her. Why is she asking a question we all know the answer to? “Yes, and we all know why. I have a farm to run, a family to take care of. I promised Dad.”
She gives a slow shake of her head. “Wrong. She wasn’t the one for you, son. If you really loved her, you would have fought for her. You’re a fighter. You always have been. Look what you’ve done for our place, for your brothers…for me. You’ve had a lot of responsibility, but now it’s time you do something just for you.”
Pain breaks out behind my eye sockets. “Yeah, but Dad…”
“Your dad would be so proud of you, son. He always was, even when you were going down the wrong road.”
My throat tightens, and tears prick my eyes. I lower my head, guilt eating away at me. “I wasn’t here for him. He died because—”
“He died because he had a bad heart. Simple as that. You can’t blame yourself. No one here blames you.”
“That’s right,” Beck says, coming up behind Mom. He puts his arm around Mom’s shoulder, and Capone flaps his wings. “But if you don’t make this right with Alyson, then you are to blame. We’ll remind you of that every day.”
“Every day,” Tyler agrees, and I have no doubt the two will make my existence a miserable one. But that’s when I realize it’s already a miserable one. Without Alyson, nothing makes sense anymore. “You need to go get her,” Tyler says.
I turn to my brother. “I can’t make her come back here.”
“Then you’ll have to figure out how to live in her world,” Mom says. “You two are meant to be together. She came into your life for a reason.”
“We can take care of this place, Jay,” Mom says. “You’ve done enough. If you need to go, you need to go.”
“We got this, bro,” Tyler says, throwing his arm around me.
“Are you guys serious?”
Cluck comes running around the corner, and Capone’s wings flutter faster, his head bobbing like he’s down for the count.
“Clucky’s a douche,” he blurts out, and it eases a measure of the tension taking up space around us.
I search every set of eyes staring at me and settle on my mother’s. “What if she can’t forgive me?”
“Everyone has forgiveness in them, Jay.” She puts her hand on my cheek. “That girl loves you, and you need to go make it right.”
I nod, and when tires crunch in the distance, I search Alyson’s driveway. We closed the market down after she left and put out signs saying as much, but it’s not a wayward customer looking for produce. No, it’s Bryce Kent, and he’s here on a mission to purchase the farm. Every muscle in my body bunches.
“Like hell,” I say under my breath.
“What’s going on?” Beck asks and turns to see Bryce climbing from his car. “What’s Bryce want?”
“He wants to buy the place,” Tyler says.
“Bryce is a dick,” Capone says upon hearing the name.
“Damn right he is,” I say and head toward the man with his eye on Alyson’s property. I kick my legs out and quickly close the distance between us. He’s sporting a smug smile when I reach him, and it’s all I can do not to wipe it off—with my fist.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Jay,” he says, slowly sliding his hands into his pockets as he takes a big morning breath of fresh air. “How’s my soon-to-be neighbor?”
“I’m not your soon-to-be anything,” I say, and he frowns.
“What’s the matter with you?”
“Everything will be fine when you get off Alyson’s property.”
“Alyson’s property? Not anymore. I’ve got an offer in.” He holds his hands like he’s gripping a bat and swings his arm. “Really lowballed her.”
Anger rages inside me and grows until all I can see is red. “She’s not selling it to you for you to tear it down.”
“Why do you care what I do with it?”
“Because Alyson cares, that’s why.”
He looks beyond me, like he’s sizing the place up, and my fists clench. “She’s gone, and you should be thanking me for that.”
My heart nearly stops. “What?”
“We both needed her gone, and I helped speed things along.” He snickers, and my temper flares even more. “You’re welcome.”
“You’ve been sabotaging the place?”
“Well, not me. Young Derek Banks came to me and told me about the bet. Heard it from his father. In exchange for bringing me that information, I gave him a small fee and an even bigger one when he said he’d help me move things