Page 14 of As It Was (Strawberry Springs #1)

CAIN

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Kerry Winsor

Has anyone heard about the house sharing situation on Bennie Grove Farm? I bet the drama is to die for.

Comments:

Kerry Winsor : @Jackie Anne you have to know something.

Jackie Anne : Nope. Nothing.

Kerry Winsor : Oh, come on. You can’t hand me something like this and not expect me to ask! I bet the fights are legendary!

Nicole Rudder : They better not be. There’s a kid in that house.

The next morning, I woke up with the feeling of regret sitting on my chest. I didn’t know why I had gone out there to talk to her. I didn’t know why she’d responded to a word I’d said. But it was nice talking to an adult that didn’t have a hand in raising me.

And nice didn’t usually stick around.

She’d disappeared while I explained what had happened with Waldren to Eric, and I’d been grateful.

I would never lie to him, but telling him who the man claimed to be and why he was there was hard.

I knew he was aware that I wasn’t his biological dad on a base level, but hearing about the man who claimed to be was different.

In another world, if Waldren hadn’t demanded to take him, I might have worked with him. I would love for Eric to have more family. But the way he’d spoken about Olivia, and to Mollie, had told me what kind of person he was. And I’d be damned if that kind of man set foot anywhere near Eric.

He had stuck close until he went to bed. When he was finally ready to fall asleep, he’d insisted that I sit in his room on his too-small bed until he was out.

I’d scheduled a DNA test with the state out of an abundance of caution, so we would do that as soon as possible. Then I’d gotten up.

And that was when I had found Mollie outside.

Now, I wasn’t sure what to think about things between us. Twenty-four hours ago, she was the bane of my existence, but now Waldren was.

When I got up to check on the animals, she wasn’t waiting for me. I got peace and quiet as I did my normal routine. She was nowhere to be found when I made Eric breakfast. Her car was still outside, but she had seemingly vanished from my life.

I should have been relieved, but I needed to know if we still hated each other or not. I wasn’t sure why, but I did.

By the time I had gotten Eric to school, I’d thought way too much about the woman sharing my house with me. The only distraction I had was when he looked at me as he fidgeted with his shirt and asked me to walk him in.

There was no way I was saying no to that face, no matter how miserable it made me.

“Mr. Smith,” Nicole started. “I was hoping to see you.”

“You were?”

She nodded, but there wasn’t a smile on her face like there was with other parents. “I heard about your houseguest—” Son of a bitch. “And I’m concerned it’s going to affect Eric at home.”

“Mollie has nothing to do with Eric.”

“But do you and her argue? Conflict at home can stunt a child’s growth.”

“It’s not gonna,” I said firmly.

“I know you have to be unhappy about this situation, and we all know how you can be when you’re unhappy. How can I trust you to make good decisions when you live with a person you don’t like? It didn’t go well the first time.”

I gritted my teeth. She wasn’t wrong that I hadn’t handled it well in the past, but I was a grown man now. A changed man. Someone who could take a comment like that and not get defensive. Besides, Eric already had issues with Waldren coming into his life. He didn’t need to see mine with Mollie too.

“Mollie and Eric get along great, actually,” I said in a low voice. “So she won’t be a problem for him. As far as what she and I have issues with ... We’ll just have to discuss that when he’s not around.”

Nicole’s eyebrows rose as if she were surprised I’d agreed to anything she’d said. “I’m glad you see it that way, Mr. Smith.”

I nodded and walked out of the room without another word, more than ready to get into the truck.

But then I heard heels clicking, and a far-too-familiar voice called, “Cain, wait up!”

Shit. Kerry. It was tempting to keep walking .

“Yes?” I asked.

She stopped in front of me. “Why do you walk so fast?”

Because I don’t wanna be here. Besides, Mollie had no issues keeping up with me. “Because I’m walking all the time. What do you need?”

“I heard what you said to Nicole. Very good parenting.” Was that a compliment, or was that her talking down to me? Probably the latter. “But is it really bad with Mollie? I heard she was super sweet.”

Now I knew what this was for. She wanted information. “Things are fine.”

“Are they? I know how you are, Cain. You can’t love having someone come into your house.”

I only shrugged, and her frown grew.

“But still. How does it work? What room is she staying in? Is she as nice as she sounds? Are you trying to be nice to her?”

I blinked at the barrage of questions, surprised she was being so bold. Most of the time, people didn’t have the balls to ask me things directly. But Jackie wouldn’t talk, at least not about things that were deeply affecting me, which must have made me the last option.

“I’ll let her tell you all of that if she wants to.”

Kerry sighed. “Why are you such a locked book? It’s so hard to crack you.”

And it would stay that way. I wasn’t interested in overhearing anything else about myself, and if I could put a pin in it by not telling everyone my business, then that was what I would do.

“I’m just quiet.” It was the best answer I could give her.

I could tell she didn’t love it. But she didn’t stop me when I tried to walk away again, and I let out a sigh of relief when I got to the car. I was glad I could walk Eric to his classroom, but I hated every second of interaction thereafter .

It was going to be a long school year.

When I got back to the farm, Mollie was still nowhere to be found. I did more of my work in complete silence. It was nice, but I felt like I was on edge.

It was midday when I finished. I walked into the house to find her finally out of her room. She was on her laptop, looking at the screen closely. Her lips formed a pout as she typed.

