26. Anthony #2
He waved his hand. “When have I ever listened to doctors?”
“Don’t worry, Daisy,” Mom said quickly. “I’m keeping a close eye on him. So, how have you been?”
“Great. Busy. The music scene in New Orleans is fascinating. But… I want to run something else by you.”
“Of course,” Dad said.
“As you know, as much fun as this job is, it’s not exactly what I went to school for. So, I’ve asked the recruiter to keep looking for marketing jobs.”
Dad nodded. “That’s very smart.”
“And she found one.” I bit the inside of my cheek again. “Not too far away from home.”
“Oh, so you want to stay in New Orleans, then?”
“Home as in North Dakota.”
Both my parents went completely still.
“Wait,” Mom said, a small frown appearing on her forehead. “You want to move back here?”
“The job is interesting. And I figured you guys could use my help.”
Dad narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything. He glanced at Mom, who shrugged. But then they both locked their eyes on me.
“Honey, we’re managing just fine,” Dad said. “We should’ve told you this, but Anthony actually helped us hire two more farmhands. ”
“I’m sorry, what? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“We asked him to keep it quiet,” Mom replied. “We were a bit embarrassed to accept his help. When Anthony first offered, I told him absolutely not, but then… well, he’s a very convincing young man.”
I stared into space, feeling like a fool. “That’s not okay. You can’t keep stuff like this from me.”
“We know, honey. We figured we’d tell you at some point.”
“Annelise knows?”
“Yes,” Mom admitted.
What the hell? Everyone knew but me! I was fuming. “Right.”
“Anyway,” Dad cut in, “if you want to come home, there is always a place for you here. And we’d welcome you with open arms. But you’d have your job, which is demanding enough.
You wouldn’t have time to run the farm on top of that.
That’s my job and your mom’s. And we’re both young and healthy enough to do it.
We won’t need the extra employees for too long.
Anthony’s just helping us get through a rough spot. ”
I sighed. “I feel guilty that I’m so far away. You’ve always hoped I would take over the farm.”
“Darling, no. Maybe at first, but it’s not your journey,” Mom said.
“And that’s perfectly fine. We understand that.
Your dad and I don’t expect you to suddenly have a change of heart and take over the farm.
This is our dream, and we’ll run it for as long as we can.
When we decide to retire, we’ll sell it. ”
“The Tanner boys will jump at the opportunity to buy it,” Dad went on.
That was their plan? It sounded good, to be honest. My parents actually looked excited.
“And with the money we get from the sale,” Mom added, “we’ll buy something small in the city. Or use it to go on cruises.”
“That’s nonsense, woman,” Dad said. “I hate being out on the sea. ”
“Oh, you old grump, you’ve never tried it.” Turning to me, she asked, “What does Anthony have to say about all this?”
“I haven’t talked with him yet. The recruiter just emailed me this morning. I don’t know how he’ll take it.”
“He didn’t seem like he wanted to let go of you,” Mom said. “You two are still together, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “Yes. And he’s amazing.”
“And you want to leave New Orleans, a city you love, and a good man to come here because I broke my leg and ribs?” Dad shook his head.
“In a nutshell, yes.”
“Little girl, that’s nonsense.”
I’d realized something else during my time here, though. Watching how close the LeBlancs were and how seriously they took family duty had an effect on me.
“I don’t want you two to feel like you’re on your own,” I confessed.
Mom straightened up. “Honey, we know we can always count on you.”
“Then how come you never let me help? You never even tell me what’s going on!”
“Because it’s usually not necessary at the time. But maybe we’ve been a bit stubborn this time,” Dad admitted. “We’ll improve our communication and keep you more involved, I promise.”
“But that said, we don’t want you flying up here just because you’re worried about us. Don’t decide your life based on what we need,” Mom added in a soft tone. “Besides, your dad will be healthy in no time. You know nothing can keep this old dog down.”
Dad began tickling Mom. “I’ll show you old dog.”
“Stop that, dear. You’ll hurt yourself.”
The love these two shared was as strong as ever. That was what I’d always wanted.
That was what I had with Anthony .
My heart nearly broke in two at the thought of not seeing him again.
God, I didn’t want that. I couldn’t even think about it without my throat closing up.
Surely that was a sign that I loved Anthony far too much to seriously consider the offer Samantha sent me.
My reaction to my family had been out of guilt—and unfounded, apparently, because they never expected me to uproot my dreams and take care of them.
Man, I was messed up.
