that.”
“Your mother and I had time to talk through this before she passed. She wanted the first of you boys to have it. We never told you, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get the chance to pass it on. If this is the woman you want to spend your life with, it’s yours.”
“I—thank you. Wow.”
Whatever he says next is lost to static, and our connection cuts out a moment later. I’m honestly relieved, because I’m standing by a deserted country road, crying like a little kid.
Lindy hasn’t even said yes. She didn’t say no, either, but that’s hardly a shining endorsement. The thought of my mom’s ring and having my parents’ blessing only makes me want to prove myself to Lindy more.
I don’t feel worthy of Lindy or of my mom’s ring. But I will be. I will.
I hear a shuffle and look over to see a cow imposing on my private moment. I wipe my cheeks, making eye contact with the nosy bovine.
“What are you looking at?” I demand, and in answer, it lifts its tail and leaves a fresh pile of cow patties. “You’re a real mood killer, Bessie. You know that?”
The cow does not seem particularly concerned with my insult and turns back to the herd. Sighing, I tuck my phone into my pocket and resume my walk, refusing to take Bessie’s response as any kind of sign.
Chapter Seventeen
Lindy
“Tell me you have some good news,” I say to Ashlee, wedging the phone between my ear and shoulder as I grab my purse from the car and slam the door.
Honestly, the legal battle over Jo is the last thing I want to think about after bolting from the restaurant and from Pat. I sent the bat signal—AKA a 911 text—to Val and Winnie, so they’re on their way. I’d love to shut off my brain until my friends arrive, but Ashlee’s voicemail sounded ominous. I’d rather hear from her now rather than having to go to sleep tonight with a sense of unknown, impending doom.
Known impending doom is better by far.
Ashlee sighs, and the small sound makes my heart tumble. Maybe I was wrong, and unknown doom is better. “First, I want to apologize again for Kim. She’s been fired, but I know the damage was done.”
Turns out, Kim was eavesdropping, and not just on me. She’s been dating Billy Waters on the down-low, so she let Billy know all kinds of confidential client information, including what Ashlee and I discussed. Though the brothers aren’t on the best terms, somehow Wolf got the info out of Billy, leading to the second-weirdest proposal of my life.
Pat’s Mexican restaurant proposal wins out, even without the drumline.
“I want to be honest with you,” Ashlee says. “I think it’s going to be more of a battle than we hoped it would be.”
I lean against the car, needing its support, while Ashlee tells me what her private investigator discovered about Rachel. Which is … nothing. She actually seems to have turned her life around. At least, on paper. She did rehab, attends weekly AA meetings, holds several volunteer positions in the community, and, of course, has the wealthy tech bigwig husband to create the ideal two-parent household. They live in a big house zoned to a great school.
Rachel may be clean now, she may look great on paper, but I can’t help but feel like her underlying issues are still, well, issues. At any point, she could have called me or come by the house. She could have initiated contact personally, rather than through legal channels. It doesn’t seem like the priority is to be a mom to Jo, but more like Rachel simply doesn’t want me to have her daughter. She doesn’t want me to win.