“I thought you were gonna learn everything I do,” I said when I walked in.

“You get a break from that. Work has my attention.”

I frowned. “The farm is work.”

“No, I know. But I also work for my dad in real estate. Apparently, there was something urgent that needed my attention.”

“Urgent like a tornado?”

She laughed. “No. Just a can of worms I opened. It’s an email thing.”

“What email could be so important?”

“You know, I’m not sure.” She sighed, but her eyes didn’t move. “I still have to do this, though.”

I didn’t know how people could go into an office every day and work the daylight away. That kind of routine had to be miserable, and I wondered if she enjoyed it or hated it like I would.

Then I shook off the thought. I didn’t need to wonder anything about the city girl who had invaded my home. She didn’t get a pass for doing one nice thing for me.

A knock at the door broke my thought process. I turned, hoping Waldren wasn’t back for more, but instead, saw a familiar brown braid.

“Jackie,” I said when I opened the door. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

“I’m taking a late lunch and thought I’d check in on you.” Her gaze roamed the space and then caught on Mollie. She lowered her voice when she spoke again. “Oh, is that her?”

“Yes. She’s working on emails or something.”

I heard the laptop slam shut. “Not when there’s a guest,” Mollie said. I turned to see her walking toward the door. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met.”

Jackie’s eyes were as wide as the moon. “We haven’t. Wow, you’re as pretty as Tammy said.”

Mollie’s cheeks turned pink. “Thank you.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and I couldn’t help but agree.

“Don’t you think so, Cain?” She elbowed me, and I glared.

“Not answering that.”

My eyes snuck a glance at Mollie, only to find her already looking in my direction. I averted my gaze immediately.

“Telling,” Jackie said. “How are you liking the farm?”

“I love it, though I miss the berries.”

Jackie’s smile fell a bit. “One person can only do so much, especially with no support.”

Mollie didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, I know. Cain’s far too busy with the animals.”

I didn’t realize she’d thought that at all. I thought she’d wanted more out of me.

Jackie’s smile was back now. “Exactly. At least you see sense.”

“I’m trying to figure out the logistics of everything that bringing back the berries would take. Because unfortunately”—her eyes slid to her computer— “I can’t stay forever.”

“Why not?”

“I have a job back ho—” She stopped. “Um, back in Nashville. And I have to go back to that eventually.”

I narrowed my eyes as she spoke. She didn’t seem thrilled about the idea of going back, which didn’t spell anything good for me .

“That’s a shame, though I don’t think Cain would be too upset if you did leave.”

She laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, probably not. But now that I know the farm is open, I wanna do what I can.”

I crossed my arms. There wasn’t much for her to do, considering her knowledge level. I didn’t know if she had the ability to be out in the fields for long periods of time like Bennie had.

“I can give you some privacy,” she said. “I’m sure Cain has stuff to tell you.”

“Stuff?” Jackie asked. “Did something else happen?”

“And why would you assume that I would tell anyone about yesterday?”

Mollie rolled her eyes. “Because you don’t look like you want to throw up when she talks to you. So therefore, she’s a friend. And you should tell a friend what happened.”

She gave me a pointed look before disappearing down the hallway.

Damn her.

Jackie turned to me. “What happened? Did you piss her off or something?”

“What happened doesn’t have anything to do with her. Someone else came by.”

Jackie’s brow furrowed. “Who?”

“A man claiming to be Eric’s father.”

Her jaw dropped and she gasped. “What? Since when is his father even in the picture?”

“If it’s true, which I doubt it is, then just now.”

“What did you do?”

“I kicked him out.”

She winced. “Was that a good idea? What if he really is?”

“He was pushy.”

“He could want to get to know Eric.”

“There was something off about him.”

“I could see how you would feel that way, considering you’ve raised him. But we can’t judge based on feelings only.”

“He called Olivia a whore and got way too close to Mollie.”

“Excuse me? He called—” Her face went red, but then she paused. “Wait, he got too close to Mollie? And you were worried about that?”

“I might not like her, but she was uncomfortable. And so was I.”

Jackie hummed, eyeing me. “Interesting.”

“Back to the asshole who tried to take Eric,” I said, refusing to think anything more about my defending Mollie.

“Right. He doesn’t sound like a good person.”

“It’s like he wants Eric for a trophy. And I don’t even know if he is his dad.”

“That’s a tough position,” she said.

“He was angry at my sister. I bet that’s all it was.”

“And if it wasn’t?”

If it wasn’t, then he could sue me for custody. He could win .

“He won’t,” I said.

“You might wanna plan, just in case. Don’t worry so much about Mollie?—”

“It’s a little hard not to.”

“Hard to focus when there’s a pretty woman in your house?” she teased.

“More like when a wrecking ball comes through my space in the form of a pretty woman.”

Jackie hummed. “Now that people know she’s here, I have a feeling she’ll be busy. Or you’ll get over it.”

I didn’t know if I could get over Mollie being here, but I needed to. Jackie was right: If Waldren did sue, then I needed to have a plan in place. Which meant depending on Mollie more .

And I would hate every second of it.

Jackie checked her watch. “Oh, I need to get back to the salon, and you need to pick up Eric. But if this man comes back, let me know.”

“He won’t.”

“Hopefully,” she said. “Maybe he was just a blip.”

My stomach churned at the thought of anything more, but I pushed it away, determined to go on with my day and survive Mollie’s stay.

It was all I could do.