Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Shelby
The Losing Kind
The introvert in her was feeling overstimulated, and her fingers inched to get to her laptop and write. But Wes didn’t seem to mind her quietness on the drive back to town. He just turned off his truck after pulling into Pops’s driveway, parking out front.
“Shelby, I know you aren’t in town for me, and you’re not sure how long you’re staying. But I really want to see you again and spend as much time as possible together while you’re here,” Wes said. He reached out and lifted her hand up off her lap and threaded his fingers with hers.
“I feel like I have to remind myself I’m here to help Pops and look after him. My dad basically threatened to put him in a home, so I need to make sure everything he needs is well managed.”
“I understand. We actually hired someone to look in on my gran a few years back, and now we have a nursing student who works part-time for us. I could ask if she knows anyone else looking for a similar setup.”
“That’s a great idea. Thank you. Being back in this town is good and bad.”
“If you want to talk about it I’m here.”
She just nodded. “I better go check on Pops.”
“I’ll walk you to the door.”
Before she could tell him he didn’t need to, he was out of the truck and rounding the front to open her door. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much at how sweet and chivalrous her high school crush was.
“Your mama really raised you right,” she teased as he opened her door. Then looped her arms up around his neck, practically begging to be kissed.
He enveloped her in his arms and leaned down. “Guess she didn’t count on my date being so eager for a goodnight kiss.” His mouth met hers in the sweetest peppering of kisses that he trailed over her cheeks, her eyes, and down to her neck.
“I would invite you in, but I think Pops would feel like a third wheel.”
“Can I see you tomorrow? I could cook something on the grill for you and Pops?”
“Okay, I guess if we’re doing this then Pops should be the first one to know.”
He squeezed her close, lifting her feet off the ground. It was dusk but the house sat in shadows.
“That’s odd. Pops usually puts the porch lights on every night at dusk. It’s one of his little rituals,” she said, unease settling in her stomach.
“Maybe he was giving us some privacy,” Wes said, taking her hand and walking her up the path.
She fumbled for her keys in her bag. “Thank you for today—it was amazing.”
“I’ll just wait here while you make sure everything’s okay.”
She nodded and opened the front door, hitting the entry lights. The house was quiet, and dark. She should have thought to leave more lights on.
“Pops?” she called out, but there was no response.
She moved to the kitchen but it was empty.
She heard the front door close and found Wes standing in the foyer with concern etched on his face.
Then she dropped her bag and walked through the sitting room back to Pops’s library.
Her heart pounded as she rounded the doorway.
A cry escaped when she found Pops, hunched over in his favorite chair, his book open in his lap. Then Wesley was there moving past her into the room. He checked Pops’s pulse, then turned to her.
“I’m so sorry, Shelby.” He pulled her into his arms and out of the room, and all she could do was sob.
“We didn’t have enough time together,” she cried, and Wesley held her.
*
Sitting in Pops’s kitchen with a cold cup of tea, Shelby could hardly stand to blink her swollen eyes.
It felt like she had sand under her lids but not even the tears helped.
She was exhausted and just wanted to crawl in her bed and sleep, then maybe when she woke up this would all be just a bad dream.
But the sound of her father’s voice forced her to stand up.
Even though he spoke low she heard Wesley tell her father the coroner was taking Pops’s body away. And fresh tears pricked her eyes.
When she stepped into the foyer, she expected to find her dad distraught, but he stood stone-faced. “I’ll be interested to hear what he died from,” her father said. “It was your brother who saw him last. He probably missed something.”
“Dad, Pops was eighty-two years old. He died in his sleep,” Shelby said.
“We’ll see. Why don’t you pack your things and you can come stay with your mother and I.”
“Why now?”
“So you’re not alone here,” her father said, looking at her with skepticism instead of compassion.
“I live alone in Atlanta and I’m too exhausted to move my things.”
“Were you here?”
“No, I was out. When I came home around dusk, I found him, in his favorite chair in the library.”
