Page 49 of Keep My Heart (The Haydon Falls #1)

Nick

‘You can go see him now,’ the nurse tells us as we sit in the waiting room.

It’s nine the next morning, but I feel like it’s still yesterday.

I was up all night, worried about my dad and thinking about Lyndsay.

It really bothers me that she doesn’t trust me.

I know Chris cheated on her, but I’m not him and I don’t want to have to keep proving that to her.

If she can’t see that I’m different than him, then I don’t know how we can make this work.

‘You boys go ahead,’ Mom says to my brothers. ‘I want to talk to Nick.’

Sawyer, Brody, and Jason all get up and head to my dad’s room.

‘What is it, Mom?’

She sighs. ‘Your father’s been asking me about the orchard. He’s going to ask me again today and I don’t know what to tell him.’

‘About who’s going to take care of it? Tell him we’ll hire more help. ’

‘We’re going to need more than a few extra hands trimming branches and spraying for pests. We need someone to take charge, to manage it. You know how much work it is. You were your father’s shadow all those years. You know more about the orchard than anyone, even me.’

‘So what are you saying?’

‘I don’t know. I guess I’m just asking for some advice.’ She pauses. ‘Your father mentioned something yesterday. I don’t think he meant it, but maybe he did. After something like this happens, you reevaluate your life. You see things differently.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He brought up the idea of selling the orchard.’

My heart nearly stops, then races really fast. I’m panicking, but I don’t know why. I always knew it was possible he’d sell the orchard someday, but I didn’t think it would actually happen. Dad’s never even talked about it.

‘He actually said that?’ I ask. ‘That he wants to sell it?’

‘He doesn’t want to, but he may not have a choice.

After the surgery he’ll be recovering for months, and when he’s better, the doctor said he needs to slow down.

He said it’s good for him to be active, but he was doing too much, working too many hours.

’ She puts her hand over mine. ‘You know how your father is. Even if he hired someone to replace him, he wouldn’t trust him to do it right.

Soon he’d be back out there, doing all the work and running himself ragged.

The only way he’ll slow down is if he’s forced to. ’

‘Mom, you can’t sell the place. You two built it from nothing. And you love it. You both do.’

‘Nothing lasts forever.’ She smiles, but she can’t hide the sadness in her eyes. ‘Maybe we’ll get a little house in town. Something that’s easier to take care of.’

‘Dad would hate that. So would you. You guys love living in the country, having all that land. ’

‘I need to do what’s best for your father. As much as I hate to do it, I think we need to seriously consider putting it up for sale.’

‘You don’t need to be deciding that now. Why don’t you wait and see how Dad’s surgery goes?’

‘It won’t change anything. Your father needs to slow down regardless of how well the surgery goes. I don’t know what we’re going to do this fall. Your brothers can help, but they can’t replace your father. The only person who could is .?.?.’ She looks down.

‘Mom, I can’t. I have a job. A life in New York.’

She nods. ‘I know, which is why I didn’t even want to ask.’ She stands up. ‘Let’s go see him.’

My stomach’s in knots and every muscle in my body is tight. I feel like everything’s falling to pieces and it’s happening too damn fast. They can’t sell the orchard. It’s my home, the place I go to connect with my past and find myself when I’m feeling lost in the city and need to get away.

‘Nick.’ My dad smiles as I approach him.

He looks so weak in that bed and in that hospital gown.

Until now, my dad seemed like the strongest person in the world.

It’s how I’ve always seen him—strong and invincible.

But now I’m realizing that’s only how I’ve chosen to see him.

The reality is he’s getting old, and tired, and his body isn’t what it used to be.

‘Hey, Dad.’ I stand by his bed. ‘How are you feeling today?’

‘Like shit.’ He laughs.

That’s Dad, always trying to lighten a dark moment.

‘We’re going to go find something to eat,’ Sawyer says to Mom.

She nods as my brothers leave.

‘You seem to have more energy today,’ Mom says, smiling as she smooths out Dad’s blanket.

‘Leave it, Martha,’ he tells her. ‘It’ll just get wrinkled again. ’

‘Just let me get this tucked in,’ she says, struggling to get the sheet under the bed.

‘Dammit, Martha!’ Dad yells. ‘Stop tidying up! It’s not gonna make it better!’

‘I have to do something!’ she yells back. ‘I can’t just sit here and watch you—’ She covers her mouth as tears stream down her face.

‘Mom.’ I race over to her and hug her.

