Serves Me Wright (Wright #9) - K.A. Linde Page 0,67
put this behind me for a day. For her, I could do it.
We arrived back in Lubbock late that night. I had Jennifer stay at my place, but when I went into work, she headed home to check on the cats—Avocado was still avoiding her—and to begin work on the wedding edits.
Hollin, Alejandra, and Nora were already on-site when I arrived at the winery. Jordan’s truck was also in the parking lot, which meant we were going to deal with this bright and early. If he wasn’t at Wright Construction working on the soccer complex, then this was serious.
My stomach tightened. I’d been doing a good job at avoiding the topic. I’d reread Weston’s email a couple times. I had become more and more skeptical, the more times I read it. What were the fucking chances that this was even true? And did I want to get to know this guy if it was? It was a lot of unanswerable questions. I just wanted to run my vineyard, be with my girlfriend, and not have to deal with more shit because of my dad.
“Julian!” Nora said as I stepped inside. “I’m so glad you’re here. You look tan!”
“Thanks. I was in Cabo this weekend.”
“Jealous! Sounds amazing. So, I sent you the final information for the Wright Construction party. Morgan had pinged me, and I’d worked on it all weekend. It’s coming up quick. I need you to sign off on it, and then I can work with her directly about the party.”
“Sure. Not a problem. Has Hollin looked at this?”
“He said to talk to you,” she said with an eye roll.
I snorted. “Of course he did.”
“He and Alejandra are working on the tour schedule this week. He said something about hiring some new people.”
“Great,” I muttered. I only had half a brain to deal with this, but I gave her a reassuring smile. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Will do. Are you going to be back this weekend for the game? Because I have to admit that your replacement was not the best.”
“Sorry about that. Who did you get?”
She laughed. “Annie brought in Chase Sinclair.”
I nearly choked. “What? Seriously? And Jordan didn’t blow a fuse?”
“I did not,” Jordan said, appearing by us. “They’re friends. Just friends.”
Chase and Annie had been a heck of a lot more than friends for a long time. But if Jordan trusted them, then who was I to judge?
“But he sucked?”
Jordan grinned. “He did. That part was satisfying.”
“We lost,” Nora grumbled. “Even Blaire and August didn’t make up for it.”
She beamed when she mentioned her boyfriend. They’d been dating seriously for three years now. He was a pretty good forward, if he didn’t ball hog like Hollin did as a defender.
“I’ll be back this weekend.”
“Thank God,” she said. Then she smiled and traipsed away. Little pixie actually skipped, her long ponytail swaying as she went back to work.
“So,” Jordan said, “should we go see Mom?”
“I’m really behind on work.”
“You think this should wait?”
No, I didn’t really think so, but I’d hoped.
“All right,” I said with a nod.
I found Hollin and told him I’d be out until lunch. He didn’t seem happy about it, but I couldn’t tell him the real reason. Not without a conversation I didn’t want to have.
Jordan and I piled into his truck, and we headed north to our mom’s house.
She opened the front door with a wide smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure? Both my boys home at one time.”
We followed her inside. Jordan shot me a look, and I gestured to him. He was the one who always took point. Except at the vineyard, where I was now the point man, and I still found that strange.
“We actually need to talk to you,” Jordan said.
My mom sighed and offered us seats. “You can always talk to me. What’s this about?”
I sat on the couch while Jordan remained standing. I looked at my mom with a frown. We’d just barged in here, but I hadn’t heard from her about her chemo treatments. When I asked, she’d blow me off. As if I hadn’t given up my career be there with her through all of them in the past. She continued to stress that everything was going fine.
Except she didn’t look fine. She looked fragile. Her head was covered by a head scarf. Her skin sagged. Some of her glow was gone. Even with her vibrant smile. I wondered if maybe we shouldn’t do this to her.