Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ezra
I pace in my small living room, phone in hand.
Me : She’s lost her trust in me. In herself. In us. But I’m going to win it back.
Phillip : Wait. I thought we weren’t there for the girl. You going for her now?
Me : Yes. You were right. I was wrong. I want the girl.
Phillip : And she’s still into you?
Me : Well, she kissed me last night.
Me : She also pushed me away and called me an idiot, but I’m still calling it a win.
Phillip : Okay… So what are you going to do?
Me : Slow and steady. That’s the plan.
Phillip : Slow and steady what?
Me : Truths. I’m going to give her my truth slowly. I’m going to get hers. I’m going to kill her with kindness despite her prickly exterior.
Phillip : Truth? I thought she was the one with secrets. She told you to leave but didn’t tell you why. Right?
Me : Yeah. But the more I learn, the less it feels like she kept secrets and more like it was a sacrificial offer. Her dad was sick. I didn't know. She never said anything because she didn't want me to stay here. Not with Mav.
My phone bounces with three thinking dots. Phil’s responding, but it’s taking him a minute.
Phillip : That changes things.
Me : It does. So, I’ve told her I’m jobless.
Phillip : What every woman wants to hear.
Me : And homeless.
Phillip : Nothing says attractive like living on the streets.
Me : And I’m going to tell her about Bre.
Phillip : I’m wishing you luck from afar. And I’ve got a couch for you if it all blows up in your face.
“Thanks, Phil.”
Opening my Amazon app, I type Harry Styles into the search bar. It’s the first thing that comes to mind. Something she loves, and while I’ve never understood why, I’ve never been bothered by it. I’ll happily embrace the obsession for her. I scroll and scroll, then add a budget friendly gold locket with Harry’s picture on the inside to my cart. I’ve already changed the address to my rental on the farm. By some miracle, Amazon tells me it’ll be here in two days.
Enough time for me to show her that I care, that I always have. Even without her confessions. I just need to show her that I’m back and I’m not going anywhere this time.
I shower, change, and put on my tennis shoes—rather than Don's boots. Those things are never touching my feet again. I am determined to beat Autumn out to the barn. We're clearing it out today, getting it ready for Dessie's shop. If things haven't changed, the field trips and families will start coming by for tours and shopping in just a couple of weeks. Tree sales usually begin at the end of October and explode the last two weeks of November.
The old red barn holds more memories than I can count. Autumn and I spent half our high school nights up in that loft wrapped in each other’s arms. We may have been kids, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t love her.
Or that I ever stopped.
That’s as clear as a summer’s day to me—now that we’re talking again.
The barn tends to accumulate a lot of things throughout the year. The back of the barn is for storage, the front for the Christmas shop and cider stand, and yet, somehow in the winter and summer months, when the shop is closed, the front section seems to accumulate a whole lot of junk that doesn’t belong there.
I’m the first one here and I’m determined to be working and easing her burden by the time Autumn makes it over to the barn. I haul a stack of shovels next to the door back to the storage room when voices inside the barn trickle back toward me. Okay, maybe I’m not that early. What time does the woman get out of bed?
“It’s a simple question,” Autumn says.
“And I gave you a simple answer,” Dessie tells her—she’s never been afraid of Autumn’s short temper.
“ Maybe is not a straightforward answer. It’s a goose chase answer. You’re giving me the run around. Just like the other night.”
Dessie huffs and I stay hidden, rooted to my spot, trying to figure out what the two are talking about.
“You didn’t ask for a straightforward answer,” Dessie says. “You asked for a simple one.”
Autumn groans—loudly. It’s easy to imagine her eyes rolling back as she stares up at the barn rafters. “Fine. Can you please give me the straightforward answer? Did you hire Ezra for this job to try and reunite us? You know, with hopes for something more?”
“Huh,” I murmur. I’d like to know that too.
“Sort of,” Dessie says, her tone nonchalant and unworried over Autumn’s wrath. That woman fears nothing. And I love her for it.
“Dessie!” Autumn wails. “That’s not straightforward. That’s just as confusing as maybe !”
“Fine, I will clear it up for you. Don ran into Ezra’s aunt—you know, from Iowa? He was out there for that convention a few months back.”
“Marilynn?” Autumn and I say at the same time.
I lift my head, listening a little more intently than I was a second ago. Sure, I should probably show myself, but I wouldn’t mind getting these answers too.
“Yes, that’s her name,” Dessie says. “We met her all those years ago when she came out for graduation. Sweet thing. I think she always wanted Ezra to go stay with her. She loves that kid.”
She did. Aunt Marilynn had offered to let me come live with her multiple times. She knew how bad things were with Mav. But by then, I had Autumn and I didn’t want to leave.
“Well, she and Don got talking. Of course, he asked about Ezra. She told him how gifted Ez is and even showed him a few of his buildings. He thought of our project.” Dessie clears her throat—audibly. “And of our Autumn. ”
“Nooo,” Autumn says, low and deep. “He didn’t.”
“Well… maybe he didn’t at first, but as soon as I brought it up, he sure did. So, see? Sort of was a very straightforward answer."
“Dessie Linus, you are officially no longer my best friend.”
“Oh pish posh, I’m more of a mama than a friend. Besides, I haven’t been your best friend since Meg Miller moved into town.”
“Well, Meg moved away and you were next in line for the job. But no more. You are no longer in the running!”
“That’s fine,” Dessie says. “I knew you regretted sending that boy away the minute you did.”
She did? I hoped. But she did . Dessie says so. Dessie’s word is like the Bible. It’s law. If Dessie says Autumn felt regret, I believe her.
“I didn’t send him away,” Autumn says. “I did what I had to do. It doesn’t matter anyway. We’ve both changed. We’re different people. He’ll go back to New York.” But her voice falters on the words. She knows I have nothing to go back to. “And I’ll stay here.”
“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Dessie says.
And I couldn’t agree more.