Page 15 of The Lucky Heart (Jamison Valley 3)
“Silas?” I called before he could go too far. “Thanks for not telling Jess. I know it wasn’t fair of me to ask you to keep those secrets, but I appreciate that you did.”
“You’re welcome.” Before he walked out the door, he tossed me a smile.
Hottest friend ever.
“Dinner was delicious. You’ve perfected the recipe,” I told Annie.
“Oh, thanks, Lissy. It’s so nice to have you back so I can make it again. Jack never has liked marsala sauce.”
“He’s more of the beer-batter type,” I joked and set another stack of dishes by the sink.
She laughed. “Isn’t that the truth?”
Besides complimenting her dinner, I didn’t know what else to say so I just stood against the kitchen counter and stayed quiet. Should I help load the dishwasher? Or wipe down the table? It never used to be this awkward at the Drummond farm, but then again, I’d had Wes by my side.
I’d carefully avoided mentioning his name all night, not wanting to dive into the past until we’d been reacquainted, but Jack and Annie had been nervous too, so we’d spent the majority of our meal discussing the weather.
“Um, Mason seems great.” I could only compare him to Rowen but he seemed like a nice enough little boy. And he had the cutest dimple.
“He’s a real joy,” Annie said as she rinsed a plate.
Glancing over my shoulder into the dining room, I made sure Annie and I were alone. “What’s his story?”
“That little boy had a rough start to his life.” She sighed, abandoning the dishes to hand me my glass of wine and lean against the counter too. “His mom got sent to prison so he was placed here in Prescott to live with his aunt. When he started school, his teacher noticed he was being neglected. No showers. No clothes. No food.”
“That’s awful. It’s a good thing the teacher was paying attention.”
“It sure is. Mason’s aunt was mixed up with a bad crowd. One thing led to another and Jess asked if we’d keep him here for a bit. After two days, Jack and I both knew we couldn’t let him go, so we got Mason’s mother to relinquish her rights and we adopted him.”
“It’s amazing that you’d take him in.” Jack and Annie weren’t old but they had been empty nesters for quite some time. Taking in a young boy was a huge sacrifice on their part.
“He’s a sweet boy. He deserves a chance and we can give him that.”
“Why is the mother in prison?”
“Prostitution. Drugs.” Her shoulders fell at the mention of drugs.
Wes had been Jack and Annie’s only child. He’d developed a meth addiction as a young man and never stopped using. Eventually he’d become the predominant meth producer in Jamison Valley and had been murdered by a rival drug dealer.
I stood awkwardly by Annie’s side, unsure of what to say, until she broke the silence. “Sometimes I feel like we’re getting a second chance. To do a better job with Mason than we did with Wes.”
“You can’t blame yourself for Wes’s choices.” The person to blame was me.
“I know you’re right but it’s hard to accept. He came here one night, about a month before he was . . .” She trailed off and didn’t finish her sentence, not that she needed to. The next word was “murdered.” “He was different that night. Reflective. He actually said that he was thinking about getting help.”
My chest squeezed painfully tight. A month before Wes had died was about the same time that he’d called and left me a message. Hearing his voice after fourteen years had caught me so off guard that I hadn’t called him back immediately. By the time I’d found the courage to do so, he’d been gone.
“That was the first time I’d ever heard him admit he had a problem,” Annie said. “I had my hopes up.”
I’d regretted not calling him, but until now, I hadn’t realized how much of a mistake I’d made by blowing him off. Maybe together with Jack and Annie, the three of us could have convinced Wes to go to rehab. Maybe he’d still be alive.
My throat started to burn and tears pricked my eyes. Damn it. All I’d had to do was pick up the phone.
Annie shook her head and turned back to the sink. “Thank you. It helps me to talk about him. Jack and I do sometimes but it’s different with you. You knew him better than anyone at one point.”
I just smiled, unsure of what else to say. I had known Wes. I knew that he hadn’t really wanted to become a farmer but had felt trapped by his parents’ expectations. I knew that he had mood swings worse than any person I’d ever met, but with me, he’d always tried his hardest to be a sweetheart. I knew the only times he’d treated me badly were when he’d been on drugs. And I knew exactly how he’d started doing those drugs in the first place.
Because of me.
