Chapter 37
Winnie did her best to hold back her own emotions.
Her calendar notification had just gone off for Wilder’s wedding, and she had a right to be upset that she wasn’t there with Ty.
Not only that, but she enjoyed Wilder and Savannah and all the cowboys who Ty spent his time with.
It was exactly the kind of community Winnie wanted in her life, and she hated that she was still in Oklahoma.
Her father had come home from the hospital fairly quickly, but he needed surgery.
Winnie had already endured a dozen conversations about how he could possibly recover on his own here in Redwood without her.
Of course it could be done, while Winnie would literally have to quit her job and leave Three Rivers to do what her parents wanted her to do.
Her great sense of duty and loyalty warred with her heart, and Winnie had been searching for a solution to her problem for days now.
She was happy in Three Rivers, something she thought she’d never accomplish again, and she was steadily falling in love with Ty and didn’t want to give up her relationship with him either.
But didn’t she need to honor her mother and father? Her heart told her she should, and she’d started making phone calls to back surgeons in Three Rivers. She actually had an appointment in another week or so with one of them. She just hadn’t told her parents that yet.
She first had to figure out how to get them to agree to move to Three Rivers and live with her.
Taylor could maintain the house here, doing whatever it was that Taylor did, and Winnie would be able to continue her life in Three Rivers, getting to know Ty and solidifying her friendships with everyone there.
It felt like a good solution, but she knew it would be a fight. Not only with her momma and daddy, but with Taylor too. She wanted all the benefits of being the baby in the family without having any responsibility whatsoever.
Winnie had spent the beginning of the week being angry, but she didn’t have it inside her anymore. She couldn’t change Taylor, and all she could do was pray that her parents would see reason. She had a single-level, three-bedroom house that they could easily move into.
They didn’t have to give up everything here in Redwood, and Winnie saw this as a short-term solution that might be the next six to twelve months of her life, and she’d done much harder things for much longer than that. She could do this too.
She’d need to get supper started soon, but she sent a text to Ty, hoping he might have a moment during the changeover from ceremony to wedding dinner to respond. She’d texted him that morning too, telling him she wished she could be there at the wedding and asking him who he was going to sit by.
He’d replied with Colt and Trap and nothing else.
She’d asked who they had invited to the wedding, as she knew none of the cowboys liked to go by themselves.
After all, that was how she’d gotten her start with Ty, and she fully expected Travis and Colt, Jacob and Jake, and any other single cowboy to have a date.
But Ty hadn’t answered.
Winnie had, once upon a time, thought about getting cameras in her house for her cats, but she’d never done it. Ty was a saint, and he’d been taking care of them and staying at her place since the moment she left town, and she hoped they weren’t the reason he hadn’t answered her.
She didn’t truly think they would be, because Salmon and Rocky loved Ty.
As much as you do….
She paused there, her thoughts scattering for a moment. Did she love Ty? In a lot of ways, Winnie absolutely did, but in others, she knew she needed more time with him to truly get to know him and be all the way in love with him.
Winnie let her fond feelings flow through her, choosing them over being anxious and worried about his silence.
I’m sure the wedding is amazing. Send me some pictures when you get a minute.
With that, Winnie put her phone away, because she couldn’t bear the thought of sending another text and not getting an answer yet again. She knew he was busy, and he would reply when he could. At least that was what she told herself as she pushed herself off the couch and went to start dinner.
Winnie woke the next morning, her eyes feeling crusty and puffy and a certain vein of misery streaming through her that she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Since the morning after Carver had stood on her parents’ front doorstep and told her that he couldn’t marry her, in fact.
She’d been staying here in her childhood home then too, and she could remember the awful, sick feeling in her stomach and the absolute unhappiness that came with it.
This time, it wasn’t because her fiancé had ended their relationship one week before they were set to be married, but because her current boyfriend had not texted her back yesterday.
Yes, Wilder and Savannah had had an afternoon wedding with a full dinner afterward, but certainly Ty would have been home by nine o’clock and could have texted.
Winnie had made herself sick with scenarios, thinking maybe he was too tired, that he’d overdone it, that he was dancing with someone else. She’d just as quickly dismissed those thoughts, because Ty was not a cheater, and she didn’t believe for one moment that he would do that to her.
