Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head with a grimace. “The few hours I spent in town for his funeral were hard enough. If I didn’t still have to figure out everything with his personal stuff and his shop, I wouldn’t even go back at all.”
“Damn, Brady, were things that bad between the two of you?”
I squinted against the sun as I looked out over the parking lot I’d just crossed, wishing I had a more urgent excuse to leave. One that would let me shut down our impromptu walk down memory lane without sounding like a complete dick.
Not that I was opposed to that approach, if necessary. But I was leaving, and it was better to leave on a good note than to pick a fight with one of the few friends I’d felt close enough to open up to during my time in Atlanta.
I had always been sort of a loner, but I’d found a kindred spirit in Tyler. It was a friendship I’d genuinely miss. Not many people clicked with me right away, but Tyler and I had hit it off from the very beginning. Multiple games together had only cemented that bond.
I was realistic enough to know that neither of us would probably do a good job of staying in touch, but regardless, there was no doubt in my mind that I’d made a friend for life.
“It’s not even that things were that bad,” I said since Tyler was staring me down like he actually wanted an answer. “It’s not like my old man was so mean or even that we fought all that often. But after Mom died, he just wasn’t… there. I was an eight-year-old kid, and my dad should’ve been showing me how to be a man, but all he showed me was what not to do. I just…” I shook my head. “The place just doesn’t have great memories for me, you know?”
“Yeah, I hear you.” Tyler took his hands out of his pockets and shoved one back over his buzzed head.
I had known my friend long enough to recognize the tell for what it was. Tyler wanted to say more but couldn’t find the words.
“So,” Tyler finally continued, “No chance you’ll be taking over the family business, then.”
It was more of a statement than a question, but it was at least a less-personal question—one that didn’t make me feel so defensive.
I shook my head again, confirming what my friend had just said. “God, no. Can you really see me running a flower shop? With a name like Patty’s Petals? Seriously?”
Tyler burst out laughing and clapped me on the back as we started—finally—walking toward my truck. “Oh, man. I had no idea that was the name… I’m guessing Patty was your mom?”
I nodded. “Dad opened the place in her memory once I was sighed with the Hawks, and he was on his own. She loved flowers— always had them all around the house, inside and out. To this day, I can’t smell fresh-cut flowers without thinking of her.”
“Wow, I’m sorry, man. I never realized it was like that.” Tyler’s eyebrows shot up at the candidly sensitive admission. “But, you know, it would definitely be a change of pace from playing football….”
I snorted. “No. Nope. Not gonna happen. That was his thing. Opening that shop in my mom’s memory was probably the nicest thing he ever did in his whole life, but that’s just not me. It was his way to remember her, and I respect that, but I’ll remember her my own way.”
I leaned against the truck and crossed my arms over my chest, looking out over the busy street beyond our apartment complex. The street that I’d traveled multiple times per day to and from the Hawks’ Stadium. The street I wouldn’t have a reason to travel ever again after today.
It was a weird feeling and combined with the memories Tyler’s insistent questions had stirred up, it had my stomach feeling tight as if I might actually throw up at any moment.
“So… what are you going to do, buddy?” Tyler asked after a moment. “After you leave Castle Falls, I mean.”
“First, I’m gonna sell everything as quickly as possible. After that—” I shrugged, “—I don’t know. But I’ll be getting the hell out of there, that’s for sure. Maybe get a place up in the mountains. Just a little shithole of a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, where I don’t have to deal with anyone.”
If I were being honest, I didn’t know what, exactly, I was going to do with myself after selling my dad’s flower shop. Becoming a mountain man sounded about as good as anything else, though. I didn’t have any ties to anyone now. Nobody to answer to, no expectations to live up to.
Nobody who cared where I went or what I did.