Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“You’re in love with her.” It’s not a question, but I answer him anyway.
“I am.”
“We missed our camping trip this year.” He laughs to himself.
“What does our camping trip have to do with me being in love with Scarlett?”
“Between all the rain, the work schedules you boys have, and the wives that were expecting that we didn’t want to leave, we didn’t get to have it.”
“I know that, Dad. What are you getting at?”
“That’s usually when I dole out the best advice around the campfire.”
“I don’t need advice.”
“Don’t you?”
“No.”
“That’s why you’re here, son.”
“I’m here because she wasn’t there.”
“She still leaving?”
“Yeah.” I sigh. I haven’t talked to my parents about my relationship with Scarlett. They know that we’re together, but they’ve let me proceed how I see fit. I’m thankful for their love and support. “She’s a free spirit,” I tell him. “She’s lost her parents, they were her world, and I think settling down scares her. She’s afraid to love and lose.”
“She loves you.” I give him a questioning look. “It’s all over her face, son, just as it is yours.”
“She does. That doesn’t change things, though. I can’t ask her to stay, Dad. I can’t ask her to give up her dreams. She settled into this plan to travel and take pictures, and she’s crazy talented. That’s where her heart is, her passion. I won’t ask her not to pursue that because my heart bleeds for her to stay here with me. I can’t go with her. How would I make a living? It’s just… not the right time for us, I guess, and that tears me up inside.”
“No. You can’t clip her wings. You need to leave her wild. Love her for who she is. Make sure she feels that love. She’ll stay wild, but she just might come back to you.”
“You trying to get my hopes up, old man?”
He laughs. “No, but I know what it’s like to love and be loved by a woman I would tear the world apart for. That kind of love is hard, if not impossible, to walk away from.”
“You really think we can figure this out?”
“I think there’s a good chance. Are you prepared to let her stay wild? To travel with her job?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes. I can handle that. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that.”
“I don’t think you should suggest it. You have to let her chase this dream of hers the way she thinks she needs to. Then if and when she comes back to you, you let her know you’re there for her. That she can keep Willow River and you as her home but still chase her dreams.”
“Why the hell not? It’s the perfect solution.”
“Because she needs to know that you support her. She needs to know that she has you in her corner. She’s lost everyone close to her. She needs that support, Archer. As bad as I know you want to present this to her and beg her to stay, son, you have to let her go.”
“I get it,” I tell him. “I don’t like it, but I get it. Her parents supported her and encouraged her to live her dreams. I think she might be doing this for them as much as she’s doing it for herself.”
“I’d say you’re right. Show her every day what she means to you. Be open and honest with her, and when it’s her time to go, you have to let her.”
“Loving her is the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but letting her go, that’s hands down going to be the hardest.”
“Nothing worth having ever comes easy,” he reminds me. It’s something he’s told us a lot growing up. “Work hard, and love harder, son. It will all iron out in the end.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Anytime, son. Now, tell me how work’s going. You should be getting laid off soon, right?”
We spend the next half hour or so talking and getting caught up on life before I say goodbye, with Dad promising to tell Mom I said hi, and I’m sorry I missed her. The drive home, I process what he said, and I know he’s right, but I can’t help but hope we can make this work. That I can be her home, and she can come back to me. I’m not excited about going weeks without her, but I’ll take weeks over a lifetime.
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Scarlett
I was nervous about today. Christmas was never a big affair. It had always just been the three of us. That’s all we’d needed. Then when we lost Dad, it was just Mom and me, and we were okay with that. The Kincaid family is like its own small army. Nine boys, their wives, and kids, plus Ramsey, their cousin, and her family. That’s a lot of people.
I was intimidated, but I wanted to be here for Archer. There was also a small part of me that wanted to see how a large, loud family did the holiday. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed.