Nash Brothers Box Set - Carrie Aarons Page 0,52

For starters, I want to retire. Goddammit, I’m old. My bones ache and my back hurts from standing all day. I’ve already lost my partner, but I think I could still sit in a rocking chair sipping lemonade.”

My heart thuds against my chest. “What is going to happen to the store then?”

“Do you want it?” Her question was point-blank.

This was it. Stay or go. She was asking, and I’d avoided answering it myself for two months.

“I … I’m not sure.” I was sure, but I wasn’t.

This was all too fast. Was my life goal to go into owning a post office slash bookshop? Sure, I didn’t mind working here, but forever? I’d barely come to grips with the fact that I wanted to stay in Fawn Hill, let alone run my family’s shop all on my own.

“Well, maybe someone else can take over this shop.” Grandma looks at me from over her glasses.

I stop stacking certain size envelopes on the shelf behind the counter. “What do you mean? This store has been in our family for decades.”

“And now this old bird can’t hack it anymore and maybe my family needs a new start.” She clucks her tongue at me.

“What are you talking about, Grandma? You want to sell the store?” I’m thoroughly confused.

She sets the book back on the shelf. “You don’t want to run this shop. We both know it. This isn’t about staying in Fawn Hill, because even though you haven’t said the words out loud, we both know you’re staying here. But this shop isn’t for you … and that’s okay. You’ve gotten that fresh start. Look how amazing your yoga classes are going. You’ve been running them for the past two months, and they’re only growing. Hell, you have women from surrounding towns coming out to take a class from you. I think it’s time you put your money where your downward dog is.”

“Grandma!” My laugh is hysterical. “Where did you learn that phrase?”

She shrugs. “I listen to you sometimes when you’re planning your classes.”

“So what are you saying? I should start my own studio?”

The idea strikes a chord so deep in me that it vibrates through my entire body. It felt so … right.

Grandma nods. “And you have your first investor right here. I’m going to put this place on the market tomorrow, how about that for a decision?”

“Grandma … I can’t ask you to do that …” My skin crawls with anxiety.

She places her hand on my cheek and scoops it under my chin, tilting my head so that I’m looking directly into her wise, cloudy eyes.

“All your life, you’ve taken a back seat to other people’s successes. Somewhere along the way, someone told you that you weren’t good enough, and you believed it. In my time of need, you uprooted your whole life to come help me. And you’ve done it without complaint, you’ve not pushed me or taken advantage. Your nature is sweet and your spine is steel, and I know that I’m backing a truly good horse when I say I want to invest in you. I want to invest in making your dreams finally come true. No more taking the back seat, kid. You get to drive.”

Tears spill onto my cheeks, but not at her offer to fund my dreams. She’s right about it all but truly right about her first statement. I have always been told I was never enough. Even if it wasn’t those exact words, the actions and neglect of those around me cemented that idea to my soul.

The fact that Grandma is so sure of me, proud of me, and willing to help me reach a goal I didn’t even realize burned so passionately in me until this very moment?

It was the only thing I’d ever asked for coming true.

28

Keaton

Seeing the for sale sign in front of the home my father built for my mother was somewhat surreal.

Having Presley here to see it, and to meet my mother as my official girlfriend for the first time, felt even more like I was living in a fantasy world.

“Mom?” I called as we walked in.

The house looked … different. Where the overstuffed furniture and farmhouse charm had once existed, were now clean lines and the scent of a sterile, model home. Anyone who lived in Fawn Hill would walk in here and know that this was the Nash home, but it no longer held traces of little boy’s school pictures lining every available surface or the advent calendar