Chapter 34 Clarke
Clarke
It took me a few seconds to pick my jaw up off the floor. Right when I did, both Leith and I pulled Lainey into a hug.
“T-that’s correct,” Ron stammered out.
“Holy shit,” Leith said.
“Holy shit,” I agreed.
“Well, there you have it,” Cam said. “I think we’re done here.”
“One more thing,” Leith said and turned toward Ron. “You’re so fired. And, according to Cam, lucky as hell that I’m not going to sue the shit out of you for malpractice. You will transfer all documents, files—anything and everything—having to do with Wilkes Farm to Cam Tucker.”
If I didn’t think Leith was the hottest man alive before today, the past ten minutes would’ve rocketed him straight to the top. I was trying not to fan myself.
“With haste,” Cam said.
“Leith, we can work this out,” Ron said, and Leith shook his head. Flynn’s chair screeched on the hardwood floor as he pushed it back from Ron’s desk.
“Fuck all of you,” he said, and then he started toward Leith, fixing to get right in his face. Leith used his arm to push both Lainey and me behind him. I put my arms around Lainey, and she held on to me.
I was so proud of her right now. She was so brave. And so goddamn smart.
“You really want to try me, old man?” Leith said to Flynn in a deadly whisper. “Do it. See what happens.”
Flynn looked so angry I thought he might combust. Personally, I’d love to see it. It felt like all of us were collectively holding our breath—waiting to see what Flynn was going to do.
He grunted and gave Lainey a menacing look as he walked toward the office door.
Right before he opened it, Chewing Gum girl—Oakley, I mean—appeared next to it, opening it with force. The door whacked him in the face with a resounding crack. I had to slap my hand over my mouth to stifle my laugh.
“Fuck!” Flynn shouted. He brought his hands up to cover his nose, which was now leaking blood. “Fuck all of you!” was the last thing he yelled before he walked out the door, and with any luck, out of all our lives.
Thank you, I mouthed to Oakley. I guess the ghosts weren’t so bad, after all.
Once Flynn was out of sight, Leith looked back to Ron. “Don’t you ever try to mess with my family again, Ron, or I swear you’ll regret it.”
Ron swallowed hard.
“Ladies…” Leith looked at Cam, Lainey, and me. “Shall we?”
The three of us nodded, and the four of us walked out of that office feeling like we were on top of the world.
As soon as the door closed behind us, I hugged Cam and Lainey. Leith picked me up and twirled me around.
“You’d make a hell of a lawyer, Lainey,” Cam said.
“Thank you,” Lainey said—bashful. “But I’m going to be a farmer.” At that, Leith pulled her under his arm and kissed the top of her head.
“Another field where women are woefully underrepresented,” Cam said. “I have no doubt you’ll be the best farmer this town has ever seen.”
“Agreed,” Leith and I said at the same time.
“But we are going to talk about you breaking into my house, stealing important documents, and not telling me you knew what was going on,” Leith said.
“I’m sorry,” Lainey said, looking at her boots. “I just wanted to help.”
“And you did,” Leith said. “And I’m so proud of you, I could burst. How should we celebrate?”
After my conversation with Leith this morning and knowing how tangled up all his feelings were about his dad, I realized I’d been putting something off for too long. Leith had climbed his mountain today; it was time for me to climb mine.
“There’s actually something I need to do,” I said, and Leith tilted his head. “But celebrate enough for me too.”
“Okay…” Leith said. “Cam, my truck is there—I’ll give you a ride.” Both Cam and Lainey took the hint and retreated to their respective vehicles. “Are you okay?” he asked me when they’d gone.
“I’m perfect,” I said. “There’s just someone I need to talk to, but I’ll meet up with you later?”
“Sure,” he said.
“Did…did you mean what you said in there? About loving me?”
Leith smiled and kissed me. “I meant it,” he said. “And I want to talk about what it means.”
“Let me take care of this first, okay?”
“You got it, honey.” He kissed me again. “See you soon.”
* * *
The orange glow that came from my parents’ house seemed to warm me up as soon as I saw it. The Buick was in the driveway, which meant my sister was here too. Good.
“Hey, it’s me,” I called as I opened the door.
“We’re in here, peanut,” my dad called from the living room.
“Your sister is subjecting us to Freddy Krueger again,” my mom said. She was mostly covering her eyes from the movie playing on the small TV.
“You guys said it was my choice!” Collins said.
“And we immediately regretted it,” my dad joked. “How are you, peanut? Collins said you had a busy day. We didn’t know if you’d be around.”
“It was busy.” I sighed. “Olly, can we pause the movie for like two seconds?” My sister immediately hit pause on the remote. “I have something to say—mostly to Mom, but also to everyone, I guess.” I stood quietly for a moment then began.
“Mom, I’m sorry I’ve been such a brat to you over the past couple of months.
I was frustrated after everything happened with the shop.
It felt like you didn’t trust me to take it on—that you didn’t want me to take on Toades.
And yeah, I started off being angry at you, but I think then that changed and morphed into anger at myself—at insecurity.
I didn’t feel good enough, and that’s been eating away at me for months in so many ways, and I’m just…
I’m tired of being angry and sad and feeling alone.
” Tears welled up in my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Mom. ”
Joanie immediately stood from her spot on the couch. “Oh, baby,” she said. “I owe you an apology too. It just seemed…easier for me to try and give you your space instead of talking this out. I guess I was kind of hoping it would go away.”
“Me too.” I sniffled. “But it didn’t.”
“Because both of us are too stubborn and too in our own head to let it,” my mom said. “But let’s let it go now, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Together,” my mom said, squeezing me tight. “Cleansing breath,” she said. “One…two…three.” We breathed in together, held for two seconds, and then released it. This was how my mom approached conflict resolution. I pretended I thought it was too woo-woo, but I secretly loved it.
I pulled back, and Joanie wiped the tears out of my eyes. “Come. Sit. Watch with us,” she said.
“I have just a little bit more to say,” I said.
“Leith Wilkes and I have been fake dating for the past two and a half months to save Wilkes Farm from being sold to Sullivan Industries. That’s why he’s been helping me at Toades.
And we got fake engaged, and that’s why I’ve been avoiding you.
But we saved the farm without needing to get married, so everything’s good. ”
Both of my parents were looking at me like I’d grown a second head and a tentacle. Collins snorted a laugh.
“Okay,” my dad said after a few beats. “Both of you need to start talking.”
“Ugh,” Collins lamented. “We’re never going to finish this movie.”