Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
“My baby, happy birthday, sweetheart,” Mom whispers into my ear. She’s the first one to come up and give me the greeting without the whole group. My eyes take in the room. Our family is here, and so are a few other families from the surrounding ranches. Eleanor, Birdie’s mom, nods her head my way, and I return the sentiment. Every year, I tell them I don’t want or need anything big. A small dinner, which is hard considering between my parents and brothers, there’re eight of us, which is more than enough. Tonight is a bit different. There are more people here than usual, and I’m trying to figure out why the hell they’d think I’d want something like this after working all day.
“Thanks, Mom,” I reply, pulling away. She holds my shoulders, and I’m not going anywhere until she’s done saying whatever she has to say.
“You’re welcome. I know, I know. This isn’t your idea of fun, but humor me, will you? Also, Birdie’s home.” That was not what I expected to hear coming from my mom. The wind is knocked out of my sails. The last I heard, she was staying in Colorado indefinitely. Birdie only came home on rare occasions, like holidays and her mom’s birthday. I made sure anytime she was here, I wasn’t. I took the work my brothers passed up. Hauling cattle, dealing with grunt work, it didn’t matter. As long as I wasn’t home, all the better.
The need to try and change her mind to stay home was all I wanted. That wouldn’t be fair to her. She would have stayed, then she’d have grown to resent me, and no fucking way did I want that for either of us. The day she left to head to Colorado, I knew it was time to let her go. My gut was in knots and my heart, well, I’m not going to talk about that worthless organ when it comes to Birdie.
“She here?” I ask, my eyes glancing around the crowded house. A lot of the older houses around here don’t have an open floor plan. Mom and Dad changed that in the last five years. Birdie isn’t in sight. My brothers are, though. They’re crowded around the kitchen island, no doubt getting their grubby hands on the appetizers. By the time I get a chance for some, I’m sure they’ll be gone. Fucking brothers, man. You can’t live with them, and you damn sure can’t live without them.
Dad is in the corner, talking to another neighbor. They’re no doubt discussing the next hay season and what’s going to happen in town with the new mayor taking over. Basically, when Dad and Mike get together, it’s a bitch fest, and I’d much rather deal with what Mom is throwing my way.
“No, Ellie tried to get her to come, but she wasn’t having it. The drive was terrible with traffic or some such thing.” Mom shrugs her shoulders, trying to make light of the situation, but that doesn’t stop the knot in my gut from tightening further.
“Alright, I’m going to go make my rounds.” The angel on my right shoulder is telling me to stay put. Your mom and family did this for you. The least you can do is say hello to everyone and stay through dinner. The devil on my left shoulder is saying Fuck it, turn on your booted fucking heel and go after the woman you let go.
“Lane.” Mom starts to say something but thinks better of it, going as far as to shake her head.
“Mom?” I question. We’ve gone through this plenty of times. She didn’t raise six boys without a mother’s intuition for nothing.
“There’s plenty of time for you to walk over to Birdie’s, you know.” A smile crosses her face, and the angel on my shoulder is gone now. There’s no way I’m not going to take this opportunity and go after the woman I know down to the marrow of my bones is mine.
“Thanks, it shouldn’t take long.” I bend down, kissing her cheek, and say, “Try to keep your troublemakers from eating all of my birthday dinner, will you?”
“I can’t make any promises, which is why you should get out of here.” I take another sweep of the room on the off chance Birdie has made a sudden appearance. She hasn’t, and that’s my sign to head out the door before the rest of the crew descends. I’ve got a woman to go after.
2
BIRDIE
“I should have brought Rocky and Tully home with me.” I move to the bay window, looking out at the open expanse of Mom’s farm. The beauty is growing more so as the sun slowly sets over the expanse of flowers.
When I pulled off the main road and onto Mom’s dirty driveway, I was greeted with buttercups, Indian paintbrushes, goldenrods, and sunflowers. The variety of flowers was vibrant in color, and it calmed my nerves for the first time since things went to hell in Colorado. Not to mention seeing Mom waiting for me, standing on the front porch, hands together, attempting to stop herself from running down the steps before my car was parked.