Chapter 12
Lacey
“Lacey. Oh my God. Why did you not tell me this earlier!” Lexie’s eyes are wide, and her hand is over her mouth.
“I just didn’t want to put my bad news on you when it is the first time I have seen you in a while.”
“Bullshit. You are never putting anything on me. Please tell me how you are going to deal with this.”
I pass her the envelope my mama left. “Read it.”
She eyes the letter and looks back at me curiously before opening it, holding the hand-written note firmly in her hands.
Tears slip down her cheeks with each line she reads, “Oh, Lace. She is right, if anyone can do this, it is you.”
“Don’t tell anyone about this. It stays between us.”
She smiles, “I swear I hope I never get Alzheimer’s one day because we are screwed with all the secrets we have kept over the years.”
We both fall into each other laughing. The kind of feeling swells in my chest that gives you aura points and adds years to your life.
“Do you like your job at Magnolia Farm?” I ask changing the subject.
She shrugs, “I was working at a diner for a while; that is where I met Alyssa. But when she moved in with Collin, and they got married, she and Collin offered me a job at the farm so Cade and I could always be around them. She knew I had past experiences around horses, so I fit right in on the farm.”
She pauses and sighs. “It was fun at first. But now that I am there and always around him when he comes over, it sucks. I am thankful he has been gone the past month so he doesn’t just pop in and show himself just because he can.”
“When is he coming back from the academy?”
She looks at her phone checking the date. “This coming weekend.”
“Why don’t you move home?”
Her eyes look at me confused, “What do you mean?”
“Come home, Lexie. I just lost my mama, and you just got out of a relationship. Sounds like we both need each other.”
Her eyes glisten with unsaid thoughts, uncertainty, and maybe a little hope. “I don’t know, Lace. I have been gone for so long. None of my family around here is alive anymore.”
“I am,” I grin. “And Mama and Daddy always thought of you as family.”
“I would need to go back and get all my things.” And she looks mortified for a minute. “And Alyssa would die. Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I could.”
“You did say things have changed since she became a mom. Right now, she is in a season of being a mom and keeping a home. She has to put herself first. Why can you not do the same?”
Tears glisten in her eyes. “You’re right.”
“Damn right I am,” I smirk back at her.
“I could go back, talk with them, pack all my things, and be back before the weekend, before Cade gets back?”
I shake my head, “Dang right you could.”
“I still own mom and dad’s old place they left me in the will. Gosh, I haven’t been there in years. I bet it is all grown up and disgusting”
“Nope. It gets cut every two weeks and we have a housekeeper that goes and cleans it once a month.” I smile at her.
It was all my mother’s doing. She always said when Lexie came back home after trying to make something of herself, she needed it to be ready for her.
“Lacey.” Lexie’s tears are following down her cheeks, “How?”
I shrug, “I don’t really know the logistics of it. I just know Mama told me, when she got sick, that if anything happened to her, I was to keep it up for you. Apparently, she and your mama had this all planned out before your parents passed.”
“Oh, how I miss them all.” She grabs her t-shirt, pulling it up to wipe her tears.
“We were blessed with some great parents.” I smile grabbing her by the shoulders and hugging her.
“Lace,” she whispers.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
And for the first time since she arrived, we both are a little more relaxed as the tension in our bodies melts away, knowing we have one another to lean on through whatever life throws our way.