Instead, he found himself jogging up the front steps and opening the front door, too excited about his time with Cody to really consider going to bed before he talked to his parents.
“Shoes,” Mom called out quietly from the back of the house.
He smiled as he kicked off his boots and shrugged out of his coat before padding back to see them.
The creak of the hardwoods sounded like home. And Dad had obviously made dinner—there was a rich scent in the air that promised there would be leftovers with some kind of tomato sauce for lunch tomorrow.
In the dim light, he didn’t feel the accusing smiles of his family in the photos as much when he passed them in the hall. It wasn’t that they weren’t friendly—those were the happiest pictures in the world. But Cash knew Cody should be up on that wall, himself too, really.
Why haven’t I been around more?
He hated seeing more silver in Mom’s hair and the slight stoop in Dad’s back. If he were here all the time, he would never notice those things. The changes would be imperceptible.
“It’s so good you stopped by before bed,” Mom said warmly when he joined them in the kitchen. “Can I fix you a cup of tea?”
She and Dad were having theirs in beautiful mugs Mom had made herself. But he only knew about the pottery because of Tag’s wife Charlotte’s social media posts. He hadn’t been here when his brothers took a more active role on the farm, allowing Mom some free time to find a hobby she loved.
“I’m fine,” he said. “I’ll head out in a second. Just wanted to say hi.”
“Of course,” Dad said, nodding like he could patiently wait all night for Cash to spit out how the meeting had gone.
It would have been impressive, except that Cash knewthem too well. From the tension in Mom’s smile and the tap of Dad’s thumb on the table, he could tell that it was all they could do not to jump across the table and shake the information out of him.
“It went well,” he said right away.
“Oh, Charles,” Mom said, her eyes already misty.
“Thank you for the lemon squares,” he told her. “His aunt was kind of nervous about the meeting too, and she burned his after-school snack. So it was great to have a really nice treat as an icebreaker.”
“That’s nice,” Mom said, looking pleased. “Did he like them?”
“He loved them,” Cash said, grabbing her hands to squeeze them. “And he liked the other stuff too. We even jammed a little.”
“That’s great, son,” Dad said, smiling with twinkling eyes.
“They’re good people,” Cash said. “But I think I offended Bella when I told her I wanted to help out financially. She said they were fine in a way that… well, I can tell it made her mad that I brought it up. But I should have been providing for him all this time. That’s what sheshouldbe mad about.”
“She probably doesn’t like to talk about those things in front of the boy,” Mom suggested. “Try again when it’s just the two of you.”
“No, I waited until Cody was brushing his teeth,” Cash said. “I think I hurt her pride.”
“She works hard and takes good care of that boy,” Dad said. “She’s got every right to hold herhead up high.”
“She runs a tight ship at the library too,” Mom agreed with a fond smile. “She’s such a modest little thing, but she’s got her volunteers organized like clockwork, and when she reads to the kids, you’d be amazed at how funny she is. Elizabeth loves her.”
Elizabeth was his brother West’s little girl. She had to be five years old by now. Time passed so quickly…
“I guess I’ll try again when she knows me better,” Cash said. “Though, it’s the funniest thing, I felt at home with her right away. Her reaction to the money thing was a surprise because I thought we were reading each other really well all night, trying to help Cody get through it together.”
“You’ll get there,” Dad said. “Just let it be for now. She knows you want to help. Maybe next time offer something specific.”
Cash almost blurted out that he’d offered a house and a car, but he thought the better of it and bit his tongue.
His parents knew he was doing well. He’d offered to help them out plenty of times, in general, or for something like new roofing for the houses and barns. Each time, they told him they were grateful but doing fine. Maybe Bella was more like family than he gave her credit for. There was nothing wrong with having some pride in taking care of yourself. His siblings were the same way. Aside from some occasional gifts for the kids, they always turned away his offers.
Still, he wondered how they would all feel if they knew exactly how much he was worth. Sometimes it made him feel uncomfortable himself. It almost seemedimmoral to be paid so much to do something he loved and would have done for free anyway.
He soothed some of that discomfort by giving a whole lot of it to charity, and spending as little as possible on himself. He usually just focused on the music and tried to ignore the money except to read the statements he got from the finance guy every month. Aimee had convinced him that he’d better keep an eye on those, no matter how much he trusted his guy.
