Chapter 51

CHAPTER 51

JESS

A ustin had gone back to New York City this morning. He'd be back home next weekend, but I already missed having my big brother around.

Sitting on the porch waiting for Slate to come home, I smiled to myself as I remembered the conversation I'd had with my mother. Now that she knew the truth, it was only a matter of time before my dad would too.

If he didn't already.

With Austin gone for the time being, as much as I'd have preferred him to stick around for now, that meant that Slate and I didn't have to sneak around anymore.

I can't wait to tell him.

The thought sent both excitement and anxiety through me. Our future was far from guaranteed, but our present was looking pretty darn good. For now, I would take it.

Like my mom had said, I couldn't let my fears about the future stand in my way today. No relationship's future was guaranteed, and I felt things for Slate that were worth the risk.

When his headlights swept across the bottom of the drive, I grinned and stood up, my excitement making it impossible to remain seated. Wrapping my fingers around the balustrade at the top of the stairs on the porch, I waited eagerly to welcome him home—and find out where he'd gone.

I hadn't even realized he'd left at first, and I was curious about where he'd gone off to. After parking in front of the house, he turned off his engine and hopped out, sending me a questioning smile. He jogged up the steps to meet me.

"What's this?" he asked, smiling, and he took a quick look around before dropping a kiss on my lips. "You know what? Never mind. It doesn't matter. I like it. Hey, you."

"Hey." I slid my arms around his waist, hugging him before I took a step back. "Where did you go? You had me worried for a minute there."

He grimaced, dark eyes ominously worried on mine, and he took my hand. "I met with Oden Sawyer."

"What?"

"Yep. I didn't know it was him I was meeting with, but I hoped I could shake him off when he'd lured me to the café. It didn't work, though. His client still wants your property and Oden is still hellbent on getting it for them."

"Crap." I wrapped my fingers around his, led him to the pair of chairs beside the door, and turned to face him. "What does that mean?"

Slate ran his fingers through his thick hair, shrugging. He gave his head a little shake. "We'll have to see what his next move is, but he's not going to give up. For what it's worth, he insists he's not responsible for the sabotage. In fact, he sees himself as the predominantly injured party."

I snorted. "Asshole."

Sighing, I let go of Slate's hand and folded my legs under myself on the chair. I leaned back and rolled my lips into my mouth. Before he'd gotten here, I'd been so amped to tell him that my mom knew, but now, that hardly seemed important.

It even seemed a little petty under the circumstances. "I spoke to my mom. It definitely wasn't her. I still feel like a complete jerk for ever thinking it in the first place, but I'm glad I cleared the air with her. It helped."

On more levels than just one.

Slate's lips curved into a small relieved smile. "That's good, babe. I'm glad you spoke to her, but don't feel like a jerk. You can't help the thoughts that pop into your head when you're stressed. It's not like you really believed it was her."

"No, but I feel terrible for suspecting her at all. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, but thank you for talking me off the ledge."

"Always," he promised, holding my gaze intently in a way that made a pleasurable shiver run through me. It wasn't exactly a promise to be with me forever, but it did make me feel like he was in this for more than just the next few weeks.

First things first, though.

"Do you believe Oden?" I asked. "That it wasn't him? And if not him, then who?"

Slate hesitated for a beat before shrugging a shoulder. "I'm not sure. He tried to pass the blame to the locals today. It's not a super far-fetched theory he pitched to me either."

"Was it the theory you came up with about other farmers being jealous of us?"

He rocked his head from side to side. "Similar. I hate to say it and I still don't know if I believe it, but it's a possibility that it was another local farmer who tried to stop your dig. It's not necessarily likely, but it is possible."

"Oden is such a slimy bastard," I muttered. "If he thinks we're going to believe some dickless idiot from the outside over our own friends and neighbors, he's got another thing coming. Until I see some concrete evidence that someone else is responsible, I'm going to keep believing that if he's not directly responsible, he's at least involved."

Slate chuckled. "I like it when you talk like that. Those are fighting words, though. I'm with you all the way, but you do need to keep one thing in mind."

"Yeah, what's that?" I asked curiously.

He looked right into my eyes. "At the end of the day, his offer is solid and it stands. You'll walk away with fifty million and the oil becomes his client's problem."

"We're not taking that offer," I said firmly. "I've spoken to my dad about it again just to make sure he didn't only turn it down because of me, but he's convinced there's more to this than meets the eye. That we're sitting on more oil than even fifty million dollars should buy."

I sighed. My eyelids fluttered shut as I thought about what might happen to us if Dad and I were wrong. When I opened my eyes again, I looked right at Slate. "Hey, Oden didn't happen to let slip why they offered us that much, did he? My dad is at peace with his decision, but I know how worried he is about how this is going to play out. If I can give him anything at all that might help ease his mind, that would be amazing."

"According to Oden, the offer was a gift." The corners of his lips pressed in as he shook his head. "Something about the client wanting the property regardless and what they want to do with it being their prerogative. I'm pretty sure he was blowing smoke up my ass, though."

"Probably," I agreed. "He didn't say anything else?"

"Nothing really worth repeating. They might put up a resort or buy up a few more farms if the oil is a flop, but I don't believe that. If it all goes to hell and they need to come up with a backup plan, then sure. Maybe they would consider something like that, but this is big oil we're dealing with. What they're really after, always, is oil."

