Chapter 25
Ariana
“Dad, I need to get my things,” I protest.
“No, Ariana. I’m done with this conversation,” my father says, waving a hand in the air dismissively.
“OK, let me say it another way. Dad, I’m going to get my things. I know you have a condo down that way. So, Katia and I will stay there for the night so it’s not too much for me,” I state defiantly, my chin jutting out and my arms crossing.
My father sets down whatever it is he’s reading and stares at me over his glasses. I can tell he’s annoyed that I’ve pointed out that one of his many properties is right near Storyview Falls. “I already said no.” He looks at my leg. “You can’t even walk yet. You just started physical therapy yesterday.”
I glare at him. “And I’m allowed to use crutches a little bit and I get around fine in this chair. I’m an adult. I have a job. I signed a contract. I need to close up my work with them. I’m a professional and I will not have my reputation tarnished over some silly little job. Do you want that?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. I see his eyes narrow. Checkmate.
“Fine. You’ll take Sylvester with you,” he says, motioning for a guard by his door.
“Seriously?” I state.
“Seriously. And you’ll text me when you get there,” he replies deadpan. Anyone else might shrivel under his gaze, but I know my father, and deep down, the man wouldn’t hurt a fly, at least not a fly he loves. Now, I might be the only one that knows that, but it’s true. While most people think my dad is a ruthless businessman, I’ve seen the loving side of James Titan. It exists. There is a heart that beats in his chest. He just has it very walled off from the entire world.
“Whatever. I’ll be back,” I say with a sigh as I turn in my wheelchair and roll myself out of his office.
Sylvester follows me. “Shall I get the car ready, miss?”
I look over my shoulder at the man who is probably thirty years older than me. He’s foreign. I should probably know from where, but honestly, I try to ignore our security team as much as humanly possible. I hate that he’s coming, but what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to enter another planet. Or at least that’s what it will probably feel like to him.
“Yes, please,” I answer. “We’ll be ready in an hour.”
“Will do,” he replies as he leaves and heads toward the elevator.
I roll to my room and find Katia sitting on my bed reading something on her phone. She looks up and quickly sets her phone screen-side down.
“We leave in an hour,” I state as I eye her phone with curiosity. Why was she hiding the screen from me? She has literally shown me sexting photos. We have zero secrets. Whatever, I don’t have the energy to deal with another issue right now. She and I can address whatever that is about later.
She pumps her fist. “Hell yeah. Way to grow some massive lady balls.”
I roll my eyes. “Do you think my plan will work?”
She shrugs. “It’s worth a try.”
We’ve been scheming for forty-eight hours straight.
* * *
“Why are there so many cars here?” I ask as we pull up to the farm. I look at the field filled with cars. We never have this many people at the farm. Even on a busy day the small parking lot seldom fills up to capacity.
Katia glances over at me and I see her chewing on her bottom lip.
“What did you do?” I ask, my eyes widening as Sylvester drives up to the barn.
“Nothing,” she says, her voice sounding very suspicious.
I look around as Sylvester finds a single parking spot, a spot that feels oddly reserved.
“Crutches or a wheelchair?” he asks as he gets out and walks around to my side.
“Crutches, please,” I state as I slowly open my car door. He hands them to me and helps me out.
I swivel and stare up at the banner I’d ordered for the grand re-opening. It’s hanging above the open giant barn doors. There’s Elisha with a small tent serving coffee, Max’s restaurant is in a tent next to hers with mocktails, and there are two local artists with crafts and paintings next to them.
Joy walks up to me and I smile at her. “You haven’t had the re-opening yet?” I ask.
She shakes her head and pulls me into a hug as much as she can with my crutches in the way. “No, sweet girl, of course not. We were waiting for you,” she explains as she pulls back. And looks down at my leg. “How are you feeling?” Joy has emailed me a few times about my medical leave and she has asked about how I am doing. But something about hearing it straight from her feels different. It wasn’t just business for her. She cares, like she really cares.
I take a breath to keep my emotions at bay. “I’m good.” I tap my leg in its brace. “I started PT this week. The doctor says I’m making really good progress and should be walking without assistance in another month.”
“That’s wonderful!” she exclaims as Earl and Buck walk over.
“I knew no tractor could take you out, kid,” Earl says with a wink. “You’re stubborn as hell.”
I laugh and shrug. “It tried, but it didn’t stand a chance. Is it…OK?”
Earl lifts his hand and points over toward the animal barn. “Eric kicked it a lot but Buck and I got it going again. She’s good as new.”
“Good,” I reply.
Buck hugs me. “No more taking tractor rides without us, OK?”
“Yeah, I think my days of tractor operating are over,” I agree.
“Come see it. You did great, kid,” Earl says as they all usher me toward the farmstand barn. I’m greeted by so many people from town. Hugs, well-wishes, and funny news surrounds me.
Katia leans over as I take in the new farmstand. “You did this?” she asks. “It doesn’t look anything like the pics on the website we looked at when you applied.”
I smile at her. “Thank God,” I tease.
She laughs. “No shit. This place was horrible. But now, it’s kinda country-cute. I mean, I’d stop here if I felt like doing the small-town-shopping thing.”
Kingsley walks over and hugs me. “You like it?” he asks.
I nod. “It came out even better than I planned.”
I look at all the artwork, the new shelves, the new flow of the store, the fresh paint, and Mooman, walking toward me.
“Hey, buddy,” I say as I give his head a rub.
“I mean, he’s cute for, like, a cow,” Katia states as she stares down at him.
“This is Mooman. And he’s adorable. Aren’t you?” I ask Mooman who moos back at me on cue. Everyone around us laughs.
A tapping of a microphone draws my attention to the far corner. A hush falls over the crowd.
“I’d like to thank everyone for coming out today. Windsor Family Farms has been an important part of Storyview Falls for a little over twenty years and we look forward to the next twenty.” There’s a round of applause. “I guess I need to first let everyone know that Lamberta is the winning name.” He pauses to point to our lamb who is in a small pen in the corner. A few people laugh and clap. “I delayed this opening for a few weeks because we were missing the most important person on our team, Ariana…Titan. She was the one who dreamed this up and made it happen. She’s put our little farm on the map. None of this would be possible without her.” He walks toward me with his wireless microphone. I take a deep breath and immediately regret it. He’s close enough that I smell his cologne. I need to be mad at him, but I don’t want to be. I just want him to hold me and tell me everything will be alright.
“Would you like to say a few words?” he asks as he holds the microphone out toward me.
I realize then that I’m staring at him. I quickly look away, taking in the small crowd that’s gathered inside the barn.
“I…thank you all for coming. This is quite a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to make it to our grand re-opening. This took a village to put together, and I want to thank everyone involved for their help. The Windsor Family Farm is a special place.” I glance at Eric. His eyes are fixed on mine. I blush. “And I’m happy to be part of it. So, thank you for coming today and I hope you’ll continue to come here every Saturday this spring and summer to enjoy our local vendors and this new incredible farmstand.”
There’s silence for a moment and then everyone claps. Kingsley yells, “Ariana, you rock!” There’s some laughing and slowly folks go about their shopping, leaving me standing in front of Eric. He turns off the microphone.
Katia looks between us. “I’m going to check this place out,” she squeaks as she steps away.
I feel like I’m in the eye of the tornado. I only see Eric standing in front of me, everything else is a whirl of activity around us.
“Can we talk?” Eric asks.
“Sure,” I reply. Eric looks me up and down.
“I can walk. I mean, not great, but let’s go to the house,” I suggest.
I watch him tighten his fists by his sides as if he’s restraining himself. He nods and leads the way. We walk inside through the office. Barry is swimming in his bowl on my desk. It’s as if I’ve never left. Everything is just as I had it when I went out that morning. A flurry of gray comes flying toward me.
“Meow! Meow! Meow!”
“Thor!” I yelp as he begins scaling my leg brace.
“Thor!” Eric growls, grabbing him. Thor’s paws try to reach for me, but Eric has him headlocked.
“I can hold him,” I protest as I struggle to hold my crutches while reaching for him.
“When you’re seated,” he answers as he pulls Thor to his chest and starts down the hall to the house.
I sigh, following him into the family room. I sit down and he places Thor in my lap. Thor gives me his “I love you” eyes and curls into a ball, his motor turns up a notch as he settles back to sleep. I stroke his back and side. Then, I peer up at Eric. I hadn’t really taken in his appearance in the barn with all the excitement. He has bags under his eyes. He looks a little thinner. Has he been sleeping?
“You never called,” I whisper as I feel tears well above my lower eyelid. I blink trying to keep them at bay. I don’t want to seem weak. But I have to know why he ghosted me.
Eric takes a big breath and sits down next to me, turning slightly to face me. “Can I tell you a story?”
I frown. “I—I guess so,” I stammer in confusion.
He nods and looks down at his hands in his lap. “I was engaged once. A long time ago,” he begins and then peers up at me. My eyes widen.
“You were?” I ask.
“Yep,” he replies, letting the “p” pop. “Her name was Victoria, Tori, and we were high school sweethearts. After college, we went hiking and backpacking in the mountains. It rained really hard that night. And we camped, waiting it out. But the camp was getting waterlogged. We decided to try to move up the mountain a little, to a safer spot.” He pauses and looks away. “It was stupid. We should have waited three more hours until sunrise. But we were young and…we didn’t think anything bad would happen if we just hiked up a little farther. We packed up and started climbing higher. We had on headlamps, but the storm was low, and we were in the clouds a bit. The path narrowed and I was sure we were at least ten feet from the edge. I was walking in front and…” He pauses as if the memory is still too painful to relive. I’ve not seen him like this. He’s always stoic, strong, protective. But the man in front of me is hurting. I’m still mad at him, but I can’t hold back. My hand darts out and grabs his, squeezing it. We both look at our hands for the longest moment. Then, slowly, he places his other big hand over mine. And just like that, my protector is back. His gaze meets mine. “It was slippery, and she fell forty feet.”
My eyes widen.
“She was so strong. She didn’t die right away. I made it down to her. Her legs were both broken and her wrist and…she’d hit her head. At first, I thought her injuries were just broken bones. But when I pulled up her shirt…she’d broken a rib and it punctured her lung. She was having trouble breathing. I managed to get a cell phone signal and I called for emergency help. We sat there talking until she lost consciousness. They got to us while she was still alive, but barely. She died on the operating table.” He’s quiet for a beat and I think that’s it, but then he speaks again.
“I’m so sorry, Ariana. I never dated again and never wanted to be in love again. I thought I was broken, and I didn’t want to hurt you.” He laughs a bitter laugh. “Kingsley is Tori’s little brother. She made me promise to take care of him. He keeps telling me to get back out there and he was pissed that I left you at the hospital.”
“Why did you? You could have at least said goodbye,” I prompt, my bottom lip trembling.
He frowns and suddenly I feel like there’s a lot more to our story than just what happened between us.