Page 59 of First Bride to Fall
She frowned. “I know.”
“Hey.” He tightened his grip on her hand. “I didn’t mean to be a downer. I know you said times have been tough at Bearberry Brews, but they’ll improve.”
“That’s what we’re counting on.” She seemed eager to change the subject. “You mentioned your mom was outdoorsy like you are. What kind of things did she like to do?”
He was fine with this topic because he liked talking about his mom, and there hadn’t really been anyone in his life interested in hearing about her. “Ride bikes, for one thing. She’s the one who taught me to ride without my training wheels on, and boy that was a challenge.”
“Oh, no. Poor baby Grant.” Her face scrunched up. “Did you fall a lot?”
“I still have one of the scars.” He let go of her hand and rolled up the left pants leg of his jeans. He pointed at a disfigured area above his left ankle. “See that line and those little dots? That was from a bicycle pedal. Twenty stitches.”
She winced. “Ouch.”
He chuckled warmly at her response and held her hand again. “It didn’t put me off from riding. My mom made me get right back on my bike the very next day.”
“What? The next day?”
“Yep. She was a toughie. But that was good.” He rubbed his jaw at the fond memories. “That helpedmetoughen up.”
“What else did she like to do?” she asked. “Your mom?”
“Camping, for sure. She and Dad took me a lot when I was little. When the two of them met, they were big backpackers. Spent their honeymoon in Yosemite.”
“Really?” She seemed intrigued. “Was she a fisher…woman, uh…person, too?”
He grinned at her efforts toward gender neutrality. “No, that part I got from my dad. He taught me to fish when I was a kid. Those were good times.” He frowned. “That was before things changed.”
Her face was lined with compassion. “I’m sorry, Grant.”
“Things happened.” He sighed. “First, Dad got let go from his job at the factory. Then Mom got her diagnosis and had to stop teaching.”
“What did she teach?”
“High school music.”
“Was it cancer?”
His heart ached at the painful memory. “They found it pretty late. There wasn’t a lot they could do. She tried, though, but treatments were expensive, even with insurance. That’s when my dad started falling apart.”
She scooted toward him on the sofa and rubbed his arm. “That must have been a terrible time.”
He was comforted by her touch and leaned into it. “It was, but we got through it. I mean, I did. My dad was never the same.”
She got a distant look in her eyes. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“Nell? What is it?”
She shook her head, seeming to bring herself back to the conversation. “It’s nothing. We were talking about you and your family.”
“No, seriously. I want to know.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, sensing a hard story was coming. She sagged against him, and he held her closer.
“Something similar happened to my dad. Nothing as horrible as cancer. I don’t want to diminish what you all went through.”
“It’s all right.” He hugged her tighter. “Tell me.”
“He had a business partner, John Strong. They started Bearberry Brews together and were really close. Both our families were really great friends. Well, our parents were, anyway.”
“Did the Strongs have kids?”
