31. Montana
The days have flown by since Ellison surprised me with the goat invasion, and I am only slightly less annoyed than I was the day of their arrival. I’ve done my best to avoid them—even the cute little ones that hopped and pranced around like they were in some barnyard parkour event.
But mostly, I’ve been workin’ from sunup to sundown with no end in sight.
Ellison has been much the same, busy with lesson plans and getting her classroom ready, and I am so damn proud of her. She’s had dinner with her father a couple of times but thankfully hasn’t asked me to join them. I need to talk to the Mills patriarch one-on-one but I’m not ready, and every time I think about it, I’m unable to curb my anger.
Part of me knows it is slightly misplaced. The stress of the farm and Grandad and her father’s unexpected arrival in Blackstone Falls have all contributed to my reaction. It is easier to lash out at the man who has done so much to derail my future—our future—than deal with the impending breakdown I can feel on the horizon.
“You keep doin’ that and you’re gonna wear a hole in my floor,” Grandad says without looking up from the newspaper in his hand, startling me out of my spiraling thoughts.
And just in time too.
“Sorry,” I mumble as I pour more coffee into my cup for no other reason than to have something to keep myself still for a couple of seconds.
“You should take the day off.”
“What?” I ask, confusion furrowing my brow.
“A day off. Take Ellison to the lake or go for a drive and get away from here for a while. She starts school soon, and harvest season is right around the corner. It’s only gonna get busier.”
I open my mouth but then close it just as quickly. Things with Ellison have been the only thing going right since we threw out all the rules and started bein’ us again. We’ve spent every available moment together—from early-morning coffees and dinners with Grandad and Celeste to a couple of evening rides with Sadie and Marist before falling into bed together at the end of each day. Life with Ellison has been nothing short of amazing, but Grandad was right—we’ve only had pockets of time and it would only get worse.
“I think you’re right,” I admit as I pull my phone out.
“That happens more often than y’all give an old man credit for.” He harumphs and I can’t help but snicker as I type out a message.
MONTANA: Let’s go to the falls
ELLISON: When?
MONTANA: Right now
ELLISON: I need like an hour. Are you sure you can take today off?
MONTANA: Grandad is insisting
ELLISON: Tell him he’s my favorite
MONTANA: I thought I was your favorite (crying emoji)
ELLISON: If you’d suggested taking me to the falls then you’d be my favorite (kiss face emoji)
MONTANA: Fine. I’ll grab lunch and pick you up in an hour
ELLISON: XOXO
“Ellison says you’re her favorite.”
“See? A little effort goes a long way,” he says with a smirk, and I roll my eyes.
“Yeah, yeah.” Dropping a kiss on the top of his head, I squeeze his shoulder. “Love you, Grandad.”
“Love you too, my boy. Love you too.”
* * *
It tookme a while to gather up all the gear for the lake and get it into the back of the truck. With the cooler stocked with drinks and sandwiches from The Backyard, I make a split-second decision to swing by the Kettle and Kiln for a couple of iced coffees.
I have a few minutes before I need to head to Ellison’s, so I pull a U-turn and head toward the shop. It’s still pretty early, but the lot is surprisingly full as I park and hop out. With a spring in my step, I make my way toward the door, my body feeling lighter than it has in weeks.
Images of Ellison in a bikini flash through my mind as I take a step inside and inhale the rich coffee aroma. I wave my hand in greeting at Karina who nods as she hustles behind the counter making coffees and filling orders like the magician she is.
A woman at the table to my right laughs and shakes her head, her glasses catching the light at just the right angle to grab my attention. The line moves forward, giving me a better view of her face, her name easily coming to me now that we have an interview scheduled for next week.
I’m just about to look away when the man she’s sitting with looks up, his eyes locking on mine, a mixture of irritation and fear in them.
His eyes.
No fucking way.
Arden must notice the shift in her tablemate’s demeanor because she looks up at him, her lips tipping down as her gaze follows his until it lands on me.