‘Nick, I need to talk to your father.’ She pulls away, wiping her eyes and smiling. ‘Go ahead.’ She shoos me away.

Leaving the room, I go down the hall, then decide to go back. I wait outside Dad’s room and try to listen in. I’m not one to eavesdrop, but after that talk Mom had with me about selling the orchard, I feel like I need to hear this.

‘Nick thinks we should wait,’ Mom says. ‘Give it some more time.’

‘Time for what? If you and these doctors are going to tell me I can’t work, then what’s the point of keeping it?’

‘You can still be in charge. You just won’t be doing as much as you used to.’

‘You really think I can stand around, watching some other man do my job?’ Dad says. ‘I’d rather sell the damn thing than put myself through that. It’d be like watching someone else raise your child.’

‘You just need to find the right person to take over.’

‘And you think that’ll be easy?’ he huffs. ‘The only person I’d trust to run that orchard doesn’t have any interest in it, and I don’t blame him. It’s a lot of damn work and a lot of responsibility. The whole damn town depends on us.’

Is he talking about me? I don’t know who else it could be. He taught me everything he knows, and then I left and went to college. I didn’t want that life .

‘You could ask him,’ Mom says in a hesitant tone.

‘I am not asking him, and neither are you,’ Dad says, raising his voice. The room gets quiet, then I hear Dad again. ‘You didn’t say anything to him, did you?’

‘I might’ve brought it up,’ Mom says in a soft voice.

‘Martha! You know how I feel about this! The boys deserve to have their own lives, not inherit the one their father had. We agreed on that long ago. Nick’s a smart boy.

He’s not going to waste those smarts working on an orchard.

His life is in New York and I’m damn proud of what he’s done for himself.

I wouldn’t even think of asking him to give it all up for his old man. ’

‘Fine. I won’t mention it to him again.’

‘Why don’t you call up our lawyer? See what we’d need to do if we sold the place.’

‘We could ask Nick. He might be able to help.’

‘I want to keep Nick out of this, and the other boys.’

‘But I can tell them, right? I don’t see any reason to keep it a secret.’

‘We should tell them together. But not now. I’m too tired.’

‘You go ahead and rest. We’ll talk to them later.’

I hurry down the hall so Mom doesn’t see me when she leaves his room.

‘What’s the rush?’ Uncle Mitch says, smiling at me, a cup of coffee in his hand.

‘I just walk fast,’ I say, slowing down. ‘It’s a New York thing. Everyone’s in a hurry.’

‘It’s the same way in Chicago.’ He looks behind me. ‘How’s your mom doing?’

‘She’s worried.’ I turn back and see her going into the restroom.

‘Let’s go sit down.’ Uncle Mitch motions me to follow him to the waiting area. ‘Your brothers are in the cafeteria with my boys. ’

We take a seat. I still feel sick about my dad selling the orchard.

I can’t imagine coming back here and having it belong to someone else, having strangers living in our house and running the place.

What if a corporation bought it, one of those big ag companies that buy up small farms and turn them into production facilities?

My dad would hate that. So would I. The whole town would.

‘Nash tells me you got a new girl,’ Uncle Mitch says.

‘Lyndsay. We just started dating. I’m not sure it’s going to work out.’

‘Love isn’t easy, is it?’ He leans back and sips his coffee. ‘When Nash’s mom took off, I didn’t think I could ever trust a woman again.’

Nash’s birth mother had Nash, then disappeared. Uncle Mitch was left to raise Nash on his own, until he married Barb, Nash’s stepmom.

‘What did Aunt Barb do to make you change your mind?’

‘She gave me time to work through it. It was my problem, not hers. I had to learn to trust that she’d stick around.

I think what made me really fall for Barb is that she never judged me for it.

She never told me to just get over it or that I was stupid for feeling that way.

’ He pauses. ‘She was a good woman. I miss her every day.’

‘I miss her too. And I know Mom does, especially during times like this.’

He nods. ‘Those two were quite a pair, cackling away in the kitchen all hours of the night. I miss that, all of us getting together as a family. The boys and I need to get up here more. Nash was just mentioning he was thinking of having his wedding up here. I hadn’t thought about having it at the orchard, but it’s a good idea. It’s such a beautiful place.’

‘Yeah, it is.’ But it may not be ours for much longer. I turn to Uncle Mitch. ‘Can I ask you something about your company? ’

‘Go ahead.’

‘What would you do with it if your sons had decided to do something else? If they didn’t want to work construction?’