As if reading my thoughts, Mom said, “Why don’t you chat with that hot stud of yours about this offer before you decide.” She winked at me.
“Woman,” Dad chastised, but I started to laugh. Mom was feisty.
“I’ll do exactly that.”
After hanging up with my parents, I mulled over their advice.
Getting up from the couch, I moved out onto the balcony, smiling in the evening air. It was still warm.
Taking my phone out again, I texted Anthony.
Daisy: Workday over? What are you up to?
He answered before I even managed to sit down.
Anthony: Funnily enough, I’m on my way to your place.
Holy shit. Energy coursed through me. Did we plan on spending the evening together and I completely forgot?
No, that couldn’t be. I’d never forget my sexy man dropping by my house.
I went through today’s agenda in my head. He had a meeting with his brothers and didn’t know how long it would last. That’s why we didn’t make any plans.
Daisy: How long until you get here?
Anthony: 10 minutes.
Oh, that did not give me enough time to make myself presentable. Or to make a plan about how to tell him about North Dakota. All I could think about was that Anthony was arriving any second now, and I was wearing Lululemon pants and a washed-out One Direction T-shirt, and my hair was sweaty.
First things first, I jumped into the shower and washed my hair. Afterward, I barely had time to put on a dress. I didn’t even get the chance to search for fresh underwear before the doorbell rang. My hair was still pretty wet, even though I’d towel-dried it. I carefully put it over one shoulder.
I dashed to the door, quickly opening it.
“Hey!”
“Hello.” He was looking at my hair intently. Then his gaze dropped. Was he ogling my chest?
I looked down as well. Whoops. My wet hair had dripped a ton of water onto my dress, so one boob was almost visible, as if I wasn’t wearing anything at all.
I immediately stepped back, attempting to hide myself, then changed tack and moved my wet hair on the other side. If I showed him one boob, I might as well show him the other one.
Anthony entered my apartment, closing the door. I started to feel a bit silly because I wanted to talk about something serious with him. Why was I flashing him my boobs?
“Did I forget that you were coming? Were we supposed to meet?” I double-checked.
“No, it was a spontaneous decision.”
“How was the meeting with your brothers?” I asked as we both stepped into the living room.
“It went well. They all think it’s a great idea. Julian wants to get more involved. The bar and music scene are very interconnected anyway, but this would take it to the next level.”
“I can already see the campaigns and slogans.”
Anthony smiled at me. “That smart brain of yours is so fucking sexy.” His eyes were pinned on me a bit too intently.
“Are you sure it’s my brain you’re talking about, or is it my boobs?”
“Both, of course.”
“So, the meeting?— ”
“I didn’t come to talk about my brothers, Daisy.” His tone was more direct than I’d come to expect. I flinched a little.
“What’s going on?” I asked, biting the inside of my cheek.
“I want to talk about your job offer in North Dakota.”
I put a hand on my chest and then lowered it to my stomach. “How do you know about that?”
“Samantha asked for references.”
“Oh! I didn’t think she’d do that without consulting me first.”
“You didn’t plan on telling me?” Anthony asked.
“Of course I was going to tell you. I barely had time to look at it.”
“Is it good?”
“The job is interesting, but… “
“It’s in North Dakota,” he finished for me. He did not look happy.
“I know that.”
“Is that what you want, Daisy? You mentioned it at the farm, but you didn’t seem convinced.”
I sighed, looking down between us. “I wasn’t, but I told Samantha to search for something in that area too. I’d feel too guilty otherwise if I didn’t at least try.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Meeting all of you LeBlancs and watching the way you care for one another made me realize that I should be doing the same for my parents.”
“Daisy, I’m sure your parents wouldn’t want you to move home for them.”
“Funnily enough, that’s exactly what they said. And they also told me that you’ve been helping them out behind my back.”
“Fuck!” he groaned, running a hand through his hair. “Yes, I have. And for the record, I didn’t want to do it behind your back. I wanted to be up front about it, but?—”
“I know. My parents are like that.”
“So, there’s no need for you to move closer to home. It comes back to what you really want,” Anthony said .
“What do you mean?” I whispered.
“I need to know what you want.”
You , a small voice said in the back of my mind. I swallowed hard, looking straight at him. “I want to do the right thing, but… I’m a little bit confused about what that is.”
“I want you here in New Orleans with me, I thought you knew that,” Anthony said, then closed his eyes, dropping his chin to his chest. “Fuck. I wasn’t going to say that yet.”