I nodded slowly, sensing that this topic had run its course. With Slate's meeting with Oden handled and my having told him how much better I felt after my conversation with my mother, I smiled. Now is the time to tell him.

Nerves rippled through me. He returned my smile, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up on the coffee table before he turned his gaze away from mine to look out at the farm. I didn't want to let my imagination blow things out of proportion, but he looked happy here.

Like he belonged.

Like a guy who might just not hate staying after all.

With renewed hope blooming in my chest and butterflies racing around in my stomach, I opened my mouth to tell him that we had my mom's blessing. Before I could utter a word though, we heard something heavy fall inside. A deep thud of something big hitting the hardwood floors.

Slate frowned and so did I, but I popped up, wondering what on earth was going on this time. I headed to the door, glancing at him over my shoulder.

"I'll be right back. I just want to make sure my parents are okay. Whatever that was sounded heavy. I just hope it didn't land on somebody's foot."

Slate got up and followed me, both of us frowning. I, for one, wasn't too worried. If it had landed on someone's foot, we'd have heard at least a yelp. Since we hadn't, I assumed it had just been something that had fallen over.

My mom had been dusting earlier. She'd probably moved something too close to an edge. We walked into the foyer, but that was clear. As was the living room, family room, and dining room. It was when we turned into the hallway leading to the kitchen that my blood suddenly ran cold.

"Mom?" I screamed, breaking into a run as soon as I saw her lying on her side on the kitchen floor. "Daddy! Where are you?"

As I yelled for him, Slate rushed past me, already on his knees next to my mom by the time I slid down on her other side. He bent over her, tapping her cheeks after pressing his fingers to her pulse. Her eyes were closed, but when I glanced at her chest, I saw it rising and falling.

She's breathing. Thank God.

"Jeanie? Hey, Jeanie. Can you hear me?" he called to her. "Come on, Jeanie. Open those eyes for me. It's Slate. Jess is here too."

I reached for her hand blindly, tears blurring my vision. I squeezed it, pleading with her to wake up and be okay. "Mama? Mommy? Can you hear us? Mom? Please be okay. God, please open your eyes, Mama."

Glancing at her chest again, I stroked my thumb across the side of her hand and kept begging silently for her to be alright. Every rise and fall of her chest was like a blessing. Her breathing didn't seem quite right, too shallow and too slow for my liking, but as long as it was happening, she would be okay.

"Jeanie?" Slate kept saying her name, gently but firmly, still tapping her cheeks and stopping to press his fingers to her pulse every so often. He'd gone pale, and his jaw was tight, but he wasn't giving up.

Thank God, he's here.

Several agonizing seconds later, my stomach was one big knot, a searing pain in my heart by the time she finally blinked her eyes open. Relief raced through me, but only until I realized Slate had to help her sit up. She didn't seem to be able to do it by herself.

With his hand on her back, he gently lifted her, cradling her head against him when she swayed. "I'm so dizzy."

She muttered the words on a near whisper, her voice weak and her color all wrong. My heart stuttered as I slid my other hand over hers as well, holding it gently in both of mine. "Can I get you some water, Mama?"

Slate supported her once she was finally upright, letting her lean on his shoulder. She blinked a few times in rapid succession like her eyes wouldn't quite focus. Then she squinted at me like she still couldn't see properly and gave her head a weak shake.

"I'm fine, thank you, honey."

My dad came running downstairs, panicked and scared. His hair was wet, still dripping, and he'd clearly pulled on his sweatpants and t-shirt in haste. The waistband wasn't properly rolled up, the elastic tucked in and revealing patches of skin under the top he was still trying to wriggle into. Wet marks on the fabric told me he hadn't even dried off before he'd started dressing. He must've been in the middle of a shower.

All the color drained from his face and his lips parted. Not a sound came out as he stared at my mom on the floor. Slate glanced at me, urgency in his eyes but his voice calm and measured. "Where's the nearest hospital, Jess?"

"Two towns over," I said, my mind racing but foggy. Like the information was there but hidden under a layer of something cloudy. "I'll call an ambulance. Nine-one-one. Yes, I'll call them."

As I moved to get up, Slate shook his head. "That's going to take too long. I'll drive her. You and your dad follow us, okay? That way, we've got more than one vehicle there with us if we need to commute back and forth."

I nodded woodenly, and my dad knelt beside my mom. Gathering her up in his arms, he murmured softly to her and carried her to Slate's car. "I'll see you soon, my love. We'll be right behind you, okay?"

"I'll drive," I told my dad as he gently placed my mom in the passenger seat and buckled her in. "You're going to be just fine, Mama. Slate's going to take you to the hospital, okay? Everything is going to be just fine."

After bending over to brush a kiss to her forehead, I ran back into the house and grabbed the keys to the truck. My dad said goodbye to her before Slate raced away. He and I followed right after them in our beat-up old truck, and we lost Slate in the night as soon as he stepped on the gas.

Finally realizing he'd wanted to take his car because it was faster, a wave of nausea rolled through me. I knew he and Mira had extensive first-aid training because of their work on the rigs, and if he was worried?

My throat felt like it was about to close up, but I dragged in a deep breath, fumbling to find my phone and then handing it over to my dad. "Call Austin. Tell him he needs to come back here right away."