She didn’t want that negativity brewing in her head, and she told herself that Ty had had a very busy and stressful week—exactly the way she had—and he was entitled to some rest and relaxation of his own.
But the thought of him needing rest and relaxation away from her made her throat tight. Was he having second thoughts about them? He’d asked her one more time since her initial assessment of her daddy how long she thought she’d be in Oklahoma, and of course, Winnie still didn’t know.
She wanted to reassure him that she would be home soon, but the truth was, she didn’t know that.
She’d had a very serious conversation with Jerome on Friday, wherein she told him she fully expected to be back in just another week.
She couldn’t stand the thought of staying longer than that, and she’d already been in Oklahoma for ten days now.
And though she’d skipped talking to her parents about moving in with her yesterday, she knew she needed to do it today. She picked up her phone just to see if Ty had texted, and then she’d make her way down the hall and into the main part of the house to talk to her parents.
Winnie stared at the text string between her and Ty, trying to come up with something that didn’t sound accusatory. She wanted to be flirty and fun, but she wasn’t sure how to pull that off either.
In the end, Winnie sent a generic, tentative text that said, I hope you have a great Sabbath day.
She didn’t want to pressure him to text her back, and perhaps her message popping up on his phone would remind him that he’d meant to send her pictures from yesterday’s wedding and had just been too tired to do so.
She sighed as she got up and went into the bathroom before going down to the kitchen.
After all, she didn’t want her parents to see her tear-stained face and know she’d cried herself to sleep.
Or maybe she did. Then they would know how serious things were with Ty and how badly Winnie needed to get back to Three Rivers.
She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and pulled her hair back on the sides. She liked getting ready in the morning, as it made her feel more human. Not only that, but she wanted to be at her best when she started the difficult conversation with her parents.
“I can’t stay here,” she practiced in the mirror. “You guys need to come back to Three Rivers with me.” She sighed, saw the defeat in her own eyes, and dropped her head.
“This isn’t going to work,” she muttered as she dodged back across the hall to her bedroom. Still, she pulled on her cutest pair of skinny jeans and a flowery top that made her feel feminine, fierce, and powerful.
She had to have this conversation. Lord knew there had been plenty of other…lively discussions around the house this week. Winnie had taken not just one trip to the landfill, but three, and she now had everything where it should be. Mostly.
“Lord, I need Thy help.” She tilted her head heavenward, but the writhing, snaky feeling in her stomach wouldn’t abate. Thankfully, the scent of coffee filled the air, and Winnie could busy herself with sweetening a cup before she started talking.
Her mother had a certain way she liked her morning caffeine, and she didn’t let anyone else touch the coffee pot. Winnie simply counted it as one chore she didn’t have to do—and she got to benefit from some pretty good coffee too.
The doorbell rang, and Winnie whipped her attention toward her closed bedroom door. Her heartbeat rebounded from somewhere in her stomach, sticking in the back of her throat and hanging there. She quickly moved to open her door and step out into the hall.
“I got it,” Momma called, as if Winnie were the butler and Momma was doing her a favor by getting the door at her own house. A flash of her bright blue blouse moved past the mouth of the hallway as she left the kitchen, and Winnie started down the hallway.
Hopefully, whoever it was would drop off the loaf of bread or casserole dish and be on their way.
Of course, if someone from the neighborhood or her parents’ church had stopped by with food, Momma would invite them in.
Winnie might never be able to have the critical conversation about moving her parents to Three Rivers, and pure desperation clawed at her vocal cords.
A male voice met her ears the closer she got to the living room, and Winnie’s footsteps slowed.
She didn’t want to see the pastor—or anyone else from church.
She hadn’t packed a dress, of course, nor had she planned to attend church while in town.
The last thing she needed were all of those people’s eyes and whispered judgments about what she was doing back in town—or what she should be doing.
She’d had enough of that after Carver’s disappearance from her life fourteen months ago.
Winnie honestly felt near tears as the conversation at the door continued. Then Momma called, “Winnie! It’s for you, hon.”
She got herself moving, and she entered the living room. “Me? Who is it?” She couldn’t quite see past her momma, but she stepped back and opened the door wide.
The whole world narrowed to the man standing on the front porch of her parents’ house.
Drawn by the force of gravity, which was fueled by joy…or maybe love…Winnie flew toward Ty. Giggling and grinning, she asked, “What in the world are you doing here?”