Coffee forgotten, I stalk my way across the room, standing every inch of my six-foot-three frame, towering over Evan Fucking Mills as he sits across from a woman who looked familiar to me but I couldn’t previously figure out why.
A woman who has the same eyes as her father—and Ellison.
She has a sister?
“All the shit you put her through and you were hiding a god damn family,” I seethe, my voice low and menacing as I make the obvious connection. “You’re a fucking disgrace.” I snort but it lacks all humor. “And to think I’ve been striving to earn your respect all these years. You can go to hell.”
Belatedly I can hear him excuse himself from the table as I push out the door and into the parking lot, sucking in a lungful of air as I will my head to stop spinning.
“Montana, stop.” His voice is close and I whip around fast enough to force him to take a step back.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve?—”
“It’s not what it looks like.” My eyebrows are somewhere in my hairline, and Evan notices because he holds his hands up and adds, “Okay, it’s not exactly what it looks like.”
“She has your eyes. Ellison’s eyes.” My voice breaks and I don’t even care. “How could you do that to her?”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know any of it. Arden contacted me a couple of months ago after she’d taken the job at the Blackstone Gazette. Her mother disclosed information to her that Sherri Ann had been involved in forcibly paying off and covering up the pregnancy. It’s messy, but I didn’t cheat on either of them. Arden asked for a paternity test. We’re waiting for the results to confirm,”—he swallows—“that she’s my daughter.”
“That’s some story.”
“I wish it was sensationalized but it’s not. I’m living in some god damn daytime movie, and if I screw up even one thing, my entire world is going to come crashing down around me. I’ll lose everything.”
“Always so concerned with money—with your image.” I spit the last word out like a curse, because that’s what it is.
“It’s not like that.”
“Bullshit! Ellison’s whole life you’ve waffled between indifference, her having to earn your affection, and downright cruelty.”
“You don’t understand…”
“No,” I say, taking a step into him, “you don’t understand. I picked up the pieces every single time. Every time you let her down, every time you let her mother belittle her and make her feel like she wasn’t good enough. And still I trusted you to take care of her when she left for Savannah. I let you chase me away because what could I do?” I throw my hands out to the side before dropping them down. “Believe me when I say that nothing has changed. I would have married Ellison at eighteen, and you can bet your life that I’ll be marrying her just as soon as she lets me.”
He drags a hand down his face, a weary sigh escaping him, but I can’t find it in myself to feel bad.
“Believe it or not, I don’t want to fight with you. I don’t want to hurt my daughter.” He clears his throat. “Either of them.”
“Did you only come here for Arden? Or did you actually come for Ellison? Because I’ve been supportive of her nurturing the relationship she has with you, but I’ll end that real quick if she’s just an afterthought. You failed at protecting her, but I won’t.”
“I had to protect her!” he barks but I’m too wound up to care.
“I don’t believe you. You isolated her and stripped her of her childhood. You did everything you could to tear her down.” He opens his mouth to speak but I rush on, “But you know what? She’s resilient and so fucking strong and she made it—she made it in spite of you. And I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she has everything she could ever want. You never treated her like a princess, but I sure as hell will treat her like a queen,” I say as I yank open the door of my truck.
“Montana—”
“You have one week to tell Ellison. Everything. You tell her about Arden and you tell her about what happened after she left for college.” I point at him, my voice breaking again. “You tell her why you stole the last ten years from us.”
“Please, just?—”
I shake my head. “No. You tell her. I’m giving you this one courtesy, not because you deserve it but because she does. She deserves her father to man up and face his past—take responsibility for his actions. You have one week, Evan, and it’s the last time I cover for you.”
Without another word, I get into the truck and peel out of the parking lot, dust kicking up around Ellison’s father as he stands there watching me drive away. He doesn’t seem as big as he did growing up—no longer invincible.
He’s just a man and everything I promised myself I’d never be.