Chapter 2
She enjoyed a great many hobbies outside of her working hours, but by far, her favorite pastime was getting back to her small apartment in the heart of the city.
It wasn’t much, but it was hers. Veronica took great satisfaction in knowing that everything she had, save for the pickup truck she was driving, she had worked for and earned on her own.
She had tried a half dozen times before leaving Colorado to pay her brother, Nick, for his old pickup, but he had insisted on gifting it to her on her eighteenth birthday.
It had been one of the first vehicles that had gotten her interested in mechanics.
Nick had always been a role model to her, encouraging her to follow her passion and dreams even when her parents were adamantly against it.
That had always been Nick’s way; he never fell short in the support department.
Her parents, on the other hand, often struggled to see things from their children’s point of view.
Despite how she tried to make them proud, she could never fit into the box they wanted her to.
Often, as a child and later as a teen, Veronica had questioned if her parents wanted her around at all.
Her brothers had made sticking it out until her birthday worth it.
She missed them dearly, though she spoke to Bryson on a daily basis and to Nick at least once a week.
Service in their rural community could be shoddy at times.
Whenever they called, no matter the time or the project she was working on, Veronica always answered.
As if her brother sensed she was missing him, Veronica’s phone started to ring.
She smiled when she saw Bryson’s name appear on the screen.
“Hey, Bryson. I’m kinda surprised to see your call,” Veronica said. “I was just sitting here, thinking about you.”
“It must be your sixth since kicking in. It could be a sign it’s time to come back home.”
Veronica laughed. “You know as well as I do that is never going to happen. I love it out here. Is everything all right?”
Bryson chuckled. “Everything is going just fine so far. I was just giving you a call to see if you received the invitation to our parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary. Everyone is looking forward to seeing you.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I just got it in the mail.”
“I’m guessing by the reaction you just gave me that you’re not going to be able to make it. You know how much we would all like to have you come out for a visit.”
“I know, but I just don’t think it’s going to be possible. I have quite a bit going on here, but I haven’t made the decision yet.”
Instantly, the line fell silent. Veronica knew it broke her brother’s heart to know she wasn’t going to come back to Colorado for the celebration.
They both knew if she did, it would just end up in a huge argument between her parents and herself.
They had never seen eye to eye, and no amount of time was going to change that.
As her apartment came into view, Veronica tried to turn the conversation back around.
Just because she didn’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of people from her past, it didn’t mean she didn’t adore her brother.
They would find a way to work through it.
“You’re pretty quiet over there. Are you even still on the line? You should have already known my answer was going to be no.”
Bryson sighed. “I’m still here. I was just really hoping you would make it back from the party and anniversary. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but it would be even better if you were here. I can’t tell you how much I miss you.”
“I miss you, too, kiddo. I would do just about anything for you, but you know better than to hope for something like that. If it makes you feel any better, I should be getting a really good bonus in a couple of weeks. I was planning on using part of it to fly you and Nick out to California to see me for about a week or so.”
Bryson chuckled. “If both of us were to fly out to California for even just a week, who in the world is going to take care of the property around here?”
“I don’t even understand why that’s part of the thought process in making the decision to come out here.
You know our parents have always had staff ready to fill in whenever they leave.
What’s the difference if they use those people to take care of things while the two of you do something you want to do? ”
“I know, but I can’t stand the idea of leaving them shorthanded and having to pay for other people to take care of things when they have us.”
Veronica chuckled. “I’m sure they will be just fine if the two of you want to leave. They’ve been doing it long enough that I think they will be able to manage on their own.”
Her father had always been a decent man, though he always defaulted to his wife when it came to the raising of his daughter.
She had grown to despise him over the years, wishing he would take her hunting, fishing, or out on an adventure like he often did with his sons.
Their mother had quickly shut down any ideas he might have offered when it came to Veronica.
She had a role to play within the family, and it wasn’t the same as the boys.
That heartbreaking and backward truth still haunted her years later.
She was still struggling to overcome the generational curses that haunted her family.
In the tight-knit community that their family homestead was located within, everyone conformed to the same ideals.
There was no venturing away from the political, spiritual, and scripturally sound path that had been laid out within Dodger Run.
Veronica had walked away from it all, leaving behind her inheritance as well, for a chance at independence and a road carved on her own.
“It’s completely different now than it used to be. Both of them have been trying to scale everything back in preparation for their retirement. They’ve been trying to save money and cut corners in any way they can.”
She chuckled. “Just thinking about them retiring is hilarious. Which one of our parents is putting you up to trying to guilt me into coming back? I know this can’t be coming from you.”
Even though she made it as a joke, the other end of the line went completely silent. Veronica waited a moment before she said anything else, but after a few seconds of her brother not saying anything in response, she cleared her throat.
“It’s Dad, isn’t it? He’s the one trying to get you to trick me into coming back home.”
“Of course, it’s not. Dad wouldn’t try to pull anything like that, and you know it. I just really wish you would come back.”
“I’m sure you all do, but I don’t see any chance of that happening soon. I like my job in California, and I certainly don’t plan on coming back.”
“There has to be something we can do to get you to come home. Everyone here misses you and would love to see you.”
“Well, if it’s not Dad putting you up to this, then it has to be Mom. It’s been good talking to you, but put Mom on the phone,” Veronica demanded.
She listened as her brother stepped away from the phone, arguing with a woman in the background she knew was her mother.
There was no question in her mind that Mauve Edwards was the reason her brother was calling and acting so strange.
It made perfect sense now that she knew her mother was behind it.
The woman was obviously trying to manipulate her daughter into returning home, be it through guilt or through one of her siblings, who Mauve knew Veronica adored.
As she brought the truck to a halt in her designated parking spot and killed the engine, Veronica saw her hands trembling with rage.
It was the type of manipulation she had fled from four years ago.
She wasn’t about to let it back in now. Veronica had to remind herself that there were hundreds of miles between herself and her mother.
The childhood trauma and fear remained. She wouldn’t allow herself to be bullied by the woman, or anyone else for that matter.
Veronica wasn’t the scared little girl of her youth anymore.
It would do Mauve well to remember that.