Chapter 18
Lacey
The sun is just rising over the Georgia mountains. I sit at the kitchen table looking over some bills that came in yesterday afternoon, the warmth of my coffee mug in my hand, the steam hitting my nose and warming it, too.
Mrs. Mabel brought over a basket full of muffins last night; they lay on the kitchen table.
I reach for one, pulling the covering off the bottom, letting the sensation of chocolate chip hit my taste buds; for once, I am thankful I am alone because the food orgasm I currently just had would be embarrassing if someone else heard it.
Carson finally woke up a little after lunch yesterday and spent his evening working around the house, mowing, picking up pallets from feed drop-offs, and moving them to the dumpster we keep on the property.
I didn’t see Beckett for the rest of the day either; is it bad that part of me was disappointed?
My phone buzzing across the top of the table startles me.
Lexie.
I smile at the screen, seeing my friend’s name, and swipe right to answer.
“Please tell me you are heading home.” By home, I mean back here where she belongs, in Honeysuckle.
“Get ready, sister. I have a U-Haul loaded down, and I will be there in about an hour.”
My grin gets wider, thankful I will have a girlfriend around for a while.
“Let me get Carson and Briggs to come help. We will meet you at your place in an hour or less.”
“Thank you, Lace.” She sighs, and I can tell something is wrong.
“Talk to me.”
She sighs again, “Apparently leaving Maple was a good idea. Cade has already gotten him a fancy new job lined up once he graduates from the academy. He won’t be living in Maple anymore.”
I bite my lip, trying to hold back what I want to say because it is obvious she is upset over it.
“Lex, I thought you wanted to get away from him?”
“I did. I just didn’t think he could truly leave that quick. I guess being a police officer means more than anything else.”
“Well, come on home. There are plenty of new fish in the sea around here,” I tease her.
“Ha ha. You are still so comical, aren’t you?” she jokes back, and I giggle.
“Be safe, Lex. See you soon.”
“Thank you again, Lacey. I have missed you.”
“Back at ya, sister,” I tell her before we end our call.
* * *
“Is that all of it?” Carson asks while he and Briggs grab the last two things out of the back of Lexie’s U-Haul.
She arrived safely, and I made sure to be there before she arrived. I knew the moment she saw her parents’ old home place she would be emotional.
And she was.
The small two bedroom, one and a half bath, early 1980s-built home needed updating for sure.
The paint, décor, carpet, and wood paneling were still the same as I remembered it growing up when I would sleep over.
While they did upgrade an old heating and cooling system, most of the time the house was heated with a wall gas heater and the air in the summer came from window A/C units that hung in the windows.
I specifically remember cold winter mornings where Lexie and I would race to the heater to warm up before getting ready for the day.
Her parents were some of the best people I knew.
Her daddy worked at a sock mill one town over, and her mama was a stay-at-home mom for most of the time I knew her.
She always had meals cooking in the kitchen for us and was cleaning something with warm water and vinegar.
It crushed my heart when the diagnosis of her breast cancer came, and just a few years later, it took her from us all.
My mama was beside herself losing her high school best friend. Shortly after, Lexie’s father died from a broken heart. They say when you have a love like they did, there’s no fixing a heart and soul that longs for the one who makes it whole.
Lexie couldn’t take the heartbreak of being reminded of her parents in Honeysuckle, so she left. And after losing my own mama, I can’t say I blame her, even though I was upset with her for leaving at first.
Now I get it. She had to do what was best for her.
Life has a way of putting us on our ass, it’s in those moments that we truly know who loves us for ourselves and who only wants us around for their selfish ways.
Those who can see why we had to make the decisions we did for the reasons we had are people you never want to let go of. They are few and far between.
I don’t know how Lexie’s mother and my mama did all of it, but I just remember when my mama got sick, she told me to make sure I kept Lex’s parents’ place up.
She didn’t elaborate or tell me all the details, but she did make me promise that Lexie would always have a place to come home to, no matter what.
My parents were some of those people who you kept close. They understood life in ways I only hope I get to one day.
“That’s all. Thank you, guys, so much,” Lexie tells the boys with a smile.
“Anytime,” Briggs grins.
“Well, we will leave you girls to it. You going to be home for supper tonight?” Carson asks me.
I smile, “Yeah.” Turning to Lex I ask, “You want to come eat, too?”
“Sure,” she nods.
The guys head out, jumping inside Carson’s Chevy pickup, while Lexie and I start tackling unboxing all her stuff. There are not many boxes, but enough that I knew she couldn’t do it all alone.
Her phone goes off for the tenth time in a row. I notice she ignores every call.
“Everything okay?”
She shrugs, “Yeah, just a spam number.”
“Lex,” I raise an eyebrow. “Is it him?”
A tear fills her eyes, “Yeah.”
“Next time he calls, give me the phone.”
She sighs, “Lace, it’s okay, really.”
“No, it is not.”
Her phone rings again and I jerk it out of her hand, answering it.
“Listen here, bud. Quit calling this number.”
“Who is this?” a husky male voice says.
“None of your business,” I bark.
“Let me talk to Lexie.”
“Sorry, she is moving on with her life. Bye.” I hit end and hand her back her phone, “Now, block his number.”
“Thank you,” she smiles. “I wouldn’t have had the courage to do that right now.”
I pull her in for a hug. “I know and that’s okay. You don’t have to be okay right now.”
* * *
“Do you remember this?” I smile down at the picture frame I took out of one of Lexie’s boxes. We couldn’t be more than eight or nine years old and thought we were hot stuff in our tank tops and Wranglers.
Is that blue eye shadow on my eyes?
I am beyond thankful that was just a phase.
“Oh my gosh. That night was so fun. We were going to the Honeysuckle rodeo, weren’t we?”
I laugh. “Carson and Beckett were both riding bulls that night. We went with mom and dad to support them.”
“How is that going?” Lexie eyes me. “Beckett being on the ranch and all.”
I sigh. “I don’t know if Carson realizes he is staying in the cottage yet or not. I am trying to understand what my mama meant by ‘I could handle this.’ I don’t think I can.”
“Yes, you can.” Lexie sits beside me, both of us looking at the picture of our younger selves on the floor of her living room.
“You are one of the strongest people I know, Lace. I have watched you break horse after horse and smile while doing it.” She grins at me.
“And your mama is right. A couple of cowboys are nothing compared to the yearlings you’ve wrangled over the years. ”
“I think they might really kill each other.” I wince at the thought. “You know they both have tempers.”
“Honestly, what cowboy doesn’t? It’s hard-wired in.”
That pulls a giggle from me. “Lord knows my daddy had one.”
“I think it’s because most men don’t know how to process their own emotions. They care; it just comes out as anger.”
“Look at you sounding like a therapist,” I wink at her. “Where do you want this picture to sit?”
She looks around the room a few times before grabbing it out of my hand and running to the built-ins beside the mantle. “Here, so I can see it every day and laugh.”
“God, why did we like blue eyeshadow? And why on earth did my mother let us leave the house wearing it?”
Lexie reaches inside another box, pulling out more pictures and setting them along the mantle, her smile widening with each one.