“So much for keeping your eye on him. I told you we should have moved him to a home. He would have had twenty-four-hour nursing staff at his fingertips.”
“Are you saying it’s my fault Pops died?” Her stomach twisted in knots.
“I’m saying you should have been here like you said you were going to be.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“Mr. Shepherd, I know this is a shock but it’s not Shelby’s fault. The coroner said your father likely suffered a mild heart attack and died in his sleep.”
“I don’t need your second-hand medical assessments, Hart. You can leave. This is a family issue.”
Wesley looked to Shelby. Did she want him to stay?
“Dad, I think you’re the one who should leave.”
Her dad took another step inside. “Why, so you can pilfer all your grandfather’s valuables? I don’t think so. This is my father’s home. I need you to find another place to stay until the reading of the will, Shelby. As I’ve said, you’re welcome to stay with your mother and I.”
“What the hell?” She couldn’t stop the tears from falling. “First you accuse me of causing Pops’s death, and then of being a thief? And you think I’d step one foot in your house? You ignored him for decades, treated him like a nuisance. And now you think you’re in charge?”
Her father’s face turned bright red. “How dare you speak to me this way.”
“Maybe you should both vacate the premises until we can determine who is the next of kin named by Mr. Shepherd,” Wesley said, stepping between them.
“Fine, but I’m not leaving until you pack your things, Shelby. We all know you’re not exactly financially solvent as a waitress.”
Shelby straightened her spine. “I’m actually a very successful author, Dad.
If you had ever bothered to ask me about my life, or my little writing hobby as you called it, you would know that.
I don’t need your charity or Pops’s money.
I assure you sitting at number one on every book list for a year earns a pretty penny.
But I’ll pack my things and call my lawyer.
” She didn’t stay for her dad’s reaction and stomped off down the hallway to the room where she’d been staying.
She couldn’t look in the library; she knew she wouldn’t find Pops there ever again.
Now the only reason she had to stay in town was gone, and her father’s cold treatment was proof her family wasn’t going to want her around.
Which was worse than being ignored. By the time she packed her things, Wes and her dad were waiting outside.
Her father was in his car, but Wes stood near his truck typing on his work computer.
She locked up Pops’s front door and hauled her bags to her truck, but Wes was there to help her.
“Come to my house. You’ve had a long day, and you need to get some sleep.”
“I think I should just go back to Atlanta.”
“Maybe, but you need to get some sleep first. Decide in the morning.”
She nodded. “He’s just going to come back here once we drive off.”
“I have a deputy at the end of the driveway to keep watch. You can speak to Pops’s attorney first thing in the morning.”
“I don’t even know who that would be.”
“It’ll be Declan Shaw if I had to guess, and if not, he can help you figure it out.”
“Your best friend from high school?”
“Yep, he’s a family attorney. I’m pretty sure he did house calls so Pops wouldn’t have to drive into town.”
“Oh. I really should have come home sooner to help him.”
“Don’t do that.” Wesley reached for her, but she opened her car door instead.
“If he sees us together now it’ll only make things worse for you.”
Wesley sighed. “Fine, follow me to my place?”
She nodded, closed her door, and immediately put her truck in reverse.
Leaving Pops under these circumstances felt like exactly why she avoided coming home.
Her own father was so worried about his inheritance that he would forfeit any small chance left for them to have a relationship.
Fatigue made her body feel twitchy and her shoulders slumped forward as she waited for Wes to pull his SUV out of the driveway.
After a day of riding horses she just needed sleep.
But if she was leaving town tomorrow, tonight would be her last night with Wes.
She followed his taillights to his industrial-style building and parked next to his SUV.
He appeared at her driver’s side door as she turned the engine off and when she stepped out, she walked right into his waiting arms. Wes enveloped her with a warm hug, his strength protecting her, comforting her from all the hurt.
She could feel him kiss her head and she gripped him closer.
Walking away from him would be the hardest part of leaving town, but she would have to. There was